Anglonautes > History > 20th - 21st century > South Africa (SA) > Timeline in articles, pictures and podcasts > June 1976

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History > 19th, 20th, early 21st century > South Africa

16 June 1976

Soweto uprising

massacre by the South African police

On 16 June 1976,

thousands of South African students

took to the streets of Soweto

to protest against white-minority rule.

Hundreds were killed in the police response,

which profoundly changed the country’s

social and political landscape.

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-africa-36537211 - 16 June 2016

warning: graphic / distressing

Soweto youths kneeling in front of the police.

Photograph: Foto24/Getty Images

'My activism started then':

the Soweto uprising remembered

Thursday 16 June 2016 07.00 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/16/
my-activism-started-then-the-soweto-uprising-remembered

High-school students in Soweto, South Africa,

protest for better education.

Police fired teargas and live bullets

into the marching crowd killing innocent people

and ignited what is known as The Soweto Uprising,

June 1976.

Photograph: City Press

Getty Images

S African riot evokes shades of Sharpeville

June 16 1976:

On this day

clashes between school students and police in the Soweto township

ended with at least eight dead.

This is how the Guardian reported the events.

Thu 17 Jun 1976 11.35 BST

First published on Thu 17 Jun 1976 11.35 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/world/1976/jun/17/
southafrica.fromthearchive

Black students in Soweto protest on 16 June 1976

against the compulsory use of Afrikaans in schools.

By the end of the day, dozens would be dead

Photograph: Bettmann/Bettmann Archive

‘Then the firing started’:

the Soweto uprising remembered 50 years on

16 June 1976 is not just another chapter in the history books,

nor is its aftermath and legacy,

say those who took part and their families

The Guardian

Tue 16 Jun 2026 04.00 CEST

Last modified on Tue 16 Jun 2026 06.09 CEST

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/16/
soweto-uprising-johannesburg-remembered-50-years-on

A full frame of the famous photograph.

Photograph: Sam Nzima

KEYSTONE-FRANCE/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images

Searching for Soweto:

mystery of a man whose image defined apartheid brutality

Thursday 16 June 2016 09.30 BST

Last modified on Thursday 16 June 2016 10.34 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/16/
soweto-uprising-40-year-anniversary-photo-south-africa-apartheid

Wikipedia captions:

1/2 - Mbuyisa Makhubu carries Hector Pieterson

after Pieterson was shot and killed at the Soweto Uprising.

Antoinette Sithol, Pieterson's sister, runs beside them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soweto_uprising#/
media/File:Mbuyisa_Makhubu_carries_Hector_Pieterson_at_Soweto_Uprising.jpg

2/2 - Hector Pieterson carried by Mbuyisa Makhubo

after being shot by the South African Police.

His sister, Antoinette Sithole, runs beside them.

Pieterson was rushed to a local clinic,

where he was declared dead on arrival.

This photo by Sam Nzima became an icon of the Soweto uprising.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soweto_uprising

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/16/
soweto-uprising-johannesburg-remembered-50-years-on

Thousands of black children

and teenagers had taken to the streets of Soweto

in June 1976

to protest being forced to study in Afrikaans.

Police responded

to the peaceful protest with force,

spraying bullets at the schoolchildren.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/16/
soweto-uprising-40-year-anniversary-photo-south-africa-apartheid

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Soweto_uprising

https://www.bbc.com/audio/play/
w3ct985z - BBC podcast - 16 June 2026

https://www.theguardian.com/news/gallery/2026/jun/16/
a-floating-market-and-the-soweto-uprising-50-years-on-
photos-of-the-day-tuesday

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/16/
soweto-uprising-johannesburg-remembered-
50-years-on

https://www.npr.org/2026/03/28/
nx-s1-5754014/south-africa-theater-apartheid-anniversary

https://www.bbc.com/audio/play/w3ct5ym4
- BBC podcast - 23 April 2024

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/gallery/2024/jan/12/
to-fight-with-my-camera-to-kill-apartheid-
peter-magubane-south-african-photographer

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/gallery/2023/may/26/
kissinger-at-100-statesman-or-war-criminal-his-troubled-legacy-
in-pictures - Guardian picture gallery

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/may/25/
henry-kissinger-
100-strategic-genius-or-damaging-diplomacy-held-back-africa

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/gallery/2023/may/26/
kissinger-at-100-statesman-or-war-criminal-his-troubled-legacy-
in-pictures - Guardian picture gallery

https://www.bbc.com/audio/play/p0br77rx
- BBC podcast - 26 February 2022

https://www.bbc.com/audio/play/w3cswsrr
- BBC podcast - 6 February 2019

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/16/
soweto-uprising-40-year-anniversary-photo-south-africa-apartheid

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/16/
soweto-uprising-40-year-
anniversary-photo-south-africa-apartheid

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/16/
my-activism-started-then-the-soweto-uprising-remembered

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/16/
soweto-uprising-40-years-on
-hector-pieterson-image-shocked-the-world

https://www.npr.org/2010/06/16/
127887785/in-south-africa-remembering-soweto-uprising

https://www.npr.org/2006/06/16/
5489490/soweto-1976-an-audio-history

https://www.npr.org/2006/06/16/
5492021/the-tear-gas-and-songs-of-soweto

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/jun/14/
southafrica.gideonmendel

https://www.npr.org/2001/06/15/
1124421/soweto-uprising

https://www.nytimes.com/1977/06/15/
archives/
changed-south-africa-nears-anniversary-of-soweto-riots.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1976/08/05/
archives/
police-open-fire-
as-students-riot-in-south-africa-shooting-begins-a.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1976/12/08/
archives/
soweto-student-in-city-predicts-race-war-in-south-africa.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1976/06/28/
archives/
witnesses-tell-what-they-saw-when-riots-came-to-soweto.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1976/06/25/
archives/
the-tragedy-of-soweto-there-are-no-blacks-to-speak-out-for-rioters.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1976/07/22/archives/
south-africa-yields-to-black-pressure-will-reopen-schools-shut.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1976/06/19/
archives/soweto-bitter-over-apartheid-but-fearful-of-rioters.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/1976/jun/17/
southafrica.fromthearchive

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