“There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountain top of our desires”. These are the words of a man, Nelson Mandela, who fought for something that many would shy away from. He led the anti-apartheid movement, became the president of the African National Congress Youth League, and later became the president of South Africa winning the Nobel Peace Prize.
1942 started Nelson Mandela’s participation in the racial oppression in South Africa. He joined the African National Congress (ANC), led by Anton Lembede. In 1944, Mandela joined up with Walter Sisulu, William Nkomo, Oliver R. Tambo, and Ashby P. Mda to form the African National Congress Youth League. Quickly, Mandela became the secretary of the ANCYL in 1947 because of his consistent effort and disciplined work. In 1949 the Programme of Action was accepted as authorized ANC policy. The Programme of Action supported boycott, strike, civil disobedience, and non-co-operation. Nelson Mandela became the president of the ANCYL in 1952. “Under his leadership the ANC began sponsoring nonviolent protests, strikes, boycotts, marches, and other acts of civil disobedience and in the process becoming a target to police harassment and arrest.” This came to be known as the Defiance Campaign. This marked the beginning of mass resistance to apartheid. In 1959 a small group of ANC members broke off and started their own group called the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC). And on March 21, 1960, 20,000 PAC protesters left there homes without passes and joined together in Sharpeville. The police, thinking that the group would become unfriendly, opened fire on the protesters. Sixty-Nine Blacks were killed and another 186 were wounded. After this attack, the South African Government outlawed the ANC and PAC organizations. But this would not stop Mandela and his companions from fighting the apartheid. In 1961 Mandela helped establish the ANC’s military wing, known as the Umkhonto we Sizwe -Spear of the Nation-, also known as the M-plan or MK plan named after Mandela himself. He was named its commander in chief and was sent to Algeria for military training. In that time 200 acts of sabotage took place.
When he returned in 1962, he was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison for illegal ...
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...ed on majority rule. Mandela would lead South Africa as its president until 1999 when he stepped down and Thabo Mbeki was selected president.
Mandela worked his way up through the ranks of the ANC and ANCYL, leading the anti-apartheid movement. What he accomplished while in the ANCYL and in prison changed the way that South Africa is today. Without Mandela blacks would still only be able to use certain bathrooms and would only be able to go in certain places designated for them. This 55-year journey from the African National Congress, to prison, and finally to becoming president and winning the Nobel Peace Prize has made Nelson Mandela a living legend. But in the words of Nelson Mandela himself,
I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can rest only for a moment, for with freedom comes responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not yet ended. (pg.625)
This article proves that even when Mandela was imprisoned, he never gave up or lost hope in himself. Mandela was still able to overcome the pressure of being behind bars for more than a decade. He still did his work even when in dark times.
Nelson Mandela helped bring an end to Apartheid in South Africa because he was a believer in basic human rights, leading both peaceful and violent protests against the white South African Government. His beliefs landed him in prison for twenty-seven years, almost three decades. In doing so, he became the face of the apartheid movement both in his country and around the world. When released from prison in 1990, he continued to honor his commitment to fight for justice and equality for all people in South Africa. In 1994, Nelson Mandela was elected to become the first black president of South Africa and formed a government that represented the people of South Africa.
All in all, Nelson Mandela was a great leader who, through all the hardships, was able to change the ways of his country for the better. He did not lose hope after the imprisonment. Instead, he chose to defy the government more by rejecting their proposals of freedom.
Nelson Mandela taught us that the humanity all of us share can help us transcend the sins some of us commit. There is no better example of the transformative power of tolerance and reconciliation than Nelson Mandela and his inspiring work in overthrowing the apartheid government in South Africa. He understood the power of words to change minds and the power of peaceful deeds to open hearts. His life reminds us that justice and tolerance can overcome even the greatest cruelty. Nelson Mandela faced one of the greatest evils of our time.
As you see, from a very young age Mandela decided that he was going to devote his life to making the world a better place. He put all of his time and energy into building a foundation of proper education in order to carry out this goal of his. His cultural background also helped him empathize with the people he was fighting for. This is just the beginning of the things Nelson Mandela accomplished throughout his lifetime. Although he was a controversial figure in history, he truly made an impact on people across the world. No matter where you go, people know his name. It wasn't until December 5, 2013 - the day of his death - that he ever gave up trying to make peace with the world.
“The time comes in the life of any nation when there remain only two choices: submit or fight” (“Nelson Mandela”). Nelson Mandela took the chance and fought for his rights and freedom. Mandela has gone through many troubles in his life since the day he was born. A young man that had no shoes till he approached the age of sixteen, and then transformed into a great political leader of his country. Mandela’s life is an impressing story to be told!
