The Frontline: The Long Walk of Nelson Mandela

The life of Nelson Mandela, who served as South Africa's president from 1994 until 1999, is profiled in this PBS Frontline program. Viewers learn about the many groups that Mandela led in his early adulthood while challenging the government of the Afrikaner leaders who supported apartheid. He was eventually sentenced to life in prison due to his efforts. The struggles of his life and his attempts to establish racial equality in South Africa are illuminated by interviews with some of his most trusted friends, as well as his former jailers. In 1990, after being imprisoned for 27 years on Robben Island, Mandela was released. Excepts from some of Mandela's letters are read, as well as selections from his autobiography.