Nelson Mandela Released From Prison (1990)

Sun Feb 11, 1990

Image: Nelson Mandela, with his wife, Winnie, walks to freedom after 27 years in prison on Feb. 11th, 1990, in Cape Town. [AP via NPR]

On this day in 1990, anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela was released from Victor Verster Prison following negotiations with South African President F. W. de Klerk. In 1994, Mandela was elected President, becoming the country’s first black head of state.

Mandela, a leading member of the African National Congress (ANC), had been convicted on charges of sabotage at the Rivonia Trial in 1964, and was sentenced to life imprisonment, serving 27 years before his release in 1990.

During his years in prison, Mandela became a major symbol of both the domestic and international anti-apartheid movement. In 1988, hundreds of millions people watched the “Free Nelson Mandela” concert, televised from London’s Wembley Stadium.

Following decades of mass internal resistance along with global boycotts and sanctions, newly inaugurated South African State President F.W. de Klerk lifted the state of emergency law, legalized anti-apartheid opposition groups such as the ANC, South African Communist Party, and Pan-Africanist Congress, and released many political prisoners.

Mandela was released on February 11th, 1990 to massive international attention. Driven to Cape Town’s City Hall through crowds, Mandela gave a speech where he declared his intention to participate in negotiations, although he noted that the ANC’s armed struggle was not yet over before change had taken place.

In 1994, he was elected South Africa’s first black president in the country’s first ever multiracial election.

“It always seems impossible until it’s done.”

- Nelson Mandela

• Date: 1990-02-11
• Learn More: www.sahistory.org.za, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Civil Rights.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org