1960 — The Sharpeville Massacre

On March 21, 1960, about five thousand people gathered at the police station in Sharpeville, South Africa, leaving their passbooks at home in a protest organized by the Pan-Africanist Congress against apartheid's pass laws. They offered themselves for arrest. Without warning, police opened fire on the unarmed crowd, killing sixty-nine people and injuring one hundred and eighty, many shot in the back as they fled.

The massacre drew condemnation around the world, and the United Nations Security Council answered with Resolution 134. South Africa declared a state of emergency and banned both the PAC and the ANC. March 21 is now Human Rights Day in South Africa, and the United Nations marks it worldwide against racial discrimination.