A Lesson from Ambassador James Joseph

I recently attended a memorial service for my dear friend and former Children’s Defense Fund Board Chair Ambassador James Joseph

- Marian Wright Edelman

Ambassador Joseph was civil rights, corporate, and philanthropic leader, including his transformative service as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Council on Foundations a co-founder and chair of the Association of Black Foundation Executives, and a lifelong public servant. He was an advisor to four U.S. presidents beginning with President Carter, and in 1995, was appointed as the U.S. Ambassador to South Africa by President Clinton.

It was a crucial moment following Nelson Mandela’s 1994 election as South Africa’s first Black president; and Ambassador Joseph became the only American ambassador to present his credentials to President Mandela as he worked closely with his new administration. He witnessed firsthand South Africa’s early post-apartheid struggles as it sought to move away from its legacy of white supremacy, legal segregation, and racial violence towards a new future striving for truth and reconciliation, and could see the parallels between South Africa’s history and our own. He also held out hope for what both nations could become.