Sophiatown was a lively, mostly-black suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. In 1955, under the apartheid Group Areas Act, non-white residents were forcibly ejected. By the end of 1963, all buildings save Christ the King Anglican Church had been demolished, and the white suburb of Triomf, meaning "triumph" in Afrikaans, was built where Sophiatown had stood.
Sophiatown, despite being a slum, was a cultural center where members of different racial groups could mix. A number of South African writers, including Can Themba and others who wrote for Drum magazine, lived in Sophiatown. Artist Gerald Sekoto painted Sophiatown street scenes. A number of jazz bands were created in Sophiatown, including The Jazz Epistles, whose members included Dollar Brand, Kippie Moeketsi and Hugh Masekela.
Trevor Huddleston, at that time pastor at Christ the King Anglican Church, lived in Sophiatown. His ashes reside next to his former church.
Sophiatown (pronounced with a long, stressed i) is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa.
Sophiatown was one of four freehold townships outside of the city of Johannesburg, South Africa.
The government bulldozed Sophiatown by the end of 1963 (except for the Anglican Church of Christ the King -- ironically a center of resistance to the removals) and rebuilt it as a white only suburb named Triomf (Triumph).
Sophiatown was a lively, mostly-fl suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa.
Sophiatown, despite being a slum, was a cultural center where members of different racial groups could mix.
A number of jazz bands were created in Sophiatown, including The Jazz Epistles, whose members included Dollar Brand, Kippie Moeketsi and Hugh Masekela.
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