A crowded school during apartheidOn Saturday we decided to fully entrench Jen's parents, Jackie & Stu, into South African life, culture and history. First stop, Soweto and the Hector Pieterson Museum.
The Hector Pieterson Museum commemorates the life lost of individuals during the Soweto uprisings. On 16 June 1976 Soweto students were apparently peacefully protesting against the compulsory use of Afrikaans in black schools. Police opened fire on the student march, which in turn resulted in the commencement of nationwide demonstrations, stikes, mass arrests and riots that over the next 12 months took more than 1,000 lives. Since this action, a generation of young blacks committed themselves to a revolutionary struggle against apartheid. The students subsequent action was instrumental to the unification of the race to assist in the abolishment of apartheid in 1990.
Like all new tourist attractions and museums we have seen to date in South Africa, the architecture is interesting and the information displayed is well presented (a thought we still consider some-what surprising!).
Student action in 1976
Soweto from the Museum
(Whilst the cooling towers in distance are in Soweto the electricity supply was provided to white areas only during apartheid. There was no electricity connection in Soweto )
The modern architecture symbolises a new, positive and rejuvenated South Africa... a country on the mend.