Traveling Nelson Mandela exhibit to make Michigan debut at Henry Ford Museum

‘Mandela: The Official Exhibition’ will run from October to January

By Randiah Camille Green

Jul 18, 2023 at 3:30 pm

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Courtesy photo

Mandela: The Official Exhibition has previously traveled to Berlin, London, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, and St. Louis.

Come October, we’ll get to see how Nelson Mandela lived as one of the world’s most prolific political leaders and freedom fighters.

Mandela: The Official Exhibition is coming to Dearborn’s Henry Ford Museum from October 21 to January 15, 2024. The traveling exhibit features previously unseen footage and photos of Mandela along with over 150 historical artifacts and personal effects on loan from the Mandela family and museums globally.

Several pieces in the exhibit have never been seen outside of South Africa including the suit Mandela wore for the opening of the South African parliament in 1996, a traditional headdress gifted to him by Xhosa King Xolilzwe Sigcawu to honor him as a tribal warrior, and Mandela’s presidential desk.

It also includes “immersive zones” that recreate Mandela’s beginnings in rural Transkei with traditional Xhosa culture, the struggle against apartheid and its defeat, and his term as South Africa’s first Black president.

Mandela: The Official Exhibition is produced by Round Room Live in partnership with The Royal House of Mandela (RHoM) and RHoM Investments. It has previously traveled to Berlin, London, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, and St. Louis. This is the first time it’ll be displayed in Michigan.

The Henry Ford announced the upcoming exhibit on July 18, which would have been Mandela's 105th birthday.

More information is at thehenryford.org.

Image: Nelson Mandela's historic Tiger Stadium rally 30 years later (2)

Nelson Mandela's historic Tiger Stadium rally 30 years later: In the summer of 1990, the South African leader flew into Detroit onboard one of Donald Trump’s short-lived shuttles for an anti-apartheid rally in Corktown.

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About The Author

Randiah Camille Green

After living in Japan and traveling across Asia, Randiah Camille Green realized Detroit will always be home. And when she says Detroit, she's talking about the hood, not the suburbs. She has bylines in Planet Detroit News , Bridge Detroit , BLAC magazine, and Model D .Her favorite pastimes are meditating on...