On this day, February 11, in 1990, Nelson Mandela was released after 27 years in prison.
Karsh photographed Mandela in June of 1990, during Mandela’s formal visit to the Canadian parliament. Mandela was vice-president of the African National Congress (ANC) at the time, and he addressed a joint session of the House of Commons and the Senate, the first time in four decades a non-head of state had been given the special privilege. Mandela praised Canada for supporting the anti-apartheid movement and asked the government not to lift trade sanctions on South Africa – a request then Prime Minister Brian Mulroney proudly obliged. Canada lifted the sanctions in 1993, the year before Mandela became president.
Twenty years earlier, the country took a stand against apartheid when John Diefenbaker played a key role in having South Africa excluded from the Commonwealth. Read more.