Hector Pieterson Memorial & Museum

Frommer's Review

Erected in memory of the 1976 student protest, when police opened fire on hundreds of Sowetan schoolchildren who were peacefully demonstrating against the use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in their schools. The concourse leading to the entrance is marked by olive trees symbolizing peace and beautiful columns with each piece of slate meant to represent a student who died needlessly. Inside the immaculate, modern space are emotionally compelling displays: Video footage of the event and numerous breathtaking photographs taken by brave and talented photographers like Peter Mangubane and Sam Nzima. Included is the infamous shot of Hector Pieterson -- one of the young boys who died in a hail of police bullets -- being carried by a young man whose face is contorted in disbelief and pain. Hector's sister runs alongside, her mouth a silent wail of grief. The police reported 59 dead; the actual toll was thought to be closer to 500. Children turned on their parents, something hitherto unheard of in traditional society, and destroyed everything they could belonging to municipal authority -- schools, post offices, and the ubiquitous beer halls. The police retaliated with brutal assaults, arrests, and killings. These photographs offer a window on the anger, the fear, the aggression, and the grief of these times, after which Soweto and South Africa were never the same.

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