Hector Pieterson

(1963 - June 16, 1976)

Born in 1963, and one of the youngest killed in the Soweto uprising of 1976. A newspaper photograph (taken by Sam Nzima) of Peterson's body being carried away from the killing grounds came to symbolise the wider tragedy, indeed the liberation struggle itself. A postmortem revealed that he was killed by a short fired directly at him and by a bullet 'ricocheting off the ground' as police claimed.


This biography is from South African History Online. Used by permission. 
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