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Nelson Mandela was born in Transkei, South Africa on July 18, 1918 to Henry Mandela of the Tembu Tribe and his third wife, Nosekeni Fanny. Mandela’s father died when he was 9 years old, and he was then taken in by a high ranking chief, Regent Jongitaba, who moved him to Mqhekezweni. Mandela was the first person in his family to attend school. Mandela attended Clarkebury Boarding Institute and Wesleyan College. Then in 1939 he enrolled at the University College of Fort Hare, which was the only university for blacks in South Africa. After his guardian announced that he had arranged a marriage for him, Mandela ran away to Johannesburg. He became actively involved in the anti-apartheid movement and joined the African National Congress in 1942. For 20 years, Mandela ran a campaign of peaceful, non-violent defiance against the South African government and its racist policies. In 1959 the Africanists-- black activists who thought the peaceful methods of the ANC were ineffective--took much of the ANC’s support and formed the Pan-Africanist Congress. By 1961, Mandela changed his mind and began to believe that an armed struggle was the only way to achieve change. He co-founded Umkhonto we Sizwe, (MK), which was an armed forces sector of the ANC whose mission was to use sabotage and guerilla war tactics to end apartheid. He organized a three-day national workers strike in 1961 and was sentenced 5 years in prison for it. He was then brought to trial in 1963 and he and 10 other ANC leaders were sentenced to life imprisonment for political offenses.
Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years. In 1985, the South African President offered Mandela freedom if he renounced armed struggle. Mandela refused. There was much local and international pressure to release which prompted the new president, Frederik Willem de Klerk, to release him in February 1990. Mandela was elected president of the ANC in 1991. In April 1994, South Africa held its first democratic elections. On May 10, 1994 Nelson Mandela, at age 77, was inaugurated as the country’s first black president. In 1993, Mandela and de Klerk shared the Nobel Prize for Peace for their work on dismantling apartheid and in 1995, he was awarded the Order of Merit. He promoted reconciliation and created jobs, housing, and basic health care through his Reconstruction and Development Plan. He also signed the new South African constitution, which established a strong central government based on majority rule and guaranteed rights of minorities and freedom of expression. Mandela retired in 2004 at age 84 but is still active and fundraises for his Mandela Foundation. He is also a member of a group of world leaders called “The Elders”, who work to find solutions to problems around the world.
Nelson Mandela is one of the world’s greatest and most admired political leaders. He spent 27 years in prison fighting for freedom and equality for the native South Africans. His incarceration brought international attention to the racial injustices of South Africa’s apartheid government sparking the rally cry: Free Nelson Mandela. He fought to abolish apartheid in South Africa. Apartheid is enforced racial separation where whites had power over the blacks. Because of Mandela’s and other’s efforts, Africans in South Africa just recently, in 1994, received the right to vote. Mandela is a visible symbol of black resistance against the oppressive white rule. At first he wanted to fight for equality peacefully, but then realized the only way to get results was through armed struggle. At age 77, Nelson Mandela was elected the nation’s first black president. He was a key figure and leader of the African National Congress, and was a supporter of armed struggle for African rights. He is also a symbol of hope for many. He has received the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with F.W. de Klerk for their work to abolish the apartheid and the Order of Merit. He is a part of the group of world leaders called “The Elders”, who try to solve the world’s problems. He is a hero in his native South Africa and around the world.
Biography
Historical Significance
Nelson Mandela
By: Beilul Naizghi
http://www.flickr.com/photos/festivalkarsh/3040576603/
