LITTLE ROCK Ark.
Just a day into a tour of civil rights landmarks in the South, Nadia Samie says she already sees parallels between the Jim Crow era and the apartheid period in her country, South Africa.
Samie, a student at the University of Cape Town, is among 19 college students from Africa who embarked Friday on a tour of many of the landmarks of the civil rights struggle.
“The practices were similar in the ways black people were segregated and just the way black people were treated,” Samie said. “It’s become even more apparent how similar the fights were between the people on both continents.”
The students from Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa began their tour at Little Rock Central High School, where nine black youth were met with jeers and threats nearly 50 years ago. The school celebrates the 50th anniversary of its desegregation this fall.
The tour to landmarks in Memphis, Tenn.; Birmingham, Ala.; Atlanta and Greensboro, N.C. was arranged through an international exchange program at the University of Arkansas’ Spring International Language Center.
