As I was flying to South Africa, I watched a short program describing the township of Soweto, on the outskirts of Johannesburg. Soweto was established shortly after World War II as a place where Africans evicted by the ruling white National Party from designated white areas in Johannesburg were relocated. This was the beginnings of apartheid. But Sowetans became instrumental in the fight against apartheid. In 1976, the government’s attempt to enforce the teaching of Afrikaans, the language of the white ruling class, in schools led to an uprising in Soweto. Hundreds were killed by the government, but the bloodshed brought the horrors of apartheid to the fore, both within Johannesburg and internationally. It was the beginning of the final stage in the fight to end apartheid.
