Jan 15th: Historic Tour & District Six

This morning, we went on a historical walking tour to learn about slavery in South Africa, which is often overlooked when learning about the country’s history. In the afternoon, we went to the District 6 location to learn about the forced removal of diverse communities that were deemed as white areas during Apartheid.

We met historian Lucy for our walking tour. Even through sprinkling rain, the tour went on as we took shelter in the outer wall tunnel. Lucy shared the story of Cape Town’s foundation on slavery, her personal experience with her identity as a black queer woman, and the racism and inequalities that still shape Cape Town today. 

Lucy guided us around Cape Town to sites of historical significance to the slavery history of the region. In the above picture, we stopped at a memorial to the children born into slavery and their experiences.

Lucy took the class to the Slave Lodge Museum to finish off our tour. In the photo above, we are listening to her critiques about the passivity of the museum, and capitalism as a colonial tool.

The District Six Museum focused on providing the context of people's lives through images prior to their forced removal. Our tour Guide, Jo, lived in District Six when he was young. As he went through the photos, Jo told us about the people he knew, such as a married couple he was neighbors with, and a queer woman who did his hair (shown in the photo in the center, with pearls, and a feather hat). Jo told us that it didn’t matter the race, sexuality, or gender of a person; what mattered. most was that they were a member and contributory.

Students, after our tour from past District Six resident and musician Joe, explored the museum independently, learning about the stories of the many displaced residents.