Thirty years ago, Nelson Mandela was released from 27 years of imprisonment by South Africa's apartheid regime and instantly galvanized the country, and the world, to dismantle the brutal system of racial oppression.
Raising a clenched-fist salute and striding purposefully from the gates of Victor Verster prison, Mandela, then 71, made it clear he was committed to ending apartheid and establishing majority rule and rights for all in South Africa.
His release gave many South Africans their first view of Mandela because during his imprisonment the regime banned the publication of images of him and his speeches.
And then, suddenly, he was everywhere.
"Comrades and fellow South Africans, I greet you all in the name of peace, democracy and freedom for all," Mandela said hours after his release, speaking to throngs of supporters at Cape Town's City Hall.
On Tuesday, current President Cyril Ramaphosa, who held the microphone during Mandela's address, was set to speak to the country on the speech that birthed a nation.
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Just over four years after his release, Mandela was elected president in the country's first all-race elections, leading South Africa out of decades of violently imposed discrimination.
Under his leadership, South Africa drafted and passed a constitution widely praised for upholding the rights of all, becoming one of the first to explicitly endorse gay rights.
A Truth and Reconciliation Commission took South Africa on a compelling, painful path to air the injustices perpetrated during the more than 40 years of apartheid rule.
Mandela, and South African President F.W. de Klerk, who freed him, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 for their work to peacefully end apartheid and for laying the foundation for a new democratic South Africa."