Biography of Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela was a very influential man in the South African society. Throughout his life he had his ups and downs. He went from being in jail for life, to being the president of South Africa. In his life he had one dream and goal, which he never gave up on, even when he was faced with extreme adversity. Rolihlahla Mandela was born on July 18, 1918 in a village near Mthatha in the Transkei, called Mvezo, to Nonqaphi Nosekeni and Henry Mgadla Mandela.

When his father died in 1927, Rolihlahla became the ward of Jogintaba Dalindyebo, the Paramount Chief, to be made to assume high office. Rolihlahla dreamed of playing his own part in the freedom struggle oh his people from hearing the elder’s stories of his ancestor’s valour during the wars of resistance. Soon he was going to school to get an education at a local mission school, and soon he was given the name Nelson. Soon he was sent through many schools through the years and enrolled at the University College of Fort Hare, and there he got his Bachelor of Arts Degree.

At the end of Nelson’s first year at college, he started to become involved in a Students’ Representative Council boycott against the university’s policies, and soon he was told to leave Fort Hare and to not come back unless he accepted election to the SRC. Nelson Mandela grew up in a system of Apartheid. The whites were treated as the best race of all. Also the white are the ones who led the government. In South Africa, whites were considered a minority. Throughout Nelson’s life, the black people were treated worse than everyone else.

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Growing up Nelson Mandela could only go to schools for the blacks. Apartheid was developed after World War II by the Afrikaner-dominated National Party. The racial groups were classified into four, Native, Asian, coloured, and white, and residential places were segregated, sometimes by means of force. The government segregated, medical care, beaches, education, and other public services, and the government gave the blacks worse services and the whites better services. Nelson spent his whole life trying to change this racial segregation.

Nelson was in a group of 60 people called the African National Congress. He was a leader with William Nkomo, Sisulu, Oliver R Tambo, Ashby P Mda. The group set themselves to the task of creating this group into a mass movement. Soon they formed the African National Congress Youth League. Nelson impressed everyone with his hard work and was elected as the league’s National secretary. The group soon set out to try to change how the government was working and the laws of apartheid it was putting on the people. The African National Congress launched a campaign for the Defiance of Unjust Laws.

Nelson was elected Volunteer-in-Chief, and travelled the country organizing resistance to discriminatory legislation. This Campaign was determined as defiance and Nelson and 19 others were brought to trial. Nelson was charged of contravening the Suppression of Communism Act and given a suspended prison sentence. Soon after the end of the campaign, Nelson was also not allowed to attend gathering and had to stay in Johannesburg for six months. Nelson still led resistance movements, against the government. During all of the ‘50s, Mandela was victim of many forms of repression.

He was arrested, imprisoned, and banner. On March 1956 a five year banning order was enforced against him. During the whole of the ‘50s, Mr Mandela was the victim of various forms of repression. He was banned, arrested and imprisoned. A five year banning order was enforced against him in March 1956. The government was paying a lot of attention to Nelson and had to move from place to place to not be detected by the all of the informants that the government had and all the police spies. To evade detection Nelson had to have a number of disguises ranging from a laborer, to a chauffer.

Nelson soon spent some time abroad for several months. When he returned to South Africa, he was charged with illegal exit of the country, and incitement to strike. Nelson decided to be his own defense in his trial. One thing he said in the trial was, “I detest racialism, because I regard it as a barbaric thing, whether it comes from a black man or a white man. ” He lost his trial and was sentenced to five years in prison. When Nelson was brought back to Pretoria in July 1963 he encountered Thomas Mashifane. He then knew that their hide out had been discovered by the authorities.

Nelson and ten other were then charged with sabotage. The trial in court for them lasted for 8 months. At the end of Nelson’s statement he said, “I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. 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 needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die. ” All but to of the accused people were sentenced to life in prison.

There Nelson was faced with many prisoners and prison warders who influenced him, and he also influenced them. While he was in prison, Nelson rejected all the offers made by his jailers for a shortened sentence as long as he accepted the Bantustan policy by recognizing the independence of the Transkei and agreeing to live there. Nelson was released on February 11, 1990. He then set out wholeheartedly, wanting to complete the goals he and other tried to do years ago. After being banned for decades the African National Congress had its first national conference.

Nelson was elected president while his great friend Oliver Tambo was elected as the organizations National Chairperson. Nelson Mandela was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on 1993, after his life that symbolizes the triumph of the human spirit. He was awarded this on behalf of all South Africans who suffered and sacrificed so much to bring peace to South Africa. The era of Apartheid ended on April 27, 1994. Nelson voted for the first time in his life then. After all his ups and downs, and all the adversity he faced, Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as President of South Africa.

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