YMCA South Africa

When African-American Max Yergan went to South Africa in 1921, his mission was to establish African YMCAs throughout the country. Yergan tirelessly criss-crossed the nation on horseback. In three short years, he established 24 YMCA associations with membership of over 2,000. By 1931, the number of YMCA associations had climbed to 40, over 2,000 Bible study groups and 500 in various types of social service.

Max Yergan organized the first interracial national student conference in 1930 at Fort Hare in Cape Province. The attendees at the week-long conference included Bantus, Europeans, Afrikaners, British and East Indians. The interracial character and fellowship of Yergan's conference was without precedent in South Africa.

In his report to YMCA of the USA in 1928, Max Yergan outlined the progress of the South African YMCA associations in an article titled "The Men Of Me."

Over the years, various members of the African-American community helped fund the YMCA work in South Africa, most notably, the community of Tuskegee, Alabama. Dr. R.R. Morton summed up the Tuskegee commitment in these words, "We here in America think ourselves fortunate to have won a footing in America where we are privileged to share the best in American civilization. We owe it, therefore, to our homeland to open up a way for the spread of these same advantages in the land of our fathers and among our father's people."

The YMCA continues the work Max Yergan began-a tradition of empowering people through the development of leadership, service, health care and vocational skills.