Soweto
Sprawling township of vibrant streets and murals, birthplace of the uprising that shook apartheid.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Soweto in Johannesburg opens with a defiant slogan from 1955, shouted in Sophiatown, a jazz-loving neighbourhood where Black families could own their land. It follows the families who were sent out from there, the small square houses built to receive them, and the suburb that took Sophiatown's place under a name meant as a sneer. Best heard standing on a street of those houses, where you can look along the rooflines.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Mandela's House
Modest matchbox home of bullet holes and scorch marks, kept as the family left it after apartheid-era raids.
Vilakazi Street
Heritage street once home to two Nobel Peace Prize laureates, now lined with cafes and craft stalls.
Hector Pieterson Memorial
Memorial marking the spot where a schoolboy was shot dead during the nineteen seventy six student uprising.
Newtown
Former fruit market turned theatre and arts district where apartheid-era audiences defied segregation laws.
The Workers' Museum
Restored migrant-worker hostel with concrete bunks and a punishment room recalling apartheid-era labour conditions.
The Market Theatre
Converted early twentieth century produce market turned non-racial theatre that defied apartheid segregation laws.