Nelson Mandela visited the U.S. several times throughout his life, arriving for the first time in 1990 after he was freed from prison. He had been locked up for nearly 30 years for his efforts against apartheid in South Africa. Mandela returned to the U.S. in 1994 as South Africa’s first black president and came back several times as an elder statesman before his death in 2013.
Mandela inspired the world then as he does in 2018, the centenary of his birth.
1990: United Nations, New York
1990: White House
1990: Address to joint session of Congress
1994: White House
2005: White House
Freelance writer Lenore T. Adkins contributed to this article.
