Mbuyiswa Makhubu carrying wounded Hector Pieterson followed by his sister, Antoinette (1976) by Sam NzimaPhotography Legacy Project
The Soweto Uprisings of 1976
This series of images, newspaper headlines, and video interviews commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Soweto Uprisings of 1976. Drawn from various archives, there are also never-before-seen images of the historical moment.
Why did the learners protest?
A protest march from Morris Isaacson High School on June 16, led by Tsietsi Mashinini among others from the Soweto Students Representative Council (SSRC) Action Committee, challenged the Apartheid government's decree to impose Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in Black schools.
Through my lens: Students' Bus by Alf KumaloPhotography Legacy Project
What was the goal of the march?
The crowd soon grew to about 20,000 students gathered from other schools to finally congregate at Orlando Stadium to deliver a memorandum of grievances to the officials of Bantu Education.
“Today, we can proudly say that we have given a fitting tribute to our young heroes. June 16, South Africa Youth Day, is a paid public holiday. We celebrate June 16, 1995, after our first Freedom Year, with new and bigger challenges facing the youth. You were in the forefront of the liberation struggle. Today you must be in the forefront of reconstruction and development.”
– Nelson Mandela, June 16, 1995
A burning truck next to Moroka Police Station (1976) by Alf KumaloPhotography Legacy Project
The Bantu (Blacks) Education Act of 1953
“There is no place for [the Bantu] in the European community above the level of certain forms of labour … What is the use of teaching the Bantu child mathematics when it cannot use it in practice? That is quite absurd. Education must train people in accordance with their opportunities in life, according to the sphere in which they live.” – Dr Hendrik Verwoerd (Prime Minister of South Africa from 1958 until 1966)
Students voice their opposition to being taught in Afrikaans (1976) by Peter MagubanePhotography Legacy Project
The learners responded
“We shall reject the whole system of Bantu Education whose aim is to reduce us, mentally and physically, into ‘hewers of wood and drawers of water’.” – Soweto Students Representative Council, 1976
A Soweto resident runs away from the toxic smell of teargas (1976) by Alf KumaloPhotography Legacy Project
See the 1976 Uprising unfold
A Soweto resident runs away from the toxic smell of tear gas in 1976. This was a method commonly used by the South African police to disperse crowds during 'illegal' gatherings.
Students confront police (1976) by Jan HarmanPhotography Legacy Project
Students confront police, Soweto, 1976
Police shooting at unarmed students (1976) by Sam NzimaPhotography Legacy Project
Police shooting at unarmed students, Soweto, 16 June 1976
Students on the march to Orlando stadium (1976) by Alf KumaloPhotography Legacy Project
Students on the march to Orlando Stadium, June 1976
Hostel dwellers were drawn in to attack students, Dube (1976) by Peter MagubanePhotography Legacy Project
Hostel dwellers were drawn into attacks
Police arrest a student, Soweto (1976) by Danie Coetzer/Bussan collectionPhotography Legacy Project
Police arrest a student, Soweto
Students fighting back with stones (1976) by Peter MagubanePhotography Legacy Project
Students fighting back with stones, Alexandra Township, 17 June 1976
A police bullet rips open a young woman stomach in Alexandra Township (1976) by Peter MagubanePhotography Legacy Project
A police bullet rips open a young woman's stomach, Alexandra Township, 17 June 1976
Police stand over the body of dead a student, Soweto (1976) by Danie Coetzer/Bussan collectionPhotography Legacy Project
Police stand over the body of a dead student, Soweto
The spirit of resistance was infectious (1976) by Peter MagubanePhotography Legacy Project
The 1976 Soweto Uprisings ignited an infectious spirit of resistance
Students at UCT show solidarity during the Soweto uprisings (1976) by Workers at UCT show solidarity during the Soweto uprisings, University of Cape Town, 1976, photo: Special Collections, UCT LibrariesPhotography Legacy Project
Students at UCT show solidarity during the Soweto Uprisings, University of Cape Town, 1976
Langa High pupils march in 1976, in the wake of the 1976 uprisings (1976)Photography Legacy Project
Langa High pupils march in 1976, in the wake of the Uprisings, Cape Town
In another world - strolling through the Company's Gardens (1976)Photography Legacy Project
In another world - strolling through the Company's Gardens, Cape Town, 1976
Street graffiti (1976) by Stan WinerPhotography Legacy Project
Street graffiti, Johannesburg, 1976
A mourner overcome by the grief of lost one (1976) by Peter MagubanePhotography Legacy Project
A mourner overcome by the grief of a loved one, Soweto, 1976
Tsietsi Mashinini and Khotso Seathlholo, two prominent student leaders, share a light hearted moment in exile in Botswana (1976) by Alf KumaloPhotography Legacy Project
Tsietsi Mashinini and Khotso Seathlholo, two prominent student leaders, share a lighthearted moment in exile in Botswana. After the uprising, posters appeared for both saying, “Wanted dead or alive.”
Riot police playing a game of soccer with youths in Nyanga (1976) by John PaisleyPhotography Legacy Project
Riot police playing a game of soccer with youths in Nyanga, 27 August 1976.
“You are fantastic, do you know that? Our freedom, in a very large measure was due to what young people such as yourselves did 40 years ago not very far from where we lived in Soweto where Hector Pieterson was shot and killed. But you are fantastic. Reach for your stars, because now you can be anything and everything you want to be. We are proud of you and that you don’t allow circumstances to keep you down. You say they are not obstacles, they are challenges.”
– Desmond Tutu, June 16, 2016
Read more about the photographers and photojournalists of the most iconic images of the 1976 Uprisings.
Curated by Nonhlanhla Kumalo for the Photography Legacy Project
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