Dear Mr Mandela, Dear Mrs Parks: exhibition celebrates of 20 years of freedom

Stellenbosch University Museum, in close cooperation with the Nelson Mandela Museum, is currently hosting two exhibitions.

The exhibitions, entitled Dear Mr Mandela, Dear Mrs Parks: Children’s Letters, Global Lessons and Freedom XX: 20 Pieces of Democracy, will be on display at the Museum until 31 December 2014.

The two exhibitions form part of the University-wide celebrations of 20 Years of Freedom, coordinated by Stellenbosch University’s Centre for Inclusivity. 

Dear Mr Mandela, Dear Mrs Parks: children's letters, global lessons

Dear Mr Mandela, Dear Mrs Parks: Children’s Letters, Global Lessons is a travelling exhibition on loan from the Nelson Mandela Museum in Mthatha, Eastern Cape.

The inspiration for this exhibition came from the hundreds of children around the world who wrote letters to Nelson Mandela and the late Rosa Parks, both internationally renowned for their work in human rights.

The letters reveal why children revere Mandela and Parks, and also highlight young people’s desire for guidance and understanding about life.

Dear Mr Mandela, Dear Mrs Parks: Children’s Letters, Global Lessons highlights Nelson Mandela and Rosa Parks’ devotion to freedom, democracy and emancipation. The exhibition raises greater public understanding of the parallels in the struggles for equality and justice in the United States and South Africa through the letters of children.

Rosa Parks and Nelson Mandela shared many values and goals, and both cared deeply about youth. Mandela met Parks in Detroit, Michigan, in 1990 when he toured the United States after his release from prison.

The exhibition was developed when the Michigan State University Museum and the Nelson Mandela Museum were awarded one of the first four grants from a new programme of the American Association of Museums, Washington, DC, and the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The grants are designed to strengthen connections between people in the US and abroad through
museum-based exchanges.

A replica of the exhibition opened in the United States in January 2010 on the occasion of Martin Luther King’s birthday and is now travelling through the breadth and width of America.

Download the document below to find out more about the exhibition.

Watch the official opening of the exhibition below: