Nelson Mandela was born Rolihlahla Mandela in Mvezo and became a member of Thembu royalty. He would get the nickname Nelson from his teacher at school and eventually became an activist against apartheid.
He joined the African National Congress in 1944 and soon became a leader of its Youth League. He was arrested for participating in protests against the government.
Birth of Nelson Mandela
Rolihlahla Mandela, whose name means “troublemaker” in the Xhosa language, was born on 18 July 1918 in Mvezi village in south-eastern Transkei. He was part of the Tembu tribe, which spoke the Xhosa dialect. Mandela was given the English name Nelson by his primary school teacher because it was easier for colonial authorities to pronounce than his clan name. He later took the moniker Madiba, which came from the novel The Scarlet Pimpernel, based on a character who uses his skills to evade capture.
In 1941, fleeing an arranged marriage, Nelson Mandela moved to Johannesburg and found work as a night watchman on a gold mine. There he met Walter Sisulu, an active member of the African National Congress (ANC), then South Africa’s major anti-apartheid liberation movement and today the country’s ruling party. The two became firm friends.
Sisulu encouraged Nelson Mandela to become more involved with the ANC, and he soon joined its youth league. The young members of the ANCYL sought to transform the old ANC into a mass grassroots movement and develop policies that would appeal to the poor. They adopted a programme of action that advocated weapons such as boycott, strike and civil disobedience to challenge apartheid.
After serving nine years in prison, Nelson Mandela was released on February 11, 1990 and immediately immersed himself wholeheartedly into his life’s work, striving to attain the goals that he and others had set almost four decades earlier. He married Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, with whom he had two daughters and one son, the youngest of which died in infancy.
Education
During this period, Nelson Mandela immersed himself in official talks with government representatives. He was received by heads of state and politicians from Europe, North America and Africa confirming his international stature as a political leader.
The move to Johannesburg in 1941 opened Mandela’s eyes to a country of industrialisation and injustice based on racial segregation. He worked as a law clerk with Walter Sisulu and joined the African National Congress (ANC) in 1944. He was influenced by Marxism and secretly became a member of the South African Communist Party (SACP). Despite his commitment to non-violent protest, in 1961 Mandela co-founded Umkhonto we Sizwe, the military wing of the ANC, which led sabotage attacks against the apartheid government.
In 1962, Nelson Mandela and his comrades were transferred to B section of Robben Island prison. This was reserved for leaders and influential prisoners from across Southern Africa. They shared cells with members of allied political formations, including the PAC and ARM.
In October 1963, Nelson Mandela was charged with treason at the Rivonia Trial. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. While imprisoned, Mandela was visited by countless political figures from Europe and North America, as well as members of parliament including Helen Suzman. This affirmation of his international status and stature was a significant boost to the anti-apartheid struggle. It also aided Mandela’s spiritual development.
Political Career
Nelson Mandela was an enduring symbol of resistance to apartheid. He was a political leader with an uncompromising vision, even when it meant his own arrest and imprisonment. He remained an important leader of the African National Congress throughout his years in jail, and there are still tours that take people to see Robben Island where Mandela spent much of his time. He was also held in great esteem worldwide, although some on the right denounced him as a communist terrorist, and some on the left found his unwillingness to compromise and reconciliation with apartheid supporters too extreme.
The move to Johannesburg in 1941 opened Mandela’s eyes to the reality of a nation based on racial segregation and injustice. He soon joined Walter Sisulu’s ANC Youth League, and through his work with the ANCYL became a leader within the organization. Influenced by Marxism, Mandela began to shift the ANC away from Ghandi’s emphasis on nonviolent protest and co-founded the militant Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation) wing of the ANC in 1961.
In 1962, Nelson Mandela traveled abroad illegally to gain support and military training for the armed struggle. This led to his arrest on charges of incitement to strike and leaving the country without official permission. He was sentenced to five years in prison. After his release in February 1990, Mandela served one term as president of South Africa and was the first black head of state to be elected in a democratic election.
Personal Life
Nelson Mandela, known to friends as “Madiba”, was an activist for democracy and a leader who sought to bridge divides between South Africa’s black and white communities. He was a man of deep faith who practiced the values of Ubuntu, an African philosophy that encourages selflessness and kindness. He was a gifted orator, who could convey complex ideas in an accessible way and who became an international symbol of peace and reconciliation.
After his release from prison in February 1990, he devoted the rest of his life to charity work, raising funds for schools and clinics in South Africa’s rural heartland, and serving as an international mediator in conflict zones around the world. He and his wife Graca Machel also co-founded The Elders, a group of influential world leaders who worked together to seek solutions to the world’s most pressing issues.
Nelson Mandela was born on July 18, 1918, in Mvezo, a small village in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, to Nonqaphi Nosekeni and Hendry Mphakanyiswa (Mandela) of the Thembu tribe. He attended University College at Fort Hare, Africa’s equivalent of Harvard, and the University of Witwatersrand but did not finish either degree. In 1944, he joined the African National Congress and was involved in resistance against apartheid after 1948. He was arrested on several occasions and put on trial for treason in 1956-1961. He later co-founded the armed ANC offshoot Umkhonto we Sizwe and led a campaign of sabotage and guerilla warfare.
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