8287 Khumalo Street, Orlando West, Soweto
South Africa
"The Hector Pieterson Museum is a heritage site intrinsically linked to the origins of the Soweto Uprisings and its aftermath. By 10.30am on 16 June 1976, thousands of students had gathered in Orlando West around Vilakazi Street and the precinct where the Hector Pieterson Museum is presently located, to begin a protest march against the imposition of the Afrikaans language as the medium of instruction in Soweto’s schools. Police opened fire, killing Hastings Ndlovu and Hector Pieterson.
The shooting sparked off days of unrest and hundreds of deaths. The Soweto uprisings had begun. After 16 and 17 June 1976, nothing in South Africa would be the same again. An old era was past. A new one was beginning. The Hector Pieterson Museum’s Orlando West precinct includes important sites, such as the spots where both Hector Pieterson and Hastings Ndlovu were shot dead by the police. The precinct also includes: Nelson Mandela’s Orlando West house."
see linked National Youth Day post below.
[Graphic from Copa das Confederações blog. Caption from sahistory website: "Soweto June 1976. "Mbuyisa Makhubu carries the body of Hector Pieterson, shot by police during the student protest against Afrikaans as the school language medium. (Sam Nzima / South Photographs)"]
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