The anti-apartheid leader's popularity was evident in a 1990 visit to the United States.

Detroit Magistrate Judge Margaret Baylor recalls coming face-to-face with Nelson Mandela while she was a volunteer for Trans Africa, an African-American foreign policy lobbying group.
The organization had raised money for the African National Congress, and she was to meet Mandela in Durban, South Africa.
"Mr. Mandela came in first. I could not speak," she said. "I was stuttering and sputtering.
"Everyone was in awe of him because of what he did and how he handled himself."
Mandela died Thursday in South Africa.
Baylor, like many Americans, had spent years in the movement to end apartheid, the system in which minority-white rule prevailed in South Africa. When Mandela was released after 27 years in prison for advocating violence to oust the government, Baylor, like many activists, were stunned when he reconciled with his captors.
"He was not mad. He was just going forward to the next thing. I knew that this was somebody unlike most others," Baylor said.
Mandela's fortitude and his eventual support for peaceful co-existence with whites earned him the respect of many. His popularity was evident when he visited the United States in June 1990.
Trudy Gallant-Stokes recalls how Tiger Stadium in Detroit hummed with excitement as thousands of people awaited his arrival. Gallant-Stokes, then a freelancer from Black Entertainment Television, said Mandela connected deeply to the crowd.
"He seemed to be speaking just human being to human being," she said. "He was so humble in spite of all he'd accomplished."
Former South African president Nelson Mandela leaves the Intercontinental Hotel on June 26, 2008, in London.
Former South African president Nelson Mandela leaves the Intercontinental Hotel on June 26, 2008, in London.  File photo by Shaun Curry, AFP/Getty Images
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  • Former South African president Nelson Mandela leaves the Intercontinental Hotel on June 26, 2008, in London.
  • Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton meets with Mandela on Aug. 6, 2012, at his home in Qunu.
  • A statue of former South African president Nelson Mandela stands at the Drakenstein Correctional Center on Feb. 26, 2012, outside Cape Town. Mandela spent 27 years in prison before his release in 1990.
  • First lady Michelle Obama meets with Mandela on June 21, 2011, at his home in Johannesburg.
  • Workers prepare to hang an image of Mandela as they prepare for the World Cup soccer tournament on May 30, 2010, in downtown Johannesburg.
  • The Elders, an international group of global leaders who work together to promote peace and human rights, meet with founder Nelson Mandela on May 29, 2010, in Johannesburg.
  • Archbishop Desmond Tutu, left, speaks with former Mandela on March 12, 2008, at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg.
  • Mandela and former U.N. secretary-general Kofi Annan arrive at the 5th Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture on July 22, 2007, at the Linder Auditorium in Johannesburg.
  • Mandela meets with British Prime Minister Tony Blair at No. 10 Downing St. on Feb. 3, 2005, in London.
  • Mandela speaks during a visit to his old prison cell on Nov. 28, 2003, on Robben Island near Cape Town. Mandela, arrested and sentenced to life in prison in 1962, spent 27 years at the prison before his release in 1990.
  • Mandela reacts to the vote of thanks from members of the African National Congress after his speech to delegates at a convention on Dec. 17, 2002, in Stellenbosch, South Africa.
  • Mandela listens as President Bush speaks in the Rose Garden on Nov. 11, 2001. Mandela visited the White House to offer his condolences after the fatal American Airlines Flight 587 crash and to express his support for U.S. actions in Afghanistan.
  • Mandela greets supporters at a May 25, 1999, election rally in Sebokeng township.
  • Cuban leader Fidel Castro, left, shares a laugh with Mandela at the World Trade Organization meeting on May 19, 1998, in Geneva.
  • Mandela and Libyan President Moammar Gadhafi salute the crowd on Oct. 29, 1997, in Zuwarah, Libya.
  • Barney, a purple dinosaur mascot known by children around the world, is greeted by Mandela in Johannesburg on March 24, 1997.
