Hector Pietersen was the first child, though not the last, killed in the Soweto children's uprising, gunned down by a policeman in the street as the children assembled in a peaceful demonstration against the apartheid educational policies.
The museum focuses on the history of Soweto, actually founded by a black man who negotiated with the white politicians in the city to create an organized settlement for blacks in the area who had left the countryside find work.
There were all these things the early white governments did to decrease the Africans' ability to sustain themselves on their lands, from taxes to forced and brutal land removals. There is a Masada-like story of how one group of people refused to pay taxes, and held out, starving, on the top of some hills.
In the museum are tons of video monitors with people of all perspectives talking -- from children, elders, police officers, city officials -- about the uprising and further actions up to the elections. It is full of photographs and posters. The one thing I noticed is that the museums, though they are English heavy, are accessible to people of all literacy levels.
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