South Africa Apartheid

1a. What, according to Source A, led the police to use violence at Sharpeville?

 20,000 bantu surrounded the police station

 stones rained on the police

 mob advanced onto the police

 shots fired from within the bantu crowd

 the shouting crowd kept advancing

b. What does Source B suggest about how the international community viewed the
situation in South Africa in 1960?

 they are angry towards the apartheid government

 they are willing to protest

 they don't agree with the apartheid policies

2.  With reference to its origin, purpose and content analyse the values and limitations
of Source A for historians studying the situation in South African in 1960

origin:

 1960- written in that time, so primary source written, they saw what happened

 no benefit of hindsight, apartheid is in full effect

purpose:

 newspaper article it has the puropose of only telling the story of what happened

 could reflect public view

 could be politically influenced by regime

 might only give a general overview of the situation

content:
 the tone sounds neutral and level headed
 language indicates that the blame is on the bantu- "had to force", "stones rained on the
police", "mob advanced onto them",
 he also seems to be avoiding the blame by placing it on the soldiers, "without an order
haveing been given to fire"

Source A

An account of the Sharpeville massacre by Dr Vervoerd given in a South African

newspaper, The Cape Times, 22 March 1960
Dr Verwoerd, the Prime Minister, making a further statement about the riots, said the
latest information was that 49 Bantus were killed and 156 wounded in the disturbances
at Sharpeville Bantu Township near Vereeniging.

At Sharpeville, Colonel Pienaar, in command of the police there, had to force his way
through a crowd of about 20,000 Bantu who had surrounded the police station.

Stones rained on the police and the mob advanced on them. Colonel Pienaar then gave
orders for the police to load. At that moment three shots were fired at the police from
within the Bantu crowd. The shouting crowd advanced and the police fired a volley with
Sten guns and 303 rifles without an order having been given to fire.

He regretted that the effect of all the propaganda of the past years had brought the
government's handling of Bantu affairs under suspicion and that the Bantus had now
been instigated to try the impossible and challenge the authority of the state.

Source B - Photograph showing a march through central London to protest against the
massacre at Sharpeville on 21 March

US CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

1.
a. What, according to Source A, was the importance of non-violent protest as
a strategy?
         b. What does Source B suggest about the nature of the Civil Rights movement?

many people supported it

protest were peaceful

both white and black members of society were a part of it

  3. Compare and contrast what Sources A and D reveal about the contribution of Martin
Luther King to the Civil  Rights Movement.

Source A

Adapted from a school text book.

Martin Luther King was the driving force of the civil rights movement. His inspirational
speeches such as ‘I have a dream’ made in August 1963 meant that he was able to raise
and maintain the morale of the campaigners and that, with these speeches shown on
television, he ensured a high-profile for the movement. His message of non violent,
peaceful protest also inspired the campaigns of the civil rights movement such as the
sit-in protests, and gave activists a viable strategy, probably the only possible strategy,
that they could follow. This strategy of non-violence inspired liberal whites to
participate in the cause and it made it easier to gain the trust of key figures such as the
President himself. 

Source B

A photo of the March on Washington, 1963

Source D

Adapted from a historian’s account of the civil rights movement.

Martin Luther King’s role was important because his tactics of non-violence and
inspiring speeches allowed him to appeal to whites as well as blacks and to create a
coalition of many different elements in society. His involvement undoubtedly ensured
that they movement got the publicity and the wide membership which allowed it to
made such an impact in the USA. However, some historians have also pointed out that
Martin Luther King did not actually play a key role in the majority of protest campaigns
and that in fact his dominance sometimes stifled the initiative of other activists. Local
studies show that in fact the role of local people, the churches and other  community
groups were vital in propelling the movement forward, developing the direct action
tactics of sit-ins and street demonstrations and maintaining the morale of the African
American community. Such direct action had also been going on since the Second World
War.