District Six Museum
Heritage museum · City Bowl ·
Museum documents forced removals, preserves personal stories of apartheid
Museum documents forced removals, preserves personal stories of apartheid
"A mainland museum dedicated to documenting and interpreting the forced removals and social history of a community displaced under apartheid, offering visitors an important, localized perspective on racial segregation and its impacts." - Katie Jackson Katie Jackson Katie Jackson is a New York City-based writer who covers travel, food, and more. Her work has appeared in USA Today, The Sunday Times, Esquire, Outside, New York Post, and Travel + Leisure, among others. Travel + Leisure Editorial Guidelines
"A sobering, community-focused museum housed in a former Methodist church that documents the history of forced removals during apartheid—more than 60,000 people displaced in the 1960s and ’70s—and aims to provide visitors with critical context about the city’s social and political past." - Sophie Mendel Sophie Mendel Sophie Mendel is an editor at Travel + Leisure, where she assigns, edits, and publishes the product reviews and recommendations that help guide travelers toward the best shoes, apparel, accessories, and hotels for their needs. Sophie has traveled to 53 countries and lived in five, and is bilingual in English and Spanish. She has more than six years of experience as a writer, editor, and copywriter. Travel + Leisure Editorial Guidelines
"District Six was originally a mixed community of freed slaves, merchants, artisans, laborers, and immigrants. Marginalization and forced removal of the residents began early in the last century and, in 1966, the neighborhood was declared a white area. By 1982, more than 60,000 people had been relocated to a barren spot aptly known as the Cape Flats, and their houses in District Six were flattened by bulldozers. An agreement about what to do with the land that was District Six has yet to be reached, and those who were forcibly evicted are still awaiting a fair settlement. Established in 1994, the District Six Museum preserves memories of the area through photographs, traffic signs, and videos, and also focuses on forced removals in general. A large map of the district covers the floor of the museum and includes former residents' handwritten notes about where they once lived."
"The District Six Museum tells the heartbreaking narrative of a vibrant multiracial neighborhood whose members were forcibly removed during Apartheid in the 1960s. Located in a former church in downtown Cape Town, the museum invites viewers to observe the struggle of the District’s Six inhabitants, before and after they were involuntarily relocated. It’s a small and intimate space that offers a sobering reflection on one of the many tragic tales during this era of South African history." - Mary Holland
"District Six was a vibrant, mixed-race community in Cape Town until its residents were forcibly evicted by the apartheid government in the 1970s. The original residents have dispersed far and wide, and now this intimate museum stands as a memorial to them. The entire collection of the two-story venue is created from personal artifacts from former residents: pictures, artwork, letters, news clippings, and narrations recorded on tape. While it's certainly not off the beaten path, it makes for a poignant counterpart to Robben Island, allowing you to understand some of what common people endured during apartheid." - Sarah Khan