Biography of Nelson Mandela
He
was a South African leader well known for his fight against apartheid that had
taken root in the country. Apartheid was a system of segregation in the country
that was characterized by levels of oppression.
He was born in the year 1918 and served as the president of South Africa
from 1994 to 1999. This was after spending twenty-seven years in prison for his
fight against apartheid. He was a philanthropist, revolutionary as well as a
great politician who is considered as a great African leader that influenced
the entire world. He was elected to power and developed measures of breaking
down the systems of apartheid that had helped the nation captive for many
years. He also fought for racial reconciliation after years of conflict. He was
a socialist and president of the ANC; African National Congress party. Nelson
Mandela was a Xhosa, a clan in South Africa. He was born as a member of a royal
family of the people of Tembu. He was the son of a chief called Henry Mandela
who was a leader of the Madiba Clan. He renounced his place as the heir of the
chief to pursue his education as a lawyer. As a result, he went and studied law
at the University Of Fort Hare which was previously known as the South African
Native College. He proceeded and studied law at the University of
Witwatersrand, passed and became a lawyer. He quickly became a leader of a
youth group within the African national Congress. The ANC was a party developed
as a liberation group for the blacks who were suffering from oppression at the
hands of white South Africans. As a leader in the group, he revitalized it and
helped develop strong measures against policies of Apartheid.
At
the time the national party that ruled South Africa was all white and
established a system of governance that was all white. The system of apartheid
had policies of segregation and oppression of black South Africans in the
country. The whites in the country were highly privileged regarding access to
resources and social amenities. Nelson Mandela
became a prominent figure of the ANC when he was involved in defiance campaign
in 1952. He was also involved in the Congress of people in 1955. His
involvement with the ANC led to his many arrests for his fight against
apartheid. Mandela was once tried for treason in the year 1956 because of his
efforts against the government. He was greatly influenced by Marxism which is
mainly associated with a socialist form of government. As a result, he secretly
joined a communist group called the South African Communist Party that was
associated with communist ideals. This was a group that was against the
policies the government had established because they were oppressive of black
South Africans and privileged the whites in the country. It was a time when the
country was greatly divided by aspects of the race. Mandela went on with his
fight against the government, and he developed together with others from SACP a
militant group by the name of Umkhonto We Sizwe. They developed this group in
the year 1961, and it made an effort to sabotage activities of the government.
In the same year, the group orchestrated a government takes over. He was
arrested as among the people conspiring to overthrow the government and got a
life sentence
The
militant group was part of the ANC, and unlike ANC which was non-violent, he
group took more measures and established an actual take over. Mandela’s
involvement with the take over him imprisoned in the year 1963. His trial was
varied famous and was known as the Rivonia Trial. He eased the death penalty in
the year 1964 and instead received life imprisonment. He was incarcerated at
Robben Island which was a prison in Cape Town. He was kept at maximum security,
but once in the year 1988 he caught Tuberculosis and had to be transferred to
the Victor Verster Prison which was near the town of Paarl. Throughout his
sentence, the fight against apartheid continued, and it grew stronger because
one of its profound leaders was in a life sentence. Pressure grew on the
national government. The government offered him freedom on conditions that he
renounced his violent approach to freedom. Mandela refused offers from the
government and continued his sentence. Many black South Africans offered great
support to him while incarcerated and pushed on the fight against apartheid. In
the year 1990 Mandel was released from prison by the president De Klerk. His
release from prison was only based on the promise of the end of apartheid and
smooth transition to a society that focused on peace and equality among people
of all color. After his release, he took the mantle as the president of the ANC
and fought towards social freedom. In the year 1994 Mandela became the
president of South Africa after elections and initiated social efforts for the
improvement of living standards of the black population in the country.
Works
Cited
Nelson
Mandela. n.d.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nelson-Mandela. 2017.
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