Soweto, South Africa: Thirteen year old Hector Peterson was shot to death by apartheid police at a student protest in Soweto, South Africa in 1976. The photograph taken of his lifeless body drew international outrage and called attention to the severity of the discrimination and police brutality in the country. The June 16th protests claimed hundreds of lives, and a museum paying tribute to these young victims has recently opened in Soweto, just blocks from the site of Peterson’s shooting. The museum educates visitors as to the political and social context for the protests, focusing special attention on the political activism of Soweto youth.
