| Morris Isaacson High School | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | |
 | |
1349 Mphuti Street, Central Western Jabavu, Soweto | |
| Coordinates | 26°14′44″S27°52′20″E / 26.2455°S 27.8722°E |
| Information | |
| Type | Government |
| Established | 1956 |
| Colour(s) | Blue and White |
Morris Isaacson High School is a government secondary school in Soweto. Founded in 1956, the school took an important role at the start of the Soweto Uprising in 1976.
The school was named for Morris Isaacson who was a Lithuanian Jewish immigrant in 1896. He had become wealthy by trading and he set up a fund for black students to complete their education to university level. [1] It was Isaacson who funded this school. [2] Isaacson gave enough money to build a school with ten classrooms and it opened in 1956 with 300 pupils when it was called "Mohloding School". [3]
During the height of apartheid, teachers at Morris Isaacson High School managed to provide good quality education, despite the oppressive limits of the underfunded Bantu Education system. [4]
On 8 June 1976, the South African Police attempted to arrest Enos Ngutshane at Naledi High School. He was the local leader of the South African Students Movement. [5] He had sent a letter to the government about the imposition of Afrikaans as the language to be used in schools. The police failed to apprehend him, and the police were stoned and a Volkswagen Beetle was set on fire by the students. [6]
On 16 June, students had gathered at Naledi High School to walk to Morris Isaacson High School in Jabavu. [5] Tsietsi Mashinini, a student at this school was a leader of the march of protest. [7] The plan was to gather at Orlando Stadium, but before that the police arrived and school children were shot. [5]
Because of the prominent role that students played in the Soweto Uprising, Morris Isaacson High School was forced to remain shut from June 1976 until 1979. [4] When it reopened, the school managed to survive the turbulent decade of the 1980s. In 1991, a fire destroyed large portions of the school, including the administration block and damaged the library, some classes and the laboratory. [4]
In 1992, the film Sarafina! was filmed at Morris Isaacson High School. The school was chosen partly because of its association with student activism. [4]
On 1 May 1993, Nelson Mandela visited the school to celebrate the school's role in the Soweto Uprising and nation's transformation.
By 1995 the school had 36 classrooms, 1100 students, and 34 teachers. [3]
There is a statue of Teboho Mashinini by Johannes Phokela on the grounds that was unveiled on 1 May 2010 by the Mayor of Johannesburg. [10] Morris Isaacson High School has become a center of Youth Day commemorations of the 1976 Soweto Uprising. [4]
Soweto is a township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for South Western Townships. Formerly a separate municipality, it is now incorporated in the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, and one of the suburbs of Johannesburg.
The Azanian People's Organisation (AZAPO) is a South African liberation movement and political party. The organisation's two student wings are the Azanian Students' Movement (AZASM) for high school learners and the Azanian Students' Convention (AZASCO) for university level students. The organisation's women's wing is Imbeleko Women's Organisation, simply known as IMBELEKO. Its inspiration is drawn from the Black Consciousness Movement inspired philosophy of Black Consciousness developed by Steve Biko, Harry Nengwekhulu, Abram Onkgopotse Tiro, Vuyelwa Mashalaba and others, as well as Marxist Scientific Socialism.
The Soweto uprising was a series of demonstrations and protests led by black school children in South Africa during apartheid that began on the morning of 16 June 1976.
Popo Simon Molefe OLS is a businessman and former politician from South Africa.
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Frank Chikane is a South African civil servant, writer and cleric. He is a member of the African National Congress and moderator of the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs for the World Council of Churches (WCC).
Teboho "Tsietsi" MacDonald Mashinini in Jabavu, Soweto, South Africa, died in the summer of 1990 in Conakry, Guinea, and buried in Avalon Cemetery, was the main student leader of the Soweto Uprising that began in Soweto and spread across South Africa in June, 1976.
Murphy Morobe is a historical figure from South Africa's anti-apartheid movement.
Internal resistance to apartheid in South Africa originated from several independent sectors of South African society and took forms ranging from social movements and passive resistance to guerrilla warfare. Mass action against the ruling National Party (NP) government, coupled with South Africa's growing international isolation and economic sanctions, were instrumental in leading to negotiations to end apartheid, which began formally in 1990 and ended with South Africa's first multiracial elections under a universal franchise in 1994.
Sarafina! is a 1992 musical drama film based on Mbongeni Ngema's 1987 musical of the same name. The film was directed by Darrell Roodt and written by Ngema and William Nicholson, and stars Leleti Khumalo, Miriam Makeba, John Kani, Ngema, and Whoopi Goldberg; Khumalo reprises her role from the stage performance.
Regina Mundi, designed by architect Anthony Noel Errol Slaven, is the largest Roman Catholic church in South Africa. It is located in Rockville, Soweto, a populous black urban residential area within the city of Johannesburg. Due to the role it played as a place of gathering for the people of Soweto in the years before, during, and after the anti-apartheid struggle, it is often referred to as "the people's church" or "the people's cathedral".
Onkgopotse Tiro was a South African student activist and black consciousness militant. He was born in Dinokana, a small village near Zeerust. He was expelled from the University of the North in 1972 for his political activities. At university he had become an active member of the South African Student Organisation, out of which the Black Consciousness Movement grew.
The South African Youth Revolutionary Council (SAYRCO) was a South African political organisation. SAYRCO profiled itself as a 'third force' in the anti-Apartheid struggle. It was associated with the Black Consciousness Movement.
Naledi High School is a government secondary school at 892 Nape Street in Soweto. The school took an important role at the start of the Soweto Uprising in 1976.
Moletsane High School is a government secondary school in Soweto, South Africa. Founded in 1972 it became a secondary school in 1976. Students from the school were involved in the Soweto Uprising in 1976. The school's public/private partnership and the school's improvements in its results were praised by the South African Minister for Education.
"Soweto Blues" is a protest song written by Hugh Masekela and performed by Miriam Makeba. The song is about the Soweto uprising that occurred in 1976, following the decision by the apartheid government of South Africa to make Afrikaans a medium of instruction at school. The uprising was forcefully put down by the police, leading to the death of between 176 and 700 people. The song was released in 1977 as part of Masekela's album You Told Your Mama Not to Worry. The song became a staple at Makeba's live concerts, and is considered a notable example of music in the movement against apartheid.
Nomkhitha Virginia Mashinini was a South African apartheid detainee, the mother of political figure Tsietsi Mashinini, and a community worker.
Johannes Phokela is a South African painter and sculptor.
The South African Students' Movement (SASM) was an anti-apartheid political organisation of South African school students, best known for its role in the 1976 Soweto uprising. By 1976 it was strongly identified with the Black Consciousness Movement. It was banned by the apartheid government in October 1977 as part of the repressive state response to the uprising.
Sediane Danny "Sechaba" Montsitsi was a South African politician and former anti-apartheid activist. One of the leaders of the 1976 Soweto uprising, he later represented the African National Congress in Parliament from 1994 to 2014.
