A 1962 portrait of Nelson Mandela wearing the traditional outfit of the Thembu tribe which he came from.

Mandela, then acting as a defense lawyer, outside the Drill Hall during the Treason Trial, the first major trial for treason in Johannesburg, South Africa. 1961. Photograph by Ian Berry/Magnum.

Mandela and his second wife, Winnie Madikizela, on their wedding day, in Pondoland, South Africa, June, 1958. Photograph: API/Gamma-Rapho/Getty.

Mandela, second from right, a leader of the African National Congress, and other activists who were charged with treason by the South African government walk to their trial, in 1956. Photograph: Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone/Getty.

Mandela’s former cell, in Section B in the political prisoners’ area on Robben Island, off Cape Town. Photograph by Matt Shonfeld/Redux.

Black demonstrators cower from a police dog at Gugulethu township, near Cape Town, on August 12, 1976. Photograph: AP.

Black students rally in the Soweto township after the funeral of Dumisani Mbatha, a sixteen-year-old student who died in jail after being arrested at a protest march, in 1976. Photograph: AP.

Nelson and Winnie Mandela at the Johannesburg airport. May, 1990. Photograph by Lily Franey/Gamma-Rapho/Getty.

Jubilant A.N.C. supporters gathered at Jabulani Stadium, in Soweto, South Africa, to celebrate the release of Mandela, on February 11, 1990. Photograph by Raymond Preston/AP.

Mandela is wired for a television interview with the CBS anchorman Dan Rather, right, in the garden of his home in Soweto, on February 14, 1990, on his fourth day of freedom. Photograph by John Parkin/AP.

Mandela salutes the crowd in Galeshewe Stadium, near Kimberley, South Africa, on February 25, 1994, during a three-day campaign swing for the April all-race general election. Photograph by David Brauchli/AP.

Long lines of people queuing outside the polling station in the black township of Soweto, then a southwest suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa, on April 27, 1994. Photograph by Denis Farrell/AP.

Mandela votes for the first time in his life, at Ohlange High School, Inanda, in KwaZulu-Natal, on April 27, 1994. Photograph: South Photography/Gallo/Getty.

Mandela joins the A.N.C. choir in a celebratory dance at the Carlton Hotel in Johannesburg after their election victory, in 1994. Photograph by Ian Berry/Magnum.

President Mandela at a gala night for South African teachers in Pretoria. Photograph by Henner Frankenfeld/Redux.