Follow Nelson Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom
Imagine living in a room measuring eight feet by seven feet, your connection to family limited to one letter and one visit every six months. Mandela: Struggle for Freedom, a powerful exhibition now open at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg, allows you to enter a replica of the cell that housed the 20th century’s most famous political prisoner.
Jailed for 27 years for challenging South Africa’s apartheid system of racial oppression, Nelson Mandela emerged at age 71 to denounce hatred and champion justice, in his own country and around the world. This immersive and interactive exhibition is a testament to the power of hope, celebrating the life of the human rights icon while exploring the social movements inspired by his extraordinary example.
Developed in partnership with the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg and presented with support from The Asper Foundation, TD Bank Group and Air Canada, the show asks viewers to confront prejudice and to witness the power of resistance. You’ll be faced with a wall of signs and laws that told non-white races where they could eat, sit, walk, work and live. You’ll be encouraged to share your thoughts in letters, as Mandela himself did.
Mandela: Struggle for Freedom encapsulates the Museum’s mission to educate and inspire. Combining text and images, physical artifacts and state-of-the-art digital media, the Museum’s galleries chart the development of human rights throughout history and across the globe, bringing the most pressing social and political issues of our age into focus through rich sensory experiences and compelling individual stories.
Located near the heart of downtown Winnipeg at the junction of the Assiniboine and Red Rivers, the Museum has been an architectural national landmark since its 2014 opening. Its striking and innovative design encourages visitors to take a journey -- from stone foundations rooted in the prairie soil to a tower of soaring glass, from the depths of history’s darkest periods to the light of understanding and change.
With its call to think, feel and act, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights offers a challenging, rewarding and unforgettable museum experience, one that asks you to reflect on your own place in the ongoing struggle for a better world.