Skip to content
History–Tours
197616 June 1976 · Orlando West, Soweto

Soweto uprising

The Hector Pieterson Memorial in Soweto, marking where the 1976 student protest turned violent
Photo: Jorge Láscar from Australia. CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Thousands of Soweto school students marched against a rule forcing Afrikaans as a language of instruction. Police fired on them, and the photograph of 12-year-old Hector Pieterson being carried from the scene went round the world. Unrest spread across the country, a new generation joined the liberation movements, and 16 June is now Youth Day.

Sites

  1. Site 1: Hector Pieterson Memorial and MuseumMemorial near where the boy was shot, with the march route traced.Map ↗
  2. Site 2: Vilakazi StreetStreet with the former homes of Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu.Map ↗

Guides who take you there

History-only · order never for sale
We haven't found an independent history guide for this yet. Guide here? Tell us about your tours.

Also in Johannesburg & Soweto

More from the Cold War

Read more: reference. Summary written by History-Tours.com.