from all parts of the country, arriving in Johannesburg via car, bus, bicycle, by foot and horseback. The majority of the people in the gathering were black South Africans, with hundreds of Indian South Africans, whites and so-called "Coloureds". The object of the Congress was to adopt a Freedom Charter representing the aspirations of South Africans of all races. The aim was to have a lead speaker present each section of the proposed charter and to open the section to general discussion and debate by the gathering. This did not happen due to the intervention by the government, and each section was instead agreed to, but not by general discussion. Albert Luthuli, Yusuf Dadoo and Father Trevor Huddleston were all honoured with the ANC's highest honour, Isitwalandwe, but only Huddleston was able to receive his, the other two being subject to banning orders issued by the government. The Congress concluded on 27 June, when the gathering was surrounded by the South African Police and broken up. They made several arrests, confiscated documents and photographed the delegates. Ratification of the Charter The last aim of the Congress was to collect a million signatures by 26 June 1956 to acknowledge the creation of the Freedom Charter. A quota of signatures was decided upon with the following required from each province: Transvaal 450,000; Cape Province 350,000; Natal 150,000 and the Orange Free State 50,000. The delegates then returned home to report back to their communities or organisations to spread the adoption of the Freedom Charter. By the end of 1955, 156 leading Congress Alliance activists were arrested and tried for treason in the 1956 Treason Trial; the Charter itself was used as evidence and eventually declared illegal. Significance of the event The Congress of the People led to the Congress movement assuming a fully non-racial character for the first time. From this people's meeting and Charter was born a truly national liberation movement with the aim of a complete social transformation, requiring a radical restructuring of all aspects of South African society. References Events associated with apartheid History of the African National Congress Soweto 1955 in South Africa 1955 conferences Opposition to apartheid in South Africa