Nelson Mandela

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born in the village of Mvezo in the former Cape Province on 18 July 1918 and was given the Xhosa name Rolihlahla (colloquially 'troublemaker'); his schoolteacher later gave him the English forename 'Nelson.' He was a member of the Thembu royal family (clan name Madiba) and underwent traditional Xhosa initiation, receiving names such as Dalibhunga during his youth. Mandela trained as a lawyer after leaving rural life and became active in urban African politics in Johannesburg, joining the African National Congress (ANC) and co-founding its Youth League. During the 1950s and early 1960s Mandela rose to prominence as a leader of the ANC’s campaign against South Africa’s system of racial segregation known as apartheid, participating in civil disobedience and later endorsing armed struggle after peaceful resistance met violent repression. Arrested in 1962 and charged in the Rivonia Trial, Mandela was convicted of sabotage and other charges and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964; he spent most of his 27 years in custody on Robben Island and later at Pollsmoor and Victor Verster prisons. International campaigns and persistent domestic pressure kept his name in the global conscience and made him a symbol of the anti-apartheid movement. Released in February 1990 amid declining apartheid authority and secret negotiations with the government, Mandela led the ANC in formal negotiations that dismantled apartheid and established the framework for majority rule. In 1994 he became South Africa’s first Black president after the first multiracial democratic elections, forming a Government of National Unity and emphasizing reconciliation between racial communities, creating the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to address past human rights abuses, and implementing policies aimed at redressing socio-economic inequalities. Mandela served one term and retired from the presidency in 1999 but remained an active moral voice globally on issues including peace, HIV/AIDS awareness, and social justice until his later years. Mandela’s later life was marked by philanthropy and the work of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, which preserves his legacy and promotes social justice causes; he died on 5 December 2013 at the age of 95, and is widely memorialized both in South Africa and internationally.