Mandela was born in 1918 to a father who was the principal counsellor to the Acting King of the Thembu people. When his father died in 1930, Mandela became a ward and was brought up by the elders who regaled him with stories of his ancestors during the wars of resistance.
Mandela, whose given name was Rolihlahla, received the name "Nelson" when he went to school because all children were given Christian names. He attended the University College of Fort Hare for a Bachelor of Arts but did not complete his degree because he was expelled for joining a student protest.
In 1944, Mandela helped found the African National Congress Youth League, an offshoot of the African National Congress. When the Youth League gained control of the ANC by the late 1940s, its members called for civil disobedience and strikes to protest apartheid laws in South Africa. In 1952, Mandela became the Volunteer in Chief of the Defiance Campaign, which aimed civil disobedience actions at six unjust laws.
In 1955, Mandela was arrested and tried during the Treason Trial. More than 100 people were tried in this six year trial; ultimately they were all found not guilty. Mandela planned to write to the Prime Minister to request a national convention on a non-racial constitution while the trial was still in progress.
When the trial was over, the anti-apartheid movement began to become violent and Mandela helped to establish and lead the group "Spear of the Nation." The militarization of the movement came about because of the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960 and the realization that the ANC could no longer limit itself to nonviolence.
After leaving the country in 1962 to seek international support, Mandela was arrested again for leaving without permission and inciting a strike. He was sentenced and convicted to five years of prison. In 1963, he was put on trial again for sabotage. He gave a speech during the trial in 1964 which became known as the "Speech from the Dock", and his words became famous:
"I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if it needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."
Mandela was sentenced to life in prison.
February 11, 1990, Mandela was released from prison and he began talks to negotiate an end to white minority rule. For his work, he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. The following year he voted for the first time and became the first democratically elected president of South Africa. He served only one term.
Mandela died in 2013 but his memory will live on as an inspiration to all who are oppressed, deprived of liberty and indomitable in their dedication to democracy.
Mandela died in 2013 but his memory will live on as an inspiration to all who are oppressed, deprived of liberty and indomitable in their dedication to democracy.
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