First Name:
Jacob
Last Name:
Elliott
Major Department:
Geography and Planning
Thesis Director:
Christopher Badurek
Date of Thesis:
May 2012
On March 21, 1961, over 6,000 native South African protestors converged on a small police station on the outskirts of the black township of Sharpsville, just twenty-eight miles south of Johannesburg. Angered by the recent passage of legislation further restricting their movement, the protesters surrounded the station screaming for the twenty white police to come arrest them for not carrying their passes. With only a four foot high wire fence impeding the ever-growing African mob, the bewildered policemen called for back-up. By the time reinforcements arrived, the number of protesters had swelled to nearly 20,000 irate Africans, chanting curses and throwing rocks at their white oppressors. Armed with submachine guns and supported by four armored trucks, the 130 police reinforcements found themselves hopelessly outnumbered by tens of thousands of hostile Africans, who surrounded the police detachment encouraging the white officers to arrest every protestor.