Skip to main content

Hector Pieterson Memorial and Museum, Soweto

The museum is located on 8288 Khumalo Street, Orlando West (Soweto). The museum is named after one of the first casualties.  But commerates all of those that marched through Soweto and shot at by police on the 16 June, 1976! Which has now become Youth Day, a public holiday in South Africa. The museum is next to the Hector Pietersen Memorial, and the whole area has been declared a National Heritage Site. Visitors move along a series of ramps and look through strategically placed windows at important scenes - including Orlando Stadium and the police station - and view exhibits such as television footage of the uprising. It also contains a moving collection of oral testimonies, pictures, audiovisual displays and historical documents relating to the events of 1976.

The exhibits also provide background to the reasons for the protests while illustrating what happened in their aftermath. Together with the memorial, the museum commemorates those who died in the uprisings, and celebrates the students’ role in the struggle for freedom. The monument and memorial have been included in Soweto tours and are among the top tourist attractions in South Africa.

References
https://www.gauteng.net/attractions/hector_pieterson_memorial_and_museum/