Karsh Signature

Yousuf Karsh, master photographer of the 20th century

Nelson Mandela Becomes President

Nelson Mandela, 1990

On this day, May 10, in 1994, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was sworn in as the first black president of South Africa.

Mandela visited Canada three times, and it was on his first visit, in June of 1990, that he was photographed by Karsh, at the Chateau Laurier. Read about the Sitting.

According to the CBC, Mandela addressed a joint session of the House of Commons and the Senate in Ottawa and spoke at the Ontario legislature in Toronto.

“During his three-day visit, he also spoke to crowds in Toronto and Montreal. In a square behind Montreal City Hall, he told 20,000 people that “the catalogue of crimes committed by the apartheid system continues to grow.”

Four years after that visit, not only did Mandela vote for the first time, he was elected democratic South Africa’s first president.”

When Nelson Mandela died, at the end of 2013, the Estate was proud to work with Apple on their full page obituary. Read about it.

Share