May 9th 1994 - Nelson Mandela Elected President Nelson Mandela was elected the first black president
May 9th 1994 - Nelson Mandela Elected President Nelson Mandela was elected the first black president of South Africa. He had previously been jailed for 27 years for actively rebelling against the apartheid government. After an international petition called for his release from prison in 1990, he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. The New York Times had coverage on the front page: CAPE TOWN, May 9 – The power that had belonged to whites since they first settled on this cape 342 years ago passed today to a Parliament as diverse as any in the world, a cast of proud survivors who began their work by electing Nelson Mandela to be the first black president of South Africa. Unopposed, Mr. Mandela was proclaimed president without a word of dissent or even a show of hands, then sat, strangely grim-faced, while his giddy followers whooped in unparliamentary delight. Mandela was sworn in on April 10th and addressed his nation. You can read his whole inaugural address here. -- source link
#nelson mandela#20 years of 1994#south africa#world news