Have You Heard from Johannesburg - Birmingham Civil Rights ...

In June 1976, the eyes of the world were on the
Johannesburg township of Soweto, where police
fired upon school aged demonstrators, killing
hundreds and injuring, detaining and imprisoning
thousands more. Youth staged a mass
demonstration in response to the South African
government’s ruling that Afrikaans, the language of
white minority rulers, would be used as sole
medium of instruction in Soweto’s schools.
Prepared, like the children of Birmingham, to face
police brutality, they did not expect to be gunned
down. The Soweto Uprising marked an important
turning point in the struggle against Apartheid,
South Africa’s official system of racial segregation
policies.