YOUNG, GIFTED BUT BLACK

What is common about these names? 

 Abraham Lincoln           Martin Luther King

   Nelson Mandela               Mahatma Gandhi

Look up a dictionary for the meaning of APARTHEID 

Now read this poem. 

YOUNG, GIFTED BUT BLACK

When Mebula Ramsandra

Was three years old

His mother told him, that if he wanted

To be a big strong man

He'd have to drink all his milk - 

And he did. 

When Mebula Ramsandra

Was five years old

His teacher told him 

That of he wanted 

To go to a grammar school 

He'd have to try harder with his homework-

And he did. 

When Mebula Ramsandra

Was fifteen years old

His lecturer told him

That if he wanted to be lab technician 

He would have to go to University - 

And he did. 

So ten years later

When Mebula Ramsandra

Was twenty-five years old, 

A big, strong, clever, educated postgraduate - 

The man on the other end of the telephone said, 

If he wanted to work for him. 

He'd have to be big, strong, clever, postgraduate and white. 

For solved exercises of this poem, click on the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJTgYmbQGweWg7n1IMh3PCA/join