Projects & Programmes
Photographer: Jan Greshoff
Commemorations
Commemorations at District Six Museum
The work of the District Six Museum involves advocating for the significance of personal and collective memories in the lives of people. The public face of this finds expression through commemorative events and rituals.
Some of these follow the calendar of national commemorations which have been inaugurated during South Africa’s move towards democracy; others are specifically District Six-focused, being dates of events significant to the life of the community.
16 June,
Youth Day
Before the advent of the new South Africa in 1994, 16 June was marked as a day of resistance and as an occasion to remember those who had lost their lives or were injured on that day in 1976.
16 June is a national public holiday in South Africa, celebrated as Youth Day. It has its origins in the 1976 uprisings that started in Soweto and spread countrywide.
The events associated with 16 June 1976 and the subsequent days, impacted significantly on the political landscape of the country particularly on the student and youth movements. Before the advent of the new South Africa in 1994, 16 June was marked as a day of resistance and as an occasion to remember those who had lost their lives or were injured on that day in 1976. Since becoming an official public holiday post-1994, it has come to represent a day on which youth are honoured, affirmed and celebrated.
The Museum’s Youth Day programmes over the years have varied from being youth-driven exhibitions, performances, film screenings, or discussions amongst other things.
Visit https://www.sahistory.org.za/topic/june-16-soweto-youth-uprising for more information about Youth Day in South Africa