Human Rights Day in South Africa is celebrated on 21 March, referencing shootings that took place on that date in Sharpeville in 1960.

On 21 March 1960, 69 people were killed and 180 were injured when police opened fire on a crowd of people who had gathered in peaceful demonstration mode, to protest against the carrying of passes by those classified as ‘African’ under Apartheid.

Like many other organisations across the country, the Museum has used Human Rights Day as an opportunity  to reflect on the state of human rights in South Africa.

Programmes organised on this day each year have drawn attention to the role that personal, collective and public memory play in the building of a culture of human rights. Over the years, eager participants from different generations have been recruited to engage in processes including workshops, research, oral histories and related activities in the period leading up to Human Rights Day, culminating in a public event on the day.

For example, the 2017 Human Rights Day programme was an exhibition called ‘Images of Displacement’. The exhibition resulted from a series of workshops and site-specific interventions by a group of young people who called themselves ‘The Giemba Collective’, and who were guided through the process of developing and installing the exhibition by artist and curator, Scott Williams.

Visit http://www.sahistory.org.za/button/human-rights-day for more information about Human Rights Day 

Click on the following link to view various media associated with the Museum’s Human Rights Day programmes over the years