Erasure
Anti-apartheid protests and the dismantling of apartheid
Anti-apartheid protest in South Africa, 1980s.
Black South Africans held demonstrations against the apartheid system, the first and most violent of which was the Sharpesville massacre on March 21st, 1960, where police killed 69 Black South Africans. In 1976, the Soweto uprising was led by students who were against the Afrikaans language requirement for students.
The dismantling of Apartheid began in 1990 under President F.W. de Klerk, which enfranchised racialized South Africans by 1994. At that time, Nelson Mandela was elected the country’s first Black President. While these developments marked the end of the regime, the social effects and inequity created by Apartheid still exist.