The Hector Pieterson Memorial and Museum commemorates the role many South African students played in the struggle against apartheid, and in particular, the school children who took part in the Soweto protests of 1976.
It was erected in Orlando West, Soweto, two blocks away from where young Hector Pieterson was shot and killed. The site exists in remebrance of his death and the deaths of many others who were shot by the apartheid police while protesting against sub-standard education in black schools.
The museum is next to the 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 of the uprising, including the Orlando Stadium and police station.
Exhibits include television footage of the Soweto uprising, as well as oral testimonies, pictures, audiovisual displays and historical documents relating to the events of 1976. Background is provided as to the reasons for the protests, while illustrating what happened in their aftermath.
