Sophiatown
Province
Sophiatown (pronounced with a long i) is a district of Johannesburg in the South African province of Gauteng. It gained great notoriety because of its cultural importance and its forced demolition at the time of apartheid.
Geography
Sophiatown is located about eight kilometers northwest of the Johannesburg center. 2001 lived there 4546 inhabitants.
History
Sophiatown was established in 1899 and named after the name of the wife of the former investor. After a wastewater collection system had been built in the area, moved away many white residents, and non-whites settled in Sophiatown. Until 1913 it was possible for them to acquire land.
After the First World War, the population began to rise sharply. After the Second World War, around 50,000 people lived in Sophiatown. In the apartheid system Sophiatown served as close to the center district with cheap labor.
In the 1950s, Sophiatown became the symbol of a new urban culture of the black majority, similar to the situation in Harlem in New York. So Sophiatown was called the " Paris of Johannesburg ". In particular, for the South African jazz music Sophiatown became the center. The band Jazz Epistles was founded here. Members were Dollar Brand, Kippie Moeketsi and Hugh Masekela, which even today are considered to be most well-known jazz musicians in South Africa. The well-known jazz singer Dolly Rathebe grew up in Sophiatown. The painter Gerard Sekoto and writers like Can Themba, Don Mattera and Bloke Modisane lived here. The South African magazine Drum reflected this era reflected in his articles and photos, many of which originated in Sophiatown. The photographer was one of the German Jürgen Schade mountain.
The British Father Trevor Huddleston led the Anglican church in Sophiatown. Until his return to the United Kingdom in 1956, he argued forcefully for the interests of the residents of the district. So he led the St. Peter 's School, to allow poorer, disadvantaged by apartheid students a good education. This school was also called the " Eton of South Africa" . Hugh Masekela began his career in the Father Huddleston Huddleston band or jazz band founded by Huddleston.
But Sophiatown was also fraught with problems. The district was dirty and overpopulated. There were numerous criminals, called Tsotsi, which were based partly mafia organizations. So Don Mattera was the leader of a violent street gang before beginning his career as a writer.
The Group Areas Act 1950 was enacted, which requires all residential areas were divided into "races". As a result, the demolition was decided for the multiracial Sophiatown. On 10 February 1955, the first inhabitants were forcibly relocated. By 1959, the resettlement, including the newly built township Meadowlands in Soweto today was completed. 1963, the district was demolished. Only the Anglican Church of Christ the King and a few other houses were allowed to stand. Who was destined exclusively for whites: Instead Sophia Towns of the district Triomf ( "Triumph" Afrikaans, German ) was created.
As recently as 2006, the district was officially changed back in Sophiatown.
Attractions
The former home of the politician Alfred Bitini Xuma is the Sophiatown Museum today. The founding of the museum, on the initiative of the City of Johannesburg and the Trevor Huddleston CR Memorial Centre ( THMC ). Xuma was 1940-1949 President of the African National Congress and lived from 1927 to 1959 in Sophiatown, beginning in 1940 with his second wife Madie Beatrice Hall Xuma. During the evacuation of the district they had to move to Dube. The house was spared from demolition and was declared a National Monument in 1998.
Sons and daughters of the district
- Early Mabuza (? -1969 ), A jazz musician
- Kippie Moeketsi (1926-1983), jazz musician
- Wally Serote Mongane (* 1944), writer
- Mzwakhe Mbuli (born 1958 ), musician and poet
Sophiatown as a theme in musical theater, films and novels
Musicals
Movies
Novels
- Don Mattera: Gone with the Twilight: A Story of Sophiatown. Zed Books, 1987, ISBN 0-86232-747-4 (in the U.S. as Sophiatown: Coming of Age in South Africa) German: Sophiatown. Peter Hammer Verlag, Wuppertal 2000, ISBN 978-3-87294-628-7