diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 51156fd02..6acb91e20 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@ ccache
 /emsdk/emsdk
 
 *.egg-info/
-packages/six/six-1.11.0
 packages/lz4/lz4-1.8.3
 packages/CLAPACK/CLAPACK-WA
 packages/CLAPACK/clapack.tgz
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 5661c920c..91b9b27ec 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -40,9 +40,6 @@ LDFLAGS=\
 	-s "BINARYEN_TRAP_MODE='clamp'" \
 	-s LZ4=1
 
-SIX_ROOT=packages/six/six-1.11.0/build/lib
-SIX_LIBS=$(SIX_ROOT)/six.py
-
 JEDI_ROOT=packages/jedi/jedi-0.17.2/jedi
 JEDI_LIBS=$(JEDI_ROOT)/__init__.py
 
@@ -133,7 +130,6 @@ clean:
 	rm -fr src/*.bc
 	rm -fr node_modules
 	make -C packages clean
-	make -C packages/six clean
 	make -C packages/jedi clean
 	make -C packages/parso clean
 	make -C packages/libxslt clean
@@ -168,7 +164,6 @@ $(UGLIFYJS) $(LESSC): emsdk/emsdk/.complete
 
 root/.built: \
 		$(CPYTHONLIB) \
-		$(SIX_LIBS) \
 		$(JEDI_LIBS) \
 		$(PARSO_LIBS) \
 		src/sitecustomize.py \
@@ -179,7 +174,6 @@ root/.built: \
 	mkdir -p root/lib
 	cp -r $(CPYTHONLIB) root/lib
 	mkdir -p $(SITEPACKAGES)
-	cp $(SIX_LIBS) $(SITEPACKAGES)
 	cp -r $(JEDI_ROOT) $(SITEPACKAGES)
 	cp -r $(PARSO_ROOT) $(SITEPACKAGES)
 	cp src/sitecustomize.py $(SITEPACKAGES)
@@ -224,12 +218,6 @@ $(CPYTHONLIB): emsdk/emsdk/.complete $(PYODIDE_EMCC) $(PYODIDE_CXX)
 	date +"[%F %T] done building cpython..."
 
 
-$(SIX_LIBS): $(CPYTHONLIB)
-	date +"[%F %T] Building six..."
-	make -C packages/six
-	date +"[%F %T] done building six."
-
-
 $(JEDI_LIBS): $(CPYTHONLIB)
 	date +"[%F %T] Building jedi..."
 	make -C packages/jedi
diff --git a/docs/changelog.md b/docs/changelog.md
index 80ed5a70c..0edc18b28 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.md
+++ b/docs/changelog.md
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@
 
   As part of the change, Module.checkABI is no longer present.
   [#991](https://github.com/iodide-project/pyodide/pull/991)
+- six is no longer vendored in the main pyodide package, and needs to be loaded
+  explicitly [#1010](https://github.com/iodide-project/pyodide/pull/1010)
 
 ### Added
 - `micropip` now supports installing wheels from relative urls. [#872](https://github.com/iodide-project/pyodide/pull/872)
diff --git a/packages/attrs/meta.yaml b/packages/attrs/meta.yaml
index 2a8905da3..e80cfa602 100644
--- a/packages/attrs/meta.yaml
+++ b/packages/attrs/meta.yaml
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@ package:
 source:
   sha256: 0ef97238856430dcf9228e07f316aefc17e8939fc8507e18c6501b761ef1a42a
   url: https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/c4/d4/c2b5232ecfc0783c697a81c13efc53a4fe285d4e2c00e0d8aed90495fade/attrs-20.1.0.tar.gz
+requirements:
+  run:
+    - six
 test:
   imports:
   - attr
diff --git a/packages/bleach/meta.yaml b/packages/bleach/meta.yaml
index dd1191aaf..4c3f3c973 100644
--- a/packages/bleach/meta.yaml
+++ b/packages/bleach/meta.yaml
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ requirements:
   - setuptools
   - webencodings
   - packaging
+  - six
 source:
   sha256: 3c4c520fdb9db59ef139915a5db79f8b51bc2a7257ea0389f30c846883430a4b
   url: https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/a9/ac/dc881fca3ac66d6f2c4c3ac46633af4e9c05ed5a0aa2e7e36dc096687dd7/bleach-3.1.5.tar.gz
diff --git a/packages/cycler/meta.yaml b/packages/cycler/meta.yaml
index b9e930e84..6b92937e2 100644
--- a/packages/cycler/meta.yaml
+++ b/packages/cycler/meta.yaml
@@ -9,3 +9,7 @@ source:
 test:
   imports:
     - cycler
+
+requirements:
+  run:
+    - six
diff --git a/packages/html5lib/meta.yaml b/packages/html5lib/meta.yaml
index 6fe346fe8..4e7ff0a3b 100644
--- a/packages/html5lib/meta.yaml
+++ b/packages/html5lib/meta.yaml
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ package:
 requirements:
   run:
   - webencodings
+  - six
 source:
   sha256: b2e5b40261e20f354d198eae92afc10d750afb487ed5e50f9c4eaf07c184146f
   url: https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/ac/b6/b55c3f49042f1df3dcd422b7f224f939892ee94f22abcf503a9b7339eaf2/html5lib-1.1.tar.gz
diff --git a/packages/packaging/meta.yaml b/packages/packaging/meta.yaml
index 80f65fd07..04eda4602 100644
--- a/packages/packaging/meta.yaml
+++ b/packages/packaging/meta.yaml
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ source:
 requirements:
   run:
     - pyparsing
+    - six
 
