It was a decisive turning point in the fight against apartheid in South Africa. On 16 June 1976, students took to the streets of Soweto to protest against the imposition of Afrikaans as the language of instruction in Black schools.
What followed was a massacre, with 176 dead after the police opening fired, and a death toll that came closer to 700 as the protests spread across the country.
"The 1976 struggle was, in its broadness, a fight against apartheid, but we knew that there's a pillar of that system of apartheid that we needed to deal with, and that was education," said Seth Mazibuko who was one of the student leaders at the time.
One of the most enduring symbols of the Soweto uprising is that of 13-year-old Hector Pieterson. Soweto resident, Mrs Sixolo, was a first-hand witness of the apartheid police's actions on that day.
She said that she that the police were in her street and she could not believe her eyes as she went outside with other parents.
