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.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 11th, 2010 at 5:47 pm and is filed under Network & Partners, News, Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.