Of all the remarkable photographs that Peter Magubane took of Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, perhaps the image that best encapsulates the first leader of the Pan Africanist Congress is one that at first glance might be overlooked. It is a photograph taken early on 21 March 1960, one of the first in a sequence that Magubane captured on that fateful day, which would culminate in the tragedy of the Sharpeville Massacre. The image has a transporting quality: one can imagine the chilliness of an autumnal Soweto morning, the scent of the leaves of the eucalyptus tree in the background, the scratchy surface of the gravel road beneath the feet of the men in the picture. It involves us. We, as viewers, are positioned alongside – slightly behind – a man who, like us, is witness to the scene. And while we are situated as onlookers, we are also – like him – invited to join the others, to step into the tableau before us, and take up a place in the history-making events that are about to unfold.

There is a spectrum of emotions on display in Sobukwe's comrades. Some are smiling, buoyed by the camaraderie of the moment; others are serious, cognisant perhaps of the magnitude of events about to take place; one appears hesitant, as if thinking twice about what their proposed course of action will commit him to; another seems to be awaiting clarification in response to a question he has just directed to Sobukwe; yet another is caught mid-stride, as if he can't wait to start the campaign, to begin the walk to Orlando police station. Yet despite these varying responses, all of these men are connected to one another and grounded by Sobukwe's presence; they are drawing confidence and courage from the political vision and the leadership that he so clearly embodies. Within a few minutes they will set off, heading towards the police station, where they will offer themselves up for arrest as part of the Pan Africanist Congress anti-pass campaign, taking thus a step which will change not only their lives, but eventually also the course of a nation.