The Search

Having decided on Nelson Mandela as my subject, I noticed that he had written several autobiographies, which I thought would be more interesting because the book would be told in his voice and offer a first-hand account. When I went online to search Amazon for one of his autobiographies, I noticed that I had a choice between a six-hundred-page autobiography and one that was two hundred pages. I chose the 200-page book because that number of pages could be read in the amount of time given. In order to find additional research to help me understand him better, I went to Kinkaid’s subscription databases. Although finding the additional articles was easy, when it came to finding an expert to interview, things were not as simple. I first tried to find another freedom fighter who would have insight into what Mandela experienced. However, this was difficult to find. Instead, I looked for a professor who might have more information. I had difficulty with finding one in Houston, because local college web sites did not state which history professor taught African or South African history. Talking with a family friend, I asked her if she knew of anyone, and she referred me to a South African History Professor at Hendrix College, Dr. Allison Shutt. This was a lucky break, because I thought that there was going to be no possible way of finding a person to interview.