Firstly take note: Johannesburg is an absolute hole and unless (like us) you fly to/from there on a trip to S. Africa, or (like us) you want to visit the Aparteid Museum, don't ever bother to go there.
After picking up some knowledge on Aparteid from our time in Cape Town, it was great to have the opportunity to learn a whole lot more at the specially dedicated museum in Jo'burg. As soon as you arrive, the tone of the day is set by you being given a card that tells you to what racial group you would have been assigned. I guess Alicia and I are tailor made for this and I get a "Whites" card and Alicia, one of the "Non-Whites". Funny to think that only 15 years ago, we wouldn't have been allowed to make this South African trip together.
The museum is pretty big, and literally packed with information. From the history of how and why Aparteid came about, the huge problems it created, how it was finally abolished in the 90's and the vision for South Africa in the years to come. You can choose how much you want to learn and how long you want to spend there by following different paths. We were there for a little over three hours and we could have easily been there even longer.
There is early video footage of Nelson Mandela (a BBC interview whilst he was an "illegal" political activist), along with various other newspaper articles and recordings that help to piece together the story in a familiar way. You become quite entranced by the "normality" that surrounded something that today seems so abnormal and inhumane.
One of the most interesting things that this particular museum has going for it, is that it ends completely in the present. This is not something that happened centuries or even decades ago. Today's South Africa is still working out how it's going to deal with Race along with all the other major issues it faces as it progresses (like all other countries) through the 21st century.
