Sharpeville Massacre March 21st, 1960

On this tragic day in 1960, armed white South African Police fired more than seven hundred shots at peaceful black demonstrators who were protesting the country's discriminatory pass laws in Sharpeville township. Sixty nine blacks were killed and one hundred an eighty were wounded, almost all were shot in the back..

The Security Council of the United Nations, in an unprecedented move, condemned the Sharpeville Massacre and the racist South African Government. Six years later the General Assembly of the United Nations declared March 21st the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. In 1988, ministers representing Canada's ten provinces and two northern territories agreed to attend a conference on human rights to commemorate March 21st in all jurisdictions of Canada as the International Day for the Elimination of Racism.

In 1989, Canada launched its first March 21st campaign.

In 1990, the first "Run Against Racism" was started.