Everyone is invited to attended the public announcement today of the plan to create the Nelson Mandela Overlook on the grounds of the Tsongas Center of Lowell. The African American Alliance of Lowell, organized by community leaders including Bowa George Tucker, Janet B. Johnson, and Gordon Halm, in partnership with UMass Lowell, will launch the effort to create a permanent tribute to the acclaimed Nelson Mandela as a gesture from the city’s growing community of peoples of African origin. The event will include remarks by human-rights champion Albie Sachs of South Africa, a friend and colleague of Mandela’s who together with countless others struggled to end the injustices of apartheid. Also speaking will be Chancellor Marty Meehan and Bowa G. Tucker of the African American Alliance. Albie Sachs, former Constitutional Judge, is the 2014 Greeley Scholar for Peace Studies at UMass Lowell. The program begins at 11 a.m. in the Sage Bank Pavilion of the Tsongas Center and will conclude with a symbolic groundbreaking and placement of a ceremonial wreath at the future site of the Nelson Mandela Overlook along the Western Canal on the grounds of the Tsongas.