In the 1940s and early 1950s, Sophiatown was a focal point of black culture. Located in the suburbs of Johannesburg, Sophiatown during this era was often compared to Harlem in New York City. Both were home to a vibrant black community whose art, music, and way of life created a strong sense of place.

Sophiatown’s existence, however, was cut short. In 1950, the white-minority National Party government passed the Group Areas Act, which required that blacks and whites live in separate areas. To achieve this apartheid-era goal of racial segregation, the government planned a program of forced relocation. In early 1955, police forces entered Sophiatown, rousing residents from their homes and loading them and their belongings onto trucks. In all, some 65,000 people were relocated to the Meadowlands, a newly established black area in neighboring Soweto. The government promptly bulldozed Sophiatown to make way for a new whites-only suburb called Triomf.

Recently, efforts have been made to rectify the injustice of these forced relocation programs. In 2006, Triomf formally reverted back to the name Sophiatown.

© ProjectExplorer.org 2007-present
Text by Adam Sewall
Image by Meredith Claire, from Sophiatown Restaurant in Newtown, Johannesburg