Kelly: Fight against apartheid came to Nebraska in 1980s with gift of South African gold coins

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/article/20131211/NEWS/131219788/1698#kelly-fight-against-apartheid-came-to-nebraska-in-1980s-with-gift-of-south-african-gold-coins

By Michael Kelly

Nelson Mandela still sat in prison in South Africa when the controversy over apartheid reached an unexpected place — Nebraska.

It all started with a gift to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln of 1,300 South African gold coins, called krugerrands.

The upshot of 1980 debate over that $800,000 gift — the equivalent of $2.3 million today — was that the Nebraska Legislature became the first state legislative body in the nation to impose economic sanctions against South Africa.

South Africa's apartheid and its white-minority rule surely weren't ended by Nebraska alone. But other states followed the Cornhusker State's lead, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu said during a later visit to Lincoln that such pressure helped to end apartheid.

FULL story at link.