Democracy Dies in Darkness

Edward J. Perkins, first Black U.S. ambassador to South Africa, dies at 92

By
November 13, 2020 at 11:16 p.m. EST
Edward J. Perkins, second from left, stands beside South African President P.W. Botha, second from right, in Pretoria in 1986. (Family photo)

Edward J. Perkins, a career diplomat who grew up in segregated Louisiana, became the first African American ambassador to apartheid South Africa and opened the ranks of the Foreign Service to minorities as its director general. He died Nov. 7 at a hospital in Washington. He was 92.

His daughter Katherine Perkins confirmed the death but did not cite a cause.