In The Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg.

Nothing prepares you for the emotions evoked by a tour of the Apartheid museum. You can't help but flinch when you are handed a racial classification pass that labels you White or Non- White to begin your tour through separate revolving doors based on your assigned race.




The Non- White door leads you to a gallery containing caged blown up 'Dom passes' Stupid passes, the ID cards that black South Africans were forced to carry during Apartheid.
The museum painfully chronicles the rise and fall of Apartheid from the start in 1948 when the White National Party government began implementing a policy that turned 20 million people into second class citizens in the country of their birth, damning them to a life of servitude and abuse, through to liberation in 1994 with the election of Nelson Mandela. The vivid photographs and video footage bring to life the turmoil and humiliation suffered by blacks during the long years of oppression.
Other exhibitions pay tribute to the triumph of several political leaders, including Black Conciousness leader Steve Biko, who died as a result of injuries sustained when security police brutally beat him for refusing to stand up during interrogation.
Just before you exit the museum you come to a big glass case containing pebbles, where you are requested to place a pebble in a pile and say silent prayer in remembrance of the victims of Apartheid.



TO BE FREE IS NOT MERELY TO CAST OFF ONE'S CHAINS BUT TO LIVE IN A WAY THAT RESPECTS AND ENHANCES THE FREEDOM OF OTHERS
Nelson Mandela quote on wall outside the museum.