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On this day in 1990, massive crowds gathered throughout South Africa to celebrate the release of the nation’s beloved Nelson Mandela.
It marked a momentous occasion and an even more significant moment for Mandela, a vocal and empowering leader who, because of these same traits, had been imprisoned for 27 years and was finally freed.
For nearly three decades, Mandela was removed from public contact and lived within the confines of various small, cement-covered cells after being convicted for conspiracy of overthrowing the government and speaking out against a racist regime that denied civil and human rights to black South Africans.
However, Mandela’s legacy did not suffer from similar limitations. Instead, his great efforts in the abolition of apartheid inspired and motivated many — in South Africa and beyond — who have hailed him as their hero.
Upon his release, Mandela went on to prove that years of solitary confinement and imprisonment were no hindrance to the profound power and will he had in his fight for racial equality.
The anti-apartheid leader continued his mission to unite a racially divided country, and — with the help of many influential men and women, both before his imprisonment and after — led the nation through a tremendous liberation movement.
Along the way, his accomplishments earned him great accolades, including a Nobel Peace Prize that sealed his status as an internationally recognized trailblazer, and shortly after, a winning election that crowned him as South Africa’s first democratically elected and first black president.