  • Mandela shows the way to Princess Diana during a meeting to discuss the AIDS threat on March 17, 1997, in Cape Town.
  • Michael Jackson hugs Mandela at the conclusion of a brief meeting on July 20, 1996.
  • Mandela stands with Britain's Queen Elizabeth II on July 9, 1996, at Buckingham Palace.
  • Nelson Mandela welcomes Pope John Paul II as the pontiff arrives for his official visit on Sept. 16, 1995, at the airport in Johannesburg. The pope's visit came seven years after he angered apartheid leaders by refusing to kiss the ground when the papal plane was forced to land because of bad weather.
  • Mandela gets a hug from singer Whitney Houston on Nov. 10, 1994, at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, South Africa.
  • President Clinton listens as Mandela speaks on Oct. 4, 1994, during an arrival ceremony at the White House.
  • Outgoing South African President F.W. de Klerk shakes hands with President-elect Nelson Mandela on May 6, 1994, at the presidential residence in Cape Town.
  • Coretta Scott King and African National Congress President Mandela celebrate after Mandela's party won South Africa's first multiracial election on May 2, 1994.
  • Mandela delivers his victory speech to supporters on May 2, 1994, at a hotel in Johannesburg.
  • Mandela and de Klerk pose with their Nobel Peace Prize medals and diplomas on Dec. 10, 1993, in Oslo.
  • Mandela smiles after the results of a whites-only referendum on apartheid were announced on March 18, 1992, in Pretoria. Mandela said apartheid was "very much alive" in South Africa, despite white voters' stunning endorsement of plans to share power with the black majority.
  • United Nations delegates applaud as Mandela prepares to deliver an address to the Special Committee Against Apartheid on June 22, 1990, at the United Nations headquarters in New York.
  • Mandela walks with his wife, Winnie, after leaving the Victor Verster Prison on Feb. 11, 1990, in Cape Town.
  • A July 1989 poster calls for the release of Nelson Mandela.
  • A television image shows Nelson Mandela with wife Winnie on their wedding day, June 14, 1958.
  • African National Congress youth leaders Walter Sisulu, left, Nelson Mandela and Harrison Motlana appear during the 1952 Defiance Campaign trial at the Johannesburg Supreme Court. The campaign encouraged blacks to defy apartheid laws.
  • African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela is pictured in 1952 in the law office he opened with his colleague, Oliver Tambo, in Johannesburg. This was the first black law practice in Johannesburg.
  • Mandela leaves the Intercontinental Hotel after a photo session with celebrity photographer Terry O'Neil on June 26, 2008, in London.
A chance encounter in the hallway of Detroit's Renaissance Center stays with her. Gallant-Stokes was standing with her mother when Mandela passed by a few feet away.
"He just happened to turn and nod at us. That was our moment," she said.
Baylor's moment had come hours before in a hangar at the airport where Mandela had held a news conference. In thanking his hosts, he mentioned Baylor.
"I have a tape of him saying my name out of his lips," Baylor said. "I'm talking about this 22 years later, and I am excited about it all over again."

Mandela's visit changed Detroit, says former UAW leader Owen Bieber.
Mandela brought the city together at a time of racial tension, Bieber said. As police escorted Mandela from the airport, Bieber saw people standing outside their cars as the motorcade passed. He assumed they were angry at the stopped traffic.
"These people were waving to us. There were more whites than there were blacks," he said.
Bieber had seen firsthand the conditions in South Africa's black townships and prisons on a visit to the country in 1986. Bieber, then president of the UAW and a member of Secretary of State George Schultz's advisory commission on South Africa under President Reagan, had been working with South Africa's Metal and Allied Workers Union to free its leader Moses Mayekiso, who had been jailed following a riot with police.
Bieber says he found that South Africa's black residents lived in fear of arbitrary arrest and beatings. When he met Mandela in Detroit, he marveled at his calm demeanor and his lack of anger
"I remember putting my arm around him as he got off the plane in Detroit. It was like having my arm around a bag of bones. He was very gaunt," Bieber said