Soweto pupils rejected the Orlando Diepkloof School board's demand that they return to class following a walkout to protest the use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction. This marks a turning point and leads to the 16 June 1976 event of the Soweto Uprising. As the boycott spread to other schools, the South African Student Movement had tried but failed to resolve the issue, by holding a conference in Roodepoort to discuss the campaign against the use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction.
eventREF E-0012259Revised
24 May 1976
Pupils refuse to return to school before Soweto Uprisings
- Updated
- 30 Sep 2019
How we know this
- 01Ndlovu, S., M., ‘The Soweto Uprising’, in The Road to Democracy in South Africa: 1970-1980, Volume 2, (UNISA Press), pp. 334-335
- 02The South African Democracy Education Trust (SADET),"The Soweto Uprising",From: The South African Democracy Education Trust (SADET),[Online],available at: www.sadet.co.za,[Accessed on: 20 May 2014]
Last updated · 30 Sep 2019
South African History Online. (2011, March 16). Pupils refuse to return to school before Soweto Uprisings. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012259
South African History Online (2011) 'Pupils refuse to return to school before Soweto Uprisings', South African History Online, 16 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012259 (Accessed: 7 October 2026).
South African History Online, Pupils refuse to return to school before Soweto Uprisings [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012259, (accessed 7 October 2026).
"Pupils refuse to return to school before Soweto Uprisings." South African History Online, 16 Mar. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012259. Accessed 7 Oct. 2026.
South African History Online. "Pupils refuse to return to school before Soweto Uprisings." South African History Online. March 16, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012259.
Also on 24 May
- 1915A few days after deciding to establish a Dutch newspaper in South Africa, the name De Burger is chosen
- 1921The first Comrades Marathon takes place
- 1921Nearly 200 People are killed in the Bulhoek massacre in the Eastern Cape
- 1952Solly Sachs addresses Garment Worker’s protestors
- 1963The Transkei Constitution Act is enacted
- 1972The first hijacking of a South African Airways plane takes place
- 1973Uranium enrichment programme gets a boost from B.J. Vorster
- 1994South Africa will subscribe to the UDHR
Further reading
Article
16 June 1976 - Soweto Uprising
IntroductionThe 16 June 1976 Uprising that began in Soweto and spread countrywide profoundly changed the...
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