Questions from Andrea & Overfield’s editorial introductions:1

A. From Mandela

  1. Why did Mandela decide that the ANC must resort to violence to achieve its goals?
  2. What distinction does he draw between sabotage and terrorism?
  3. Why were Mandela and other ANC leaders attracted to communism?
  4. What aspects of apartheid does Mandela find most degrading?
  5. According to Mandela, how does apartheid affect the daily lives of the Africans?

B. From King

  1. According to King, what specific criticisms have been made of his civil rights campaign in Birmingham? What alternatives have King’s critics recommended?
  2. How does King respond to these criticisms?
  3. King describes his method as “nonviolent direct action.” What does he mean by this?
  4. According to King, what are the main obstacles preventing blacks from achieving their goals in the civil rights movement?
  5. King sees similarities between the US civil rights movement and the efforts of Asians and Africans to throw off the bonds of imperialism. Is his analogy valid? Why or why not?

1 Alfred J. Andrea & James H. Overfield, The Human Record: Sources of Global History : To 1700 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000)