District 6 Museum

Before I moved to South Africa, a co-worker gave me a book (more on that later) about a neighborhood which was razed during apartheid called "District Six."  Since reading the book, I couldn't wait to go to the museum that commemorates this neighborhood.  And I have to say, it is one of the most moving and haunting museum visits I've ever had.

 

Here is some info. from the District Six Museum website:

"District Six was named the Sixth Municipal District of Cape Town in 1867. Originally established as a mixed community of freed slaves, merchants, artisans, labourers and immigrants, District Six was a vibrant centre with close links to the city and the port. By the beginning of the twentieth century, however, the process of removals and marginalisation had begun. 

The first to be 'resettled' were black South Africans, forcibly displaced from the District in 1901. As the more prosperous moved away to the suburbs, the area became a neglected ward of Cape Town.

In 1966 it was declared a white area under the Group Areas Act of 1950, and by 1982, the life of the community was over. 60,000 people were forcibly removed to barren outlying areas aptly known as the Cape Flats, and their houses in District Six were flattened by bulldozers.

The District Six Museum, established in December 1994, works with the memories of these experiences and with the history of forced removals more generally."

The museum is housed in a former church that hosted many anti-apartheid meetings and is stunning.

 Former street signs are displayed 2 stories high:

The floor is covered in a huge map of the area, where former residents have written their memories and poems -- or just simply where they used to live:

Commissioned art pieces -- like a huge mural that fills the back wall -- mix with everyday and household items, a huge name cloth with former residents' messages, family recipes, kids' toys, and really great information displays and time lines:

This mosaic piece is called "District Six, Piece of My Heart" by Patric de Goede and is a collage made of debris from District Six.

The most striking for me were the hundreds of photos and stories of former residents:

 

I think if there is one issue with the museum, I'd say that the amount of information is almost overwhelming.  Of course, this is probably just because Aaron and I are the worst museum nerds ever.  We WILL read EVERY SINGLE sign.  Every one. 

It's one of the things I love about the dude ... every other person I've ever gone to a museum with gets so impatient with me.  But I can't help it!  And neither can he ... so we did walk out a bit cross-eyed that day ... But it was absolutely worth it.

I walked out of the museum very much thinking -- as so often happens in Cape Town -- of how lucky, lucky, lucky I am, and how much I owe back for that luck.

This plaque called "The Plaque of Shame" was erected on the outside of the church in 1966... I like to think of that small bit of defiance in the midst of apartheid:

Humbling as hell.