UF expert available to talk about Nelson Mandela's legacy

December 5, 2013

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A University of Florida expert is available to talk about the history and legacy of Nelson Mandela, the former president of South Africa who helped to end legal racial segregation in his country.

Mandela, who was elected the country’s first black president in 1994 after 27 years of imprisonment for his fight against apartheid, died today at the age of 95.

R. Hunt Davis Jr., a professor emeritus of history and African studies at UF, edited “Apartheid Unravels,” a collection of essays published in 1991 about various aspects of the apartheid society in South Africa. He co-edited a book the same year that focused on the writings of Mandela and others who were pioneers in this struggle. The book is titled “Mandela, Tambo, and the African National Congress: The Struggle Against Apartheid, 1948-1990: A Documentary Survey.”

He was editor of the African Studies Review, the journal of the African Studies Association, and is the current editor of the African Studies Quarterly, the online journal of UF’s Center for African Studies.

In addition to teaching at UF, Davis was director of the Center for African Studies, associate director of the Office of International Studies and Programs and graduate coordinator for the history department. He was a Senior Fulbright Scholar and visiting professor of history, University of Cape Town, 1999.

With a doctorate in history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Davis joined the faculty at UF in 1967 where he taught African history and African studies until his retirement in 2004.

He can be contacted at 352-378-8609, 352-226-6744 or by email at hdavis@ufl.edu.