Nelson Mandela

Have you ever heard of Nelson Mandela? He was a fantastic man, but it didn’t start out that way. He was born Rolihlahla Mandela on July 18, 1918. His father was the chief of Mvezo, where Nelson was born. Nelson was adopted by his father’s friend, a prosperous clan chief, when he was nine. He was the first in his family to receive a proper education. He completed his primary studies at a local missionary school where a teacher dubbed him Nelson as part of a common practice of giving African students English names. Later, Nelson attended the western University of Fort Hare and the University of Witwatersrand. He also received his law degree at the latter. He was sent home from Fort Hare for launching a boycott with Oliver Tambo concerning university policies.

When he was a bit older, Nelson joined the African National Congress, or ANC. He did several projects for them before starting Umkhonto we Sizwe (“Spear of the Nation”), otherwise known as MK. It was an armed wing of the ANC. Nelson believed it was now time to be more aggressive because the government had met their peaceful strikes with violence. In January of 1962, Mandela visited the exiled Tambo in London and traveled abroad to attend a conference of African national leaders in Ethiopia. On his way …show more content…
Eighteen of these years were spent in Robben Island Prison, where Nelson had no bed or plumbing and was forced to do hard labor in a lime quarry all day. He was also given smaller meals and fewer privileges than the other prisoners. In addition, both his wife and his son died while he was in jail, but he was not allowed to attend either of their funerals. Nelson was offered numerous political compromises in exchange for his freedom, but he refused. He didn’t want any conditions attached to his release. Luckily, when F.W. De Klerk was elected president in 1989, he released