Nelson Mandela's 1990 visit to Detroit

Nelson Mandela, the anti-apartheid icon who became the first president of a democratic South Africa, passed away Thursday at his home in Johannesburg after a prolonged lung infection. He was 95.

In 1990, the iconic human rights campaigner and world's best-known political prisoner, spoke at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.

Watch the archive video for CBC Windsor's coverage of the event above.

Windsor's Howard McCurdy was the second black Canadian elected to parliament. He met Mandela several times during his political career, including in Ottawa in 1990.

McCurdy says Mandela was a humble person with a powerful history.

"We all know that we were looking at one of those magnificent symbols of the racial struggle, and racial reconciliation, as well, of the 20th Century," McCurdy said.

Below is McCurdy, right, with Mandela, centre.