Have You Heard from Johannesburg - Birmingham Civil Rights ...

In July 1963, future president of his
country Nelson Mandela (b. 1918) sat in
a Johannesburg prison cell awaiting
additional sentencing to what became
decades of incarceration. Long a fighter
in the struggle to end apartheid,
Mandela had once led the youth league
of the African National Congress (ANC).
He believed strongly in the power of
youth to organize for change.
Mandela’s visionary leadership changed
South Africa.
“In our struggle for freedom and justice in the U.S….we feel
a powerful sense of identification with those in…South
Africa. Today great leaders [like] Nelson Mandela…are
wasting away in Robben Island prison. In this situation…we
in America have a unique responsibility.”
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to members of British Parliament
(1964)