June 16 - Day of the African Child

On the morning of June 16, 1976, nearly 20,000 students in Soweto, South Africa took to the streets to protest their deplorable Bantu (Black) apartheid education system. This racist segregated schooling system was established by white Dutch colonizers and forced Black students to learn Afrikaans as the language of instruction.

The 1992 Hollywood musical drama Sarafina! starring South African actress, Leleti Khumalo and Whoopi Goldberg portrays the stories of brave Black students who lost their lives fighting for a quality education. Sarafina! is based on Mbongeni Ngema's 1987 musical of the same name and is one of my favorite movies.

Since 1991 it was first established by the Organization of African Unity (now African Union), the Day of the African Child has been celebrated on June 16 of every year to honor the lives the students who died in the protest and to celebrate children and youth across the continent.

This time last year, I was in Freetown, Sierra Leone collecting data for my dissertation, and had an opportunity to celebrate the Day of the African Child with students and teachers at one of the schools where I had been working. Instead of their usual uniforms, students and teachers came to school dressed in brightly colored Gara and Ankara traditional African prints. There was food, singing, dancing, and playing.

Today is a beautiful reminder that African children and youth deserve to attend schools where they feel safe and affirmed in their racial, ethnic, gender, and religious backgrounds.