Shooting At Sharpeville

London, Gollancz, 1960. Hardcover. Very good blue cloth in a very good if somewhat worn and lightly soiled dust jacket. 1st Edition. Blue cloth, gilt titles to spine. 159 pp. includes Appendices. Priced at 18/- on the inner flap. Foreword by Chief Luthuli. 23p b/w photos, some of them quite graphic. 1-page map.

Written before the verdict of the Commission of Enquiry was known. At the time of the shooting, the common attitude of the South African policeman was that "the Native mentality does not allow them to gather for a peaceful demonstration. For them to gather means violence. " Because of this attitude, when there was a gathering of Black South Africans on March 21, 1960 , protesting apartheid, in the black township of Sharpeville, near Vereeniging, South Africa, the police fired on a crowd of blacks, killing or wounding some 250 of them. This book, written by the Bishop of Johannesburg , gives background history, a recounting of the shooting, a report on the Commission of Enquiry, and a conclusion.