South Africa: Pressure to End Apartheid Began At Grass Roots in U.S.

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Washington — On November 21, 1984, a group of African-American leaders, frustrated by South Africa's systematic racial injustice, entered the South African Embassy in Washington and demanded freedom for Nelson Mandela and the release of South Africa's political prisoners. When the leaders refused to leave, they were arrested.

Protests outside South Africa's embassy would continue nearly every day for the next few years, attracting larger and larger crowds. Over time, there was increased media attention as the list of those arrested included 25 members of the U.S. Congress and leaders from the U.S. civil rights movement such as Rosa Parks, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, and Martin Luther King Jr.'s widow and two of his children. In all, about 5,000 people were arrested outside the embassy, including tennis star Arthur Ashe and musician Stevie Wonder.

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