There are many types of people in the world. Some of them are negative and some are positive. Negative people seem to have an endless impact on the people they influence. Negative people plant their venom in the lives of families, friends, communities, countries, and sometimes, even the world, which can make healing difficult and almost impossible because, in many cases, negativity breeds more negativity. However, all people are not negative people, and many people take time to build up others who are less fortunate than they are but who deserve the same opportunities they have. Nelson Mandela is one of these positive people. Mandela contributed to ending
Activist, lawyer, father, prisoner, survivor, president, the face of equality. Nelson Mandela has an inspiring story of fighting Apartheid forces and surviving a long prison sentence all in the name of freedom and equal rights. Through Nelson Mandela’s constant fight for freedom of the African people from white apartheid forces, he was dominated by the corrupt government. After uprising numerous riots against apartheid forces, Mandela was sent to jail for twenty-seven years revealing the cruelty that humans can possess. With the strong will power and complete support of the African people, Mandela survived his prison sentence and became the first democratically elected president of South Africa exposing the strength in human nature by showing that humans can persevere through tough times. Mandela left a profound impact on the African people by saving them from corrupt Apartheid rule and bringing a democratic government. Thus teaching the world that in an event where a body of people is suppressed, they will inevitably rebel by any means necessary to gain their freedom.
Nelson Mandela was a well-known South African politician, philanthropist, and an anti-apartheid revolutionary, born on eighteenth of July 1918. He served as the South African President from the year 1944 to 1999. He is known as the first South African chief executive, and also the first person to be elected in a free and Democratic election. After he was elected, the government of Nelson Mandela focused on dismantling and destroying the widely spread legacy of apartheid that was reigning in South Africa. He tackled these issues by dealing with institutionalised racism, inequality, and poverty. He also made an effort to foster racial reconciliation (Downing & Jr, 1992). He served as the African National Congress President, as a democratic and an African nationalist, from the year 1991 to 1997. Nelson Mandela was appointed the Secretary General from 1998 to 1999, of the Movement of Non-Alignment. Mandela studied Law when he attended the University of Witwatersrand and Fort Hare University. He got involved in anti-colonial politics at the time he lived in Johannesburg. He joined the ANC and later became a founding and prominent member of the Youth league. Nelson Mandela came to power after the National party of South Africa. He ascended to grea...
In 1908, the white minority group of South Africa achieved independence from Great Britain and established a government where they controlled the majority population of non-whites (nobelprize.org). Nelson Mandela was born on the lands that the white government assigned to colored citizens in 1913. At the end of Mandela’s first year college at Fort Hare University, he became involved in a Students' Representative Council (SRC) boycott against university policies and was told to leave the university and not return unless he accepted election to the SRC (Wikipedia). Mandela left without finishing his degree. This action against the school is thought to have been the beginning of his fight against apartheid. In 1943, while studying law at the University of ...
Source – According to “Long walk to Freedom” The following year, he was sent home alongside other students for participating in boycott against university policies. After finding out his family had an arranged marriage for him, he fled to Johannesburg and worked as a watchman then later a law clerk.
“To deny people their right to human rights is to challenge their very humanity. To impose on them a wretched life of hunger and deprivation is to dehumanize them. But such has been the terrible fate of all black persons in our country under the system of apartheid (“In Nelson Mandela’s own words”). Nelson Mandela was a moral compass symbolizing the struggle against racial oppression. Nelson Mandela emerged from prison after twenty-seven years to lead his country to justice. For twenty-seven years he sat in a cell because he believed in a country without apartheid, a country with freedom and human rights. He fought for a country where all people were equal, treated with respect and given equal opportunity. Nelson Mandela looms large in the actions of activists and politicians. He inspired music and movies, and swayed the mind of powerful leaders. Making him an influential person who affected American culture.
Nelson Mandela is one of the greatest ethical and political leaders in recent history. Nelson Mandela dedicated his life to the fight against the racial oppression of the apartheid regime in South Africa. In doing so, he became the first democratically chosen black president of South Africa. Nelson Mandela’s life is a blue print for the development of a leader who fought against discrimination and aimed to build fairness and justice, and by doing so, acquired the ultimate achievement: equality for South Africa.
" calm, patient determination to reclaim this country as your own, and now the joy that we can loudly proclaim from the rooftops--Free at last! Free at last! ... This is a time to heal the old wounds and build a new South Africa." Nelson Mandela fought his entire life. Nelson Mandela fought a fight for civil rights in South Africa on the streets and behind the prison walls. Even after 27 years behind those walls Mandela maintained his dignity and rose to be the first Black President of South Africa.
Being democratically elected, Nelson Mandela firmly believed that as President of South Africa, there is no reasons for him to be having a higher standard of living than those who voted for him, who put him in power which stands testament to his