Apollo Theater sheds light on Harlem's South African roots

Harlem's roots run as wide as they are deep.

The Apollo Theater is producing a four-day festival this weekend to highlight the neighborhoods longstanding affinity with the motherland.

The event, which kicked off Thursday, will run in conjunction with a citywide celebration of the 20th anniversary of Nelson Mandelas historic inauguration as South Africas first black president.

The legendary freedom fighter, who died last year at the age of 95, likened Harlems bond to South Africa to ...an umbilical cord that ties us together, and praised the neighborhoods legacy of battling for civil rights behind the likes of Sojourner Truth, Marcus Garvey and Malcolm X.

Mandela, who led the fight against apartheid and then encouraged reconciliation as his countrys president, made a special visit to Harlem in 1990 shortly after his release from the South African prison in which he spent 27 years.

In his fight against apartheid, Mandela drew on Americas civil rights movement and the Pan-African movement led by Garvey, who founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association in Harlem in the 1920s.

For South Africans, this black world in Harlem gave them hope that there was a road and possibility for them as well, said Harlem historian John Reddick, who will participate in a panel that wraps up the festival on Sunday.

The Uptown Hall will include former Mayor David Dinkins, actor and activist Harry Belafonte, Black Star News publisher Milton Allimadi, National Black Theatre CEO Sade Lythcott, South African Consul General George Monyemangene and Voza Rivers, whose New Heritage Theatre produced a groundbreaking series of plays in the 1980s including Woza Albert!, Asinamli! and Sarafina! that educated Harlemites about the apartheid struggle.

These shows were able to raise the consciousness of what was happening in South Africa, recalled Rivers. It motivated us to want to do more, be active or write checks to assist the movement.

Visit http://www.apollotheater.org for a full Africa Now! South Africa festival schedule.

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Apollo Theater sheds light on Harlem's South African roots