20 years ago, Nelson Mandela walked out of prison.  He was 71 years old.   Mr. Mandela would go on to become the nation’s first democratically elected President and eventually lead the effort to rebuild South Africa and transform it into a multi-racial (post-apartheid) democracy.

The BBC has released stunning and memorable archival video footage of his release. The Nelson Mandela Foundation today also released a dynamic website to commemorate the 20th anniversary of his release.

JSTOR is proud to honor Mr. Mandela on this occasion and to work with organizations around the world to help preserve and make available important historical materials online (for teaching and research) about the liberation struggles in South Africa and Southern Africa.  The JSTOR archives also include much historical and scholarly information related to Nelson Mandela and his struggle for equality in South Africa. Two of the highlights include this heartfelt plea written in 1986 by the late Susan Sontag, urging for Mr. Mandela’s release and this poem in the journal Callaloo, written by our recent Poet Laureate, Elizabeth Alexander.

With the generous support of ARCADIA and on the occasion of the National Museum of Kenya’s centennial, JSTOR successfully convened a workshop and symposium in Nairobi, Kenya from January 26-29, 2010 in collaboration with the National Museums of Kenya, and Professor Heinz Ruther and the Zamani Project team at the University of Cape Town. The workshop included a three-day introduction to GIS for archaeologists and heritage site managers from various partner organizations across Africa. The fourth day included a symposium of lectures and talks given by notable academics and technologists discussing how GIS and digitization are changing fieldwork, research, and scholarship in disciplines such as archaeology, anthropology, paleontology, and geography.

Individuals that participated, attended, and spoke at the symposium included scholars and executives from AFRICOM, British Institute in Eastern Africa (an institute of the British Academy), Google Kenya, University of Nairobi, Trust for African Rock Art, the Rock Art Research Institute at the University of Witwatersrand, Zanzibar Stone Town Conservation and Development Authority, and the University of Dar es Salaam.

In the weeks ahead we will post links to some of the presentations. For now, please visit this link on Flickr for some photographs from the events in Nairobi.