Summary:
Nelson Mandela is a significant figure in history. This short biography includes information about his rearing, education, political rise, fight against apartheid, and time spent in jail.
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela is an important man in history because he led the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, even while imprisoned for a quarter century. His persistence in speaking out and taking action against apartheid led to the reform of the South African government. Mandela has been compared to other famous civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr. He changed the world for all black South Africans by removing apartheid from the South African government.
Before I begin on the life of Nelson Mandela, I would like to explain the word "apartheid." Apartheid is a policy of racial segregation. The word apartheid means "separateness" in the Afrikaans language (Encarta CD-ROM) and it described the racial division between the governing white minority population and the black majority population. The South African government introduced apartheid as part of the campaign in the 1948 elections, and with the pro-apartheid victory, apartheid became the governing policy for South Africa until the early 1990s. The apartheid laws classified people according to three major racial groups - White, Black Africans, and Colored. Colored are people of mixed descent. (Encarta CD-ROM). Later Asians, which are mainly Indians and Pakistanis, were added as a fourth category. The laws determined where members of each group could live, what jobs they could hold, and what type of education they could receive (Encarta CD-ROM). Laws prohibited most social contact between races, authorized segregated public facilities, and denied any representation of nonwhites in the national government. People who openly opposed apartheid were considered communists and the government passed strict security legislation, which in effect turned South Africa into a police state. Even before apartheid became the official policy, South Africa had a long history of racial segregation and white supremacy, dating back to the original settlements of the region by Europeans in the 1600s. Although there is no longer a legal basis for apartheid, the social, economic, and political inequalities between white and black South Africans continue to exist.
Nelson Mandela was born on July 18, 1918 and he grew up in this separated environment. Although he was born into a royal family of the Thembu people and was expected to become a chief (www.anc.org) he was still as poor as the rest of his people. As a child, he lived with his mother and three sisters in three whitewashed stone huts with straw roofs (Hoobler). Mandela went to a small school made up of a single room that taught only two classes. So his childhood went on where he lived as a poor boy that had to work hard to stay fed.
When Mandela grew up, he attended the University of Fort Hare in Alice where he became involved in the struggle against the apartheid practiced in South Africa. He was expelled in 1940 for participating in a student demonstration. Four short years later, he established a Youth Sports League in the African National Congress (ANC), a multiracial nationalist movement that was dedicated to bring democratic political change in South Africa. At the age of twenty-two, he had already been involved in the African National Congress. Seven years later, in 1951, he was elected President of the ANC (www.anc.org). While he was President of the ANC he opened the first black-owned law practice in South Africa with his partner Oliver Tambo in Johannesburg. He also organized "Umkhonto we Sizwe" (Spear of the Nation), the military wing of the ANC, spurred by the 1960 massacre of blacks demonstrating in Sharpeville (www.anc.org). Because of this he was arrested and imprisoned under charges of sabotage, treason, and violent conspiracy.
Nelson Mandela was in jail for a large section of his life. During his twenty-six year jail term, he took classes at the University of London through correspondence. For the majority of his jail term he was at Robben Island. A song by the band Special AKA titled "Free Nelson Mandela" was an international hit in 1984, and a 1988 freedom concert honoring Mandela's 70th birthday attracted a crowd of 72,000 to London's Wembley Arena. People all over the world were feeling the absence of this great leader. On February 10, 1985, he gave his most famous quote from jail "Only free men can negotiate; prisoners cannot enter into contracts." South Africa went on as normal while Mandela was in prison until something great happened for the black Africans. Although they were not allowed to vote, the country elected a president sympathetic to the anti-apartheid movement. His name was F.W. De Klerk. The first major action he took as president, in response to both international and domestic pressure, was to lift the ban of the ANC and he released Mandela in February 1990.
Right after his time in jail, Nelson Mandela worked continuously against apartheid. That is why three years later he shared the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize jointly with F.W. de Klerk for his work against apartheid in South Africa (Famous Faces from Time).
That next year in South Africa's very first multi-racial elections, Nelson Mandela was named South Africa's first non-white president by an exceptionally large margin. Since the vast majority of South Africans are black, the election was not even close. People lined up in huge lines just and risked being attacked for their right to vote. During his presidential campaign, he was on a mission to change the way that South Africa operated. As president, he would not stand to see his people suffer under apartheid. His first major step toward this enormous reformation of South Africa was to establish a new Constitution, which promoted majority rule and democracy (Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela). He led the adoption of a new constitution guaranteeing free speech, free political activity, and the right to a refund for land seized under the apartheid regime.
Nelson Mandela first worked to bring a system down, and then he worked to build one up. He established a new constitution and laid all of the groundwork for majority rule and a completely new South Africa. Many black leaders wanted to punish white officials and others who had helped kill and repress thousands of blacks during apartheid. Instead of taking a violent approach, in 1995 Mandela signed into law "Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act," which created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). The TRC has 3 committees - an Amnesty Committee, Reparation and Rehabilitation Committee, and a Human Rights Violations Committee. The TRC, in operation since April 1996, investigates crimes committed during the apartheid regime and seeks to holds the guilty parties responsible for their actions. The TRC grants amnesty to people who confess their crimes and can prove that their actions were politically motivated. Through this commission, and through other actions, Mandela successfully led a peaceful transition from apartheid to democracy. This transition has had far less violence and civil unrest than most people had predicted (SATRC).
Today Nelson Mandela still lives in the poor village that he was born in a larger house (ANC). His name is as popular in South Africa as Martin Luther King is to us here in America. People love him for his lifelong struggle against apartheid and his overwhelming love on his people and his land. To this day, at the age of 86, he continues to serve South Africa the best he can by starting the Nelson Mandela Foundation which raises money for poor kids who cannot afford to go to school (NMF).
It is clear that Nelson Mandela is a significant man in history because of his enduring resistance of apartheid and everything that it stood for. He led numerous anti-apartheid demonstrations throughout his life. He went to jail for 26 years and still came out confident about the reform of South Africa. He was elected president in the countries first multiracial election and changed the entire South African constitution and government.
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