Inglewood Plans Trip to See Mandela : Tour: The city is selling 500 tickets for $10 each for the Coliseum appearance by the activist. Organizers say they want to use the visit as a lesson in history and apartheid.

The city of Inglewood has purchased a block of 500 tickets for anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela’s appearance at the Coliseum next week, and local organizers are planning to use the visit as a living history lesson for residents.

The city will resell the tickets to residents for $10 apiece, the face value. Everyone who buys a ticket will receive a free “Inglewood for Mandela” T-shirt and free bus transportation to the Coliseum event next Friday or to an earlier rally and march beginning at Rancho Cienega Sports Center at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Rodeo Road.

Inglewood organizers are encouraging residents of all ethnic groups, including members of churches, service clubs and senior citizen organizations, to participate in the city-organized trip. If all 500 tickets are sold, city officials said they are prepared to purchase more.

“We want to demonstrate our support for the cause of ending apartheid,” said Councilman Daniel Tabor. “Nelson Mandela is the foremost leader in that struggle.”

Inglewood officials decided to bus their residents to Los Angeles en masse after an effort to have Mandela stop in their city failed. Organizers of Mandela’s one-day Los Angeles visit said Inglewood’s group ticket purchase and busing program make it one of the most active cities involved in his tour.

About 20,000 of the 90,000 tickets have been sold so far, organizers said.

Mandela, deputy director of the African National Congress, began a 10-day, eight-city U.S. tour Wednesday to raise funds for the anti-apartheid movement and to lobby for continued U.S. sanctions against South Africa.

In anticipation of Mandela’s visit, Inglewood’s schools have incorporated information about the 71-year-old black leader into recent class discussions and urged students to attend the Coliseum event, school district spokesman Maurice Wiley said.

“We feel like it’s an opportunity for students to take part in a historical moment, to see a living legend,” Wiley said.

Kym Larkin, a world history teacher at Inglewood High School, said she encouraged her students to attend the Mandela rally to get a firsthand view of someone they had learned about earlier in the course.

“I think one day he will be a part of most history lessons,” she said. “He’s a freedom fighter and from him kids can learn about the institution of apartheid.”

Mandela, who was released from prison in February after 27 years, will arrive at Los Angeles International Airport next Friday morning and then head to Los Angeles City Hall for a noontime appearance with Mayor Tom Bradley. At 8 p.m., he will attend the mass rally and concert at the Coliseum produced by Quincy Jones.

After Mandela leaves Los Angeles, some Inglewood residents are hoping the celebration will not be over. Community activist Richard Kaufman and other residents are pressing to get the city to rename a stretch of 90th Street to Mr. Mandela Boulevard. The proposal, made earlier this month, has been referred to the city’s ad hoc committee that considers suggestions for renaming city property.

“Mandela is speaking for freedom,” Kaufman said. “He has the same message as Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, the Kennedy brothers--all those who fought for freedom.”

Buses to the Coliseum will leave Sentinel Field, located behind the Inglewood Unified School District headquarters at 401 S. Inglewood Ave., at 6 p.m. Those wishing to go to the rally and march can catch buses at 2 p.m. at the same location.

The city will have a special bus for senior citizens that will stop at the city’s Senior Center at 111 N. Locust Ave. shortly before 6 p.m. Another bus for the handicapped will be available at Sentinel Field. All buses will return to Inglewood after the event ends at about 11 p.m.

Tickets may be purchased from the senior center and the school district headquarters or the cashier at City Hall. Children under 16 must be accompanied by an adult. The school district is offering to assist students who cannot afford the ticket price.