Nelson Mandela

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (1918-2013) is the author of the memoir Long Walk to Freedom. In it, he chronicles his childhood and youth in apartheid South Africa, his work as a freedom fighter, and his contributions as a leader of the African National Congress towards ending apartheid. Mandela describes in Long Walk to Freedom his childhood as the son of a Xhosa chief in the Transkei. Although Mandela as a youth feels deeply connected to his Xhosa roots, Long Walk to Freedom shows how Mandela’s perspective and frame of reference broadens as he experiences more of his country.

Mandela describes in the memoir his determination to study law, though there were few native Africans studying law in South Africa at the time. As a lawyer in Johannesburg, Mandela became involved in there anti-colonial and anti-apartheid movement. There, he meets Walter Sisulu, who encourages him to get...