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The message left by President Obama in the Robben Island guestbook today: pic.twitter.com/0xIxg36sJ4
— TheObamaDiary.com (@TheObamaDiary) July 1, 2025
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Arriving in Cape Town
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Visiting Robben Island - The rock quarry labor camp where Nelson Mandela was forced to work as a prisoner
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The First Lady: Today, our family visited Robben Island for an experience we will never forget. Robben Island is located off the coast of South Africa, and from the 1960s through the 1990s, this Island housed a maximum security prison. Many of the prisoners there – including the guide for our visit, a man named Ahmed Mohamed Kathrada – were activists who worked to bring down Apartheid, the South African government’s policies that discriminated against people of color. Under Apartheid, people of different races were separated in nearly every part of South African society. They were forced to attend separate schools, live in separate neighborhoods, even swim at separate beaches – and in nearly every case, the neighborhoods, schools and other facilities for black people were much worse than the ones for white people.
More here
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… with their tour guide, Ahmed Kathrada, a former prisoner with Nelson Mandela
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White House.gov