Sharpeville Massacre 1960
Read the documents and answer the questions below.
Document A:
The Police report of what happened in Sharpeville
‘The crowd at Sharpeville police station was between 15,000 and 20,000. In view of the provocative attitude of the
crowd who were armed with sticks, stones and pieces of iron, it was feared that they would burst through the fence.
Stones were thrown and two shots were fired from the crowd. The police opened fire; the officers emphasized that
they had been with their backs to the wall facing a frenzied mob of 20,000 natives. If they had not fired, they would
have been overwhelmed.
Document B:
Evidence taken from 100 wounded Africans in hospital; they all agreed that:
‘There were no more than 5,000 Africans present; they were not carrying sticks or other arms and they had no violent
intentions. The leader of the crowd said in English several times: ‘We have come here to talk, not to fight’. He was
arrested by police. Then without giving any warning or order to disperse, the white police opened fire.’
Document C:
Report from a senior Johannesburg surgeon.
‘The post-mortem examinations which I made on 52 of the Africans showed that 70 per cent of the bullets had
entered from the back.’
Sources taken from Kessing’s Contemporary Archives, 1960, quoted in Lowe, Mastering Modern World History, 1997, p 480
1. What different aspects do documents A and B provide? Which account do you consider more reliable? Why?
2. Can document C serve as a clue to which document provides more reliable account?