What Happened At Sharpeville On 21st March 1960-MassacreOr Self-Defence?

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What Happened At Sharpeville On 21st March 1960-Massacre Or Self-Defence?

  1. Study Sources A and B

How far do these sources agree about what happened in Sharpeville on the morning of 21st March? Use the sources to explain your answer.

Both Sources A and B are describing the events of the morning of the 21st of March. Altogether they have very different stories, but there are some similarities. They were both written at the same time, in the morning. They both said that the crowd were moving towards the police station. They also both said that the police were armed and that there were Saracen vehicles present, although they disagreed on the number of vehicles that were there. Source A presents a peaceful atmosphere. It gives the impression the protest was going to be no trouble and the protesters were in a non-threatening manner. The article shows everyone in good spirits it says, ‘It was like a Sunday, outing’ It also says the protesters were ‘grinning and cheerful’.

The opening line to Source B says that ‘trouble was expected’, it suggests that the crowd were violent. It says how there was a shooting in the morning. Source B says that there were a dozen Saracen vehicles, whereas Source A says there were just 3.

Fundamentally the Sources don’t agree, although the basic points agree like the presence of the Saracen cars and the fact the protestors were moving towards the station, they seem to disagree on the nature of the protest. Source A is blaming the police and Source B is blaming the crowd.

  1. Study Sources C and D

Do these photographs prove that either source A or B is wrong? Use the sources to explain your answer.

Neither of the sources prove that either Source A or Source B is wrong. Source C backs up Source A and Source D backs up Source B. source C backs up Source A as it is showing the crowd on the morning of the 21st just as the Source described.

The protestors in the photo are standing still in a non-threatening manner. The picture shows that there was at least one Saracen car there, although the protestors were not crowding round it, and it does not look likely that the only way the police could get through was by force. Source D shows the crowd in a different light. The protestors are surrounding the police car and they all have there hands in the air in a defiant way. Although this photograph was taken after the other photo was taken and Sources A and B were written, it was taken at midday while the others were from early in the day. Overall neither of the photos taken that day proved either Source A or Source B to be false, in fact they backed up the Sources instead. Sources A and C are backing each other up in saying that the protest was intended to be peaceful and the police were at fault. While Sources B and D are trying to show that it was the protestors at fault, as they were not intending on a peaceful protest and were very intimidating for the police. Although it is difficult to tell when there are only 4 sources to compare.

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  1. Study Sources E and F

How reliable is Source F as evidence of what happened at Sharpeville? Use the sources to explain your answer.

Source F is contradicting the government’s version of the ‘true’ events at Sharpeville on March the 21st. It is written by the Anglican Bishop of Johannesburg, Ambrose Reeves. In some ways the evidence given by the Archbishop could be seen as very reliable although there are some reasons why it might not be so. The reasons for it being reliable are that he is a Bishop, a man of God and ...

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