Introduction
Studs Terkel was deeply interested in South Africa and he made a pivotal trip there in 1963 during which he witnessed the tragedy of Apartheid first-hand talking with key figures in the resistance.
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Studs Terkel was deeply interested in South Africa and he made a pivotal trip there in 1963 during which he witnessed the tragedy of Apartheid first-hand talking with key figures in the resistance such as Nobel Peace Prize winner and African National Congress leader Chief John Luthuli (while he was under house arrest), writers such as Nadine Gordimer and Alan Paton, coal miners, musicians, school children and others. Terkel’s printed interviews from his trip also lead directly to him being noticed by publisher Andre Schiffrin who then suggested the idea of Terkel writing oral history books, which opened up his new career as a celebrated oral historian. Throughout his life he continued to devote programs to the ongoing changes in South Africa.
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