Sunday, September 23, 2012

A World in Pictures

This is a picture of 13 year old, Hector Pieterson after he was shot for protesting against the establishment of Afrikaans in schools (disregarding the local dialects of the South Africans). Afrikaans was the language of the Dutch settlers and they started changing the ways the schools were organized to benefit them. A group of 30 students started singing traditional songs to protest and the group grew. The police showed up and released tear gas on the crowd and then went on to start shooting randomly at the protesters. 400 people died from the shootings, but this picture is so famous because he was only 13, his friend is carrying him and the girl is actually his sister. This picture became a huge icon for the 1976 Soweto Uprising.

Today in Soweto there is a memorial dedicated to him in front of the Hector Pieterson Museum, honoring all of those that gave their lives for the cause.

No comments:

Post a Comment