JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – Unlike the American civil rights movement, which I experienced only second-hand – mainly through textbooks, archival footage, and personal testimonies – I’ve always felt closely aligned with the freedom struggles of the 1980s that was solidly aimed at dismantling apartheid in South Africa.

As a child, I watched the acts of mob violence inflicted against black South Africans broadcast to my television screen and I heard sophisticated black folks talk about the need to pressure American companies to divest from South Africa.

Along with almost every other black person, I knew, I cheered when Nelson Mandela was released from prison after serving a 27-year sentence for protesting his government’s apartheid policies.

Mr. Mandela’s release made me feel proud to be a black American. He represents the very best of humanity.

I experienced that same feeling of pride recently as I roamed the streets of Johannesburg. I was surprised by how much had changed since the day of his release, February 11, 1990. Black and white South Africans embrace the opportunity to talk candidly about the dark period that haunted their country’s history. They make parallels to the fight that African-Americans had to wage in a racist American South that was governed under a set of regimented Jim Crow laws.

Looking around this beautiful, mountainous country, it is relatively easy to spot African-Americans. They have firmly planted themselves here. Many resettled a decade ago, just as the country was transforming and committing itself to open elections for the first time.

Rodney Frisby, 49, a former investment banker who used to live in Harlem, made the move five years ago. By all accounts, he’s a South African.

“I came here because I felt obligated as an African-American to come back and make sure that black South Africans finally got what they deserved,” Mr. Frisby said. He has been trying to encourage other African-American developers and businesses to build throughout the country. “At the end of the day, we are all responsible for each other. If black South Africans fail, black Americans have to take some responsibility for that failure.”

The idea of a partnership between black South Africans and African-Americans was formulated under Mr. Mandela’s tenure and has since been fostered under President Mbeki.

In his first trip to America after being released from jail, Mr. Mandela made the historic visit to New York City, where he met with Mayor Dinkins and a cadre of black leaders. They discussed the need for a black South African-African-American partnership. The need remains.

“There is a place for us here in South Africa,” Beverly Gates, 43, who has been living here for the past two years, said. “They see us as their brothers and sisters, and we see them as our family. We’re one in the same.”

My trip to South Africa, which was paid for by the South African government, was an opportunity aimed at getting African-Americans excited about visiting, investing, and possibly even relocating to the country that had been ignored by the international community for so long.

In the northwest part of the country, South African officials will host a Jazz African Heritage festival in February, which is Black History month in America. The festival will include well-known South African and African-American artists, who will perform and raise money for the mostly black New Orleans victims who lost their homes and livelihoods in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

“We felt so bad by the way that the black people were treated in New Orleans,” my cab driver told me during our two-hour trek back to the airport. “Too many people make too many distinctions about us. But when the day comes to an end, we are all Africans.”

I agree, which is why I’ve been encouraging African-Americans to make the visit. As South Africa struggles to rebuild itself financially, the nation continues to face serious problems, such as high unemployment and an HIV/AIDS crisis that has reached epidemic proportions.

After years of neglect by the international community, African-Americans may well be the ones who can step up to the plate and help to make South Africa even stronger.

Mr. Watson is the executive editor of the New York Amsterdam News. He can be reached at jamalwats@aol.com.