Nelson Mandela Biography and Works.

Nelson Mandela alias Rolihlahla was born on the July 18, 1918 in a small village of Mvezo, in Umtata, South Africa. He became actively involved in the Anti-apartheid Movement and joined the African National Congress (ANC) in 1942.

He directed a campaign of peaceful, non-violent defiance against the South African government and its racist policies for 20 years.

Following the suggestion of one of Rolihlahla’s father’s friends, he was baptised into the Methodist Church and became the first in his family to attend school. As was the custom at the time and probably due to the bias of the British educational system in South Africa, his teacher told him that his new first name would be ‘Nelson’.

Nelson Mandela is known as the leader of the African National Congress (ANC) and for his lifelong struggle against Apartheid (enforced racial separation), which was instituted in South Africa in 1948. The ANC was soon declared a terrorist organization and banned by the South African government.

Mandela was arrested in 1962 and imprisoned for life on ‘terrorist’ charges, but in 1990, he was freed by South African President FW de Klerk. In 1994, he was elected President of South Africa. Two biographical movies were made, and the latest, Mandela and de Klerk (1997), focused on his life’s struggles. He died on April 1, 2010 at Cape Town, South Africa.

Trivia

He was first Black President of the Republic of South Africa from 1994 to 1999.

Quote

“A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.”