NORFOLK, Va. — The grandson of legendary civil rights leader and Nobel Prize winner Nelson Mandela is coming to Norfolk State University.
The university said Ndaba Mandela will speak on Wednesday, Jan. 31, to help kick off NSU's Black History Month commemoration.
The late Nelson Mandela became South Africa's first democratically elected Black president after spending 27 years in jail for his anti-apartheid struggle against the white minority government. In 1993 he won the Nobel Peace Prize for helping South Africa move away from institutionalized racism and toward democracy.
Ndaba did not meet his grandfather until he was 7 and went on to live with him when he was 11 years old after Nelson Mandela had been freed from prison.
"The elder Mandela's guidance and lessons set a fire and passion within him, which fueled his mission as an adult," NSU said in a news release about Ndaba's visit.
According to NSU, Ndaba is the co-founder and chairman of the Mandela Institute for Humanity and co-founder and co-chairman of the Africa Rising Foundation, "an organization dedicated to promoting a positive image of Africa around the world and to increasing its potential for growth in the areas of education, employment and international corporate alliances for profit and partnership."
He also serves as an executive director of UN AIDS, an organization that aims to end discrimination around HIV and AIDS.
Ndaba Mandela will speak at an event beginning at 5 p.m. on January 31 at NSU's L. Douglas Wilder Performing Arts Center. It's free and open to the public.
