Nelson Mandel Racial Segregation In South Africa

“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others”-Nelson Mandela (Newsone.com). Apartheid the state of being apart. A system of racial segregation in South Africa enforced through legislation by the National Party from 1948 to 1994. Robben Island just off the coast of Cape Town the Alcatraz of South Africa. The Inmates of Robben Island were political prisoners like Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Pan Africanist Congress founder Robert Sobukwe and others fighting apartheid in their homeland. Unlike those on the rock career criminals, the political prisoner. Born as Rolihlahla Mandela on July 18, 1918, Nelson Mandela was born to Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa and Nosekeni Fanny the royal family. Mandela grew up in the village of Qunu. Much of his early years were spent herding the cattle and playing with other boys in the village. Though both his parents were illiterate, they realized the importance of

He spend the first 18 years at Robben Island Prison of a 27 year sentence. Mandela was trapped in a small cell only a bucket for plumping and no bed. Day in and Day out Mandela would work hard in the limestone quarry. He eventually earned his respect with the guards, they let him get a little desk in his cell. Mandela was allowed visitors every six months. Which his wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and their two young daughter would come to see him on those occasions. On Robben Island political prisoner were often subjected to routine inhumane beating and punishments for the smallest of offenses. Guards often reported beating inmates to the ground and urinating on them. Mandela was moved to Pollsmoor Prison on the mainland in 1982. He was later placed on house arrest 1988, on the grounds of a minimum-security correctional facility. Despite mandela being locked away for 27 years he was still the symbolic leader of the apartheid