Nelson Mandela, the Greatest Black Man of the Twentieth Century.

Ron Stockton, July 2013   

[Reflections on two encounters with Mandela:

the Stocktons' drive from Kenya to Capetown,

and Mandela's visit to Detroit. For story, click

Mandela-Stockton.doc,

then follow instruction to click "DOWNLOAD."

For excerpts from the opening, see below.]

We were teaching in Kenya, young, no children, and apparently with little common sense.  We got the crazy idea of driving down to Cape Town during our six-week winter break. ...

The timing was awful. This was just a month after Ian Smith of Southern Rhodesia had rejected a transition to majority rule and had proclaimed a Unilateral Declaration of Independence for that white-ruled British colony. ...

As we stood on top of [Table Mountain] ..., we could see Robben Island, a small barren pile of rocks four miles out into the Atlantic Ocean.  The Rivonia trial had found Nelson Mandela and nine fellow ANC defendants guilty of trying to overthrow the white apartheid regime.  Mandela had delivered a defiant speech in response to his conviction, acknowledging his activities and affirming his goals, and acknowledging the fact that he was facing a possible death sentence.

...