March 21, 1960: The Sharpeville Massacre

March 21, 1960: The Sharpeville Massacre occurs in South Africa. It is a low point in the history of that apartheid state.

After demonstrating against anti-black pass laws, a crowd of about 7,000 black protesters went to the police station in Sharpeville, in the Transvaal Province. Sources -- as could be guessed, given the bias of the country -- disagree as to the behavior of the crowd. Some state that the crowd was peaceful, while others state that the crowd had been hurling stones at the police, and that the mood had turned "ugly."

Just after 1:00 PM, there was an altercation between the police officer in charge and the leaders of the demonstration. Amid confusion, two shots were fired into the air by somebody in the crowd.

In response, a police officer shouted in Afrikaans, "skiet" or "n’skiet" -- exactly which is not clear -- which translates either as "shot" (as in, "Someone has been shot") or "shoot" (as in, "Fire your guns!"). Another officer interpreted this as an order, and opened fire, triggering a lethal fusillade as 168 police constables followed his example. By the end of the day, 69 people lay dead or dying, with hundreds more injured. Some were shot in the back as they fled.

The massacre was photographed by photographer Ian Berry, who initially thought the police were firing blanks.

As part of its response, the General Assembly of the United Nations tasked the UN Commission on Human Rights to prepare the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the first global human rights treaty. It was adopted on December 21, 1965. The argument against apartheid was now framed as a specific manifestation of a wider battle for human rights, and it was the only political system mentioned in the convention: Nazism and anti-Semitism were not included.

In present-day South Africa, the 21st of March is commemorated as a public holiday, the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

UPDATE: In 2024, the area where the massacre occurred, and the memorial on the site, were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site by the United Nations.

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March 21, 1960 was a Monday. Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. No games were scheduled for the NBA. And the NHL was between the end of the regular season and the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. So there were no scores on this historic day.