It is 96 years ago today that Nelson Mandela was born; a revolutionary who would become the face of magnanimity, wisdom, and resistance to injustice, as well as “father of the nation” to South Africa.

Google is celebrating the anniversary of Mandela’s birth with an interactive Doodle. Starting with an illustration of the former leader, visitors to the site can click through a number of his most well-known quotes, coupled with illustrations depicting stages of his ‘Long Walk to Freedom’.

Google Doodler Katy Wu said she at first thought she would have to make a very serious, sombre kind of Doodle about such an important figure. However, as she learnt more about Mandela, Wu says she started to understand that he was a man with a lot of character, a realisation that gave her fresh ideas for the tribute. On the choice to incorporate his quotes, she says: “Something that stood out to me about Nelson Mandela was his eloquent way with words. I thought his words gave a great insight into the kind of man he was, so I wanted to focus the creative direction of the doodle on his quotes against a backdrop of the history of South Africa.”

The Doodle shows the village where Mandela grew up, and follows his journey through his incarceration to his election as the first black president of South Africa in 1994.

Source-The Independent (UK)