 test:
   imports:
diff --git a/packages/patsy/meta.yaml b/packages/patsy/meta.yaml
index 213c5e6d4..cbdd61f94 100644
--- a/packages/patsy/meta.yaml
+++ b/packages/patsy/meta.yaml
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ source:
 requirements:
   run:
     - numpy
+    - six
 
 test:
   imports:
diff --git a/packages/pytest/meta.yaml b/packages/pytest/meta.yaml
index 63e3a01e3..55120b481 100644
--- a/packages/pytest/meta.yaml
+++ b/packages/pytest/meta.yaml
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ requirements:
     - pluggy
     - py
     - setuptools
+    - six
 
 test:
   imports:
diff --git a/packages/python-dateutil/meta.yaml b/packages/python-dateutil/meta.yaml
index e60ac366a..cd38176ed 100644
--- a/packages/python-dateutil/meta.yaml
+++ b/packages/python-dateutil/meta.yaml
@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@ source:
   - patches/dummy-thread-lock.patch
   sha256: 73ebfe9dbf22e832286dafa60473e4cd239f8592f699aa5adaf10050e6e1823c
   url: https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/be/ed/5bbc91f03fa4c839c4c7360375da77f9659af5f7086b7a7bdda65771c8e0/python-dateutil-2.8.1.tar.gz
+requirements:
+  run:
+    - six
 test:
   imports:
   - dateutil
diff --git a/packages/python-sat/meta.yaml b/packages/python-sat/meta.yaml
index 611b9ddca..b592d2e28 100644
--- a/packages/python-sat/meta.yaml
+++ b/packages/python-sat/meta.yaml
@@ -13,3 +13,7 @@ source:
 test:
   imports:
     - pysat
+
+requirements:
+  run:
+    - six
diff --git a/packages/six/Makefile b/packages/six/Makefile
deleted file mode 100644
index 1e2b5781b..000000000
--- a/packages/six/Makefile
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,38 +0,0 @@
-PYODIDE_ROOT=$(abspath ../..)
-include ../../Makefile.envs
-
-SIXVERSION=1.11.0
-
-ROOT=$(abspath .)
-
-SRC=$(ROOT)/six-$(SIXVERSION)
-BUILD=$(SRC)/build/lib/six
-TARBALL=$(ROOT)/downloads/six-$(SIXVERSION).tgz
-URL=https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/16/d8/bc6316cf98419719bd59c91742194c111b6f2e85abac88e496adefaf7afe/six-1.11.0.tar.gz
-
-
-all: $(BUILD)/__init__.py
-
-
-clean:
-	-rm -fr downloads
-	-rm -fr $(SRC)
-
-
-$(TARBALL):
-	[ -d $(ROOT)/downloads ] || mkdir $(ROOT)/downloads
-	wget -q -O $@ $(URL)
-	md5sum --quiet --check checksums || (rm $@; false)
-
-
-$(SRC)/setup.py: $(TARBALL)
-	tar -C . -xf $(TARBALL)
-	touch $(SRC)/setup.py
-
-
-$(BUILD)/__init__.py: $(SRC)/setup.py
-	( \
-		cd $(SRC) ; \
-		$(HOSTPYTHON) setup.py build ; \
-		touch build/lib/six.py \
-	)
diff --git a/packages/six/README.md b/packages/six/README.md
deleted file mode 100644
index b91b9dab0..000000000
--- a/packages/six/README.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-Six is a special case package, since it's so commonly used, we want to include
-it in the main Python package.
diff --git a/packages/six/checksums b/packages/six/checksums
deleted file mode 100644
index f42e9cceb..000000000
--- a/packages/six/checksums
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-d12789f9baf7e9fb2524c0c64f1773f8  downloads/six-1.11.0.tgz
diff --git a/packages/six/meta.yaml b/packages/six/meta.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..bc51d599a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/six/meta.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+package:
+  name: six
+  version: 1.15.0
+source:
+  sha256: 30639c035cdb23534cd4aa2dd52c3bf48f06e5f4a941509c8bafd8ce11080259
+  url: https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/6b/34/415834bfdafca3c5f451532e8a8d9ba89a21c9743a0c59fbd0205c7f9426/six-1.15.0.tar.gz
diff --git a/pyodide_build/tests/test_buildall.py b/pyodide_build/tests/test_buildall.py
index 26768ab18..6975a3074 100644
--- a/pyodide_build/tests/test_buildall.py
+++ b/pyodide_build/tests/test_buildall.py
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ def test_build_dependencies(n_jobs, monkeypatch):
         "libxml",
         "zlib",
         "libiconv",
+        "six",
     }
     assert build_list.index("distlib") < build_list.index("micropip")
     assert build_list.index("soupsieve") < build_list.index("beautifulsoup4")
diff --git a/src/tests/test_pyodide.py b/src/tests/test_pyodide.py
index 1fe8f9bb7..72801e1ea 100644
--- a/src/tests/test_pyodide.py
+++ b/src/tests/test_pyodide.py
@@ -15,14 +15,13 @@ def test_find_imports():
     res = find_imports(
         dedent(
             """
-           import six
            import numpy as np
            from scipy import sparse
            import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
            """
         )
     )
-    assert set(res) == {"numpy", "scipy", "six", "matplotlib"}
+    assert set(res) == {"numpy", "scipy", "matplotlib"}
 
 
 def test_adjust_ast():