NelsonRolihlahla Mandela (1918-2013) was a lawyer, political activist and president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999.
Mandela was one of the leaders of the movement against the regime of the apartheid in the country and spent 27 years in prison as a result of his political struggle.
Biography
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born in the village of Mvezo, on July 18, 1918, into a family of aristocrats.
He was given the name Rolihlahla from his parents and at school the name “Nelson”, according to the custom of receiving an English name from the teachers, as the British could not pronounce African names.
In 1927, with the death of his father, Henry Mgadla, Nelson Mandela, before turning 10, moved in with his uncle and thus had access to a wide range of formal education.
He attended prep school “Clarkebury Boarding Institute”, elite black school, and “Healdtown College”, a boarding school.
In 1939, at the age of 21, he entered the “Fort Hare University”, the first University in South Africa, founded in 1916.
At that time, the South Africa it was ruled by the “Afrikaners”, descendants of English settlers who continued to maintain their privileged position.
The black population was marginalized through laws that regulated public spaces with specific beaches for whites and blacks to the use of toilets and drinking fountains. They also banned interracial marriage.
Fight against apartheid
Involved in student movements and protests within the University, Mandela decides to leave college, before finishing the course, and goes to Johannesburg, the largest city in South Africa.
It was at this time, given the problems faced in the big city and the abyss between blacks and whites, that Mandela decided to go back to studying and fighting racism in his country.
In the mid-1940s he graduated in Arts from the “University of South Africa” and Law from the “University of the Witwatersrand”.
In this context, Mandela began to attend meetings of the ANC (African National Congress), a movement against apartheid. In 1944, together with Walter Sisulo and Oliver Tambo, they founded the “CNA Youth League”. That same year, he marries Evelyn Mase, with whom he had 4 children. The union, however, lasted 12 years.
In 1960, the “Sharpeville Massacre” takes place, when the police repress blacks who peacefully protested against the regime and were killed by the police. The action left 69 blacks dead and more than 100 injured.
This fact was decisive for Mandela to become even more involved in political activism. He becomes the commander of the armed wing of the CNA, however, in 1962 he was convicted and imprisoned until 1990, for 27 years.
Prison
Nelson Mandela's arrest proved a wave of outrage around the world. Several protests were organized in London, Paris and the United States demanding the leader's release.
Even imprisoned in appalling conditions that included forced labor and isolation, Mandela did not stop writing and military.
His second wife, Winnie Madikizela, continued the fight against segregationism while calling for her husband's release.
Mandela proclaims that he must walk the “Path of Evidence” if he is to achieve his goal of creating a South Africa for blacks and whites.
South African presidents, however, have consistently refused to release him. Only in 1984 was there an offer. Mandela could get out of prison, provided he withdrew from politics. He refused the proposal and would be imprisoned for another six years.
On February 11, 1990, the president of South Africa, Frederik de Klerk, frees Nelson Mandela and, in addition, removes the ANC from illegality. Thus, he would officially end the apartheid law.
Three years later, both were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their fight for civil and human rights in the country. Mandela would still earn the title of "Father of the Fatherland" of the modern South African nation.
Thus, Mandela was elected president of the country in 1994 and ruled until 1999.
Upon leaving prison, Mandela made a speech calling the country to reconciliation:
“I fought white domination, and I fought black domination. I have held to the ideal of a democratic and free society, in which all people can live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It's an ideal I hope to live by and one I hope to achieve. But if need be, it's an ideal I'm ready to die for.”
He passed away on December 5, 2013, in Houghton, Johannesburg, South Africa, aged 95.
Sentences
- “Education is the most powerful weapon by which you can change the world.”
- “Whoever God is, I am master of my destiny and captain of my soul.”
- “I hate racism because I consider it a wild thing, whether it comes from a black or a white.”
- “Hungry democracy, without education and health for the majority, is an empty shell.”
- “Nobody is born hating another person because of the color of their skin, their origin or even their religion. To hate, people need to learn, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love.”
- “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, it gets into his head. If you speak to him in his own language, you reach his heart.”
- “Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through her that a peasant's daughter can become a doctor, that a miner's son can become the director of the mine, that a child of farm workers can become the president of a parents.”
Curiosities
In 2010, the UN (United Nations) defines the “International Day of Nelson Mandela” (Mandela Day), celebrated on the 18th of July, the date of his birth.
Several books, films and documentaries were inspired by Nelson Mandela's trajectory, of which the following stand out:
- the memoirs: “Conversations I Had with Me” (2010) and “Long Walk to Freedom” (2012);
- the films: “Speech by Nelson Mandela” (1995), “Mandela, Struggle for Freedom” (2007), “Invictus” (2009), “Mandela: Long Road to Freedom” (1994);
- the documentaries: “Never Lose Hope” (1984), “Viva Mandela” (1990), “Countdown to Freedom: Ten Days that changed South Africa” (1994), “Mandela: Son of Africa, father of a nation” (1996) and “Nelson Mandela: a just man” (2000).
read more:
- Racism
- Apartheid
