117 Days: VMC

"[Ruth First's] life, and her death, remains a beacon to all who love liberty."
- Nelson Mandela, at the commemoration of the tenth anniversary of Ruth First's murder

RUTH FIRST (1925 ߝ 1982) was a journalist, editor, activist and author whose leadership in the anti-apartheid movement put her in the sights of South Africa’s notoriously repressive law enforcement community. She left South Africa in March 1964 and published her record of the ordeal and played herself in the BBC production. She edited a collection of Nelson Mandela’s articles and speeches entitled No Easy Walk to Freedom. On August 17th, 1982, Ruth First was killed by a letter-bomb sent to her by the South African security police.
ANGELA DAVIS is Professor Emerita of History of Consciousness and Feminist Studies at the University of California Santa Cruz. She is the author of eight books. In 1970, she was placed on the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted” list for her involvement in the campaign to free the Soledad Brothers.