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Tutu credits U.S. civil rights history
By Times staff writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 19, 2003
TALLAHASSEE -- The evening was planned as a salute to Archbishop Desmond Tutu. But when the Nobel laureate addressed the Florida conference of black state legislators Tuesday night, he was the one expressing gratitude.
Long before he gained international recognition, Tutu said he maintained hope living during apartheid in South Africa by reading about black men and women gaining equality during the 1940s, '50s and '60s in the United States.
"You don't know how much you meant to us, and for us," he said. "You don't know what an inspiration you have been to us."
He mentioned entertainers such as Lena Horne and Cab Calloway, athletes Jackie Robinson and Joe Louis, and the entire civil rights movements.
"All of those kept in us a flickering little light that said, 'it is possible, it can be done,' " Tutu said. "So I come here to say thank you."
Tutu, who is teaching this year at the University of North Florida, spoke at the caucus' inaugural Black History Month celebration.
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