To understand the reason for the occurrences at Sharpeville, a great deal of background is needed. For almost fifty years black South Africans had pursued their struggle against oppression and exploitation with the utmost patience. Politely, deferentially they had petitioned the white government for a better deal and been ignored. "They had put their faith in a white change of heart, believing that one day the white man's professed commitment to Chris

Blumenfeld, Jesmond. South Africa In Crisis. New York: Croom

tian charity, democracy, and justice would bear fruit, but nothing ever became of it." For most of this time they were not asking for equality, never mind claiming the right to run the country. All they asked for was a better deal under the system of white "trusteeship", but even this was ignored. The deals they continued to get from the white government continued to get increasingly worse. In 1913 the Land Act was put into effect to cause them to lose most of their possessions, followed by losing their voting rights in the Cape in 1936. After this occurrence they went to London to plead for intercession, however they were advised to return to South Africa. After this they went to the League of Nations and Versailles in hopes of getting support from the international community. Yet, once again their efforts were ignored. However they stuck to their pledge to protest in a peaceful non-violent manner. By this time the African National Congress (ANC) had been founded. "The founding of the ANC was greatly influenced by the nonviolence philosophy of Ghandi; it was then greater influenced by the African American Booker T. Washington, who believed in black advancement within the framework of segregation rather than confrontation with the system." The ANC leaders were also heavily influenced by the white missionaries in the schools and the white liberals in the South African Parliament. "The members of this parliament advised the black activists not to show impatience and not to give the impression of militancy or radicalism , for that would seem like black unruliness, and it will provoke resistance within the white establishment and delay the change of heart without which there can be no hope of black advancement." The ANC began to grow in membership and it soon became the main organization to fight against apartheid. As time went on and the organization grew, groups began to form within; such as the Youth League. Within this group they began to press for a more assertive policy of civil disobedience. The group was led by Anton Lembede, "who developed a philosophy of "Africanism" based on the ideas of black racial pride, self-reliance, and self-assertion." However, this new philosophy went against the black's original idea of peaceful protest; Lembede felt that the only wa to gain rights in South Africa was through militant and unrelenting struggles. The ANC began to work on a new strategy of mass action in defiance of the law, due to the pressures from the Youth League. So began the Defiance Campaign in South Africa led by the ANC.

Crawford, Robert G. Journey Into Apartheid. London: Epworth

Sharpeville caused a spark of international fear and condemnation, something that had never been experienced before in South Africa. There were protest marches and strikes happening over the entire country, the government declared a state of emergency. The horror of this event caused the stock market in Johannesburg to plummet to an awful crash, the prices of property drastically dropped as the white population moved into different areas, and the black members of South Africa were overwhelmed with anger. "Sharpeville was decisive for me," says Neville Alexander, a man involved in the massacre, a "coloured" intellectual, who explains that the massacre prompted him to accept the principle of violent struggle for which he served eleven years in prison on Robben Island. "The day after Sharpeville I behaved in a very reckless fashion. I was so angry that I got very drunk that evening and started a terrible fracas, threatening to kill people with a tiny penknife. It had that effect. We were all pushed willy-nilly across this great divide. It marked a turning point to violence in a very systematic way." The words of Alexa

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Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)