Why Did Black Opposition to Apartheid Change in the 1960s and 1970's?

What the Sharpeville massacre made clear was that the government, deeply entrenched in racist attitudes, would not tolerate opposition and protest from black groups such as the ANC and PAC. They would react to public demonstrations of anger against injustice with extreme violence. Resultantly, the demonstrators also decided to use violence instead.

The blacks wanted to fight for their rights and they became more forceful because they realised that peaceful protests such as the defiance campaign didn't affect the South African government decision, although it won them a lot of publicity. Also, they intended that the Sharpeville demonstrations would be peaceful but they actually resulted in 69 black deaths.

When Mandela was caught by the police and sentenced for life imprisonment in 1964, although it crippled the MK, it must have made them more determined to bring equality into South Africa and end apartheid. After hearing about the Rivonia trial, the black people probably looked upon Mandela as their idol and he probably also inspired them to bring an end to apartheid - this determination also would have led to more assertiveness and use of violence.

This led to riots and violent protests, such as the tragic Soweto riots and Sharpeville shooting, which were very threatening to the South African government because these internal reasons would result in external reasons such as negative world opinion of South Africa, which would be beneficial to the protesters. The knowledge of black Africans that international support existed gave the resistance movements the confidence to continue their struggle even in the face of appalling acts of government aggression such as the killing of school children protesting about being taught in Afrikaans which they saw to be the language of oppression.

In 1970 the opposition of Apartheid in South Africa grew, as a Blacks Consciousness Movement was established, this is another internal factor which influenced the change in tactics of black opposition. The leader of this new movement was Steve Biko who taught the Blacks to celebrate their “blackness”, because he believed that to achieve equality, blacks must first learn to respect themselves. Most members of the Blacks Consciousness Movement were better educated and younger blacks who had been influenced by Biko and therefore angry about the way they had been treated. They would consequently be more determined to use violence to bring an end to apartheid.

In conclusion the most important factor which explains why black opposition changed from peaceful to violent is probably the Sharpeville shooting because the ANC and PAC realised that their peaceful tactics to bring down apartheid were making the situation worse rather than helping the campaign for the liberation of the people of South Africa and resulted in the use of violence.