Sep 21, 2020

Mandela: Struggle for Freedom Exhibit Hits Houston

Holocaust Museum Houston (HMH) will host the U.S. premiere of Mandela: Struggle for Freedom, a rich sensory experience of imagery, soundscape, digital media and objects used to explore the earthshaking fight for justice and human dignity in South Africa – and its relevance to issues of today. On view now through January 3, 2021 at HMH’s Lester and Sue Smith Campus located at 5401 Caroline St., visitors can experience the tiny cell where Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in prison, take a stand in front of a giant 22-foot long by 9-foot tall armored vehicle, make a virtual protest poster on a digital light table, or enter a secret apartment for freedom fighters forced underground.

It took HMH nearly two years of negotiation and planning to secure the U.S. premiere of this extraordinary exhibition developed by the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (Winnipeg, Canada) in partnership with the Apartheid Museum (Johannesburg, South Africa). The fight for social justice and human rights is not over, as witnessed from recent unrest in the U.S. and around the world. This exhibition shares an important piece of global human rights history, so its lessons can reverberate today with a new generation.