12/10/16
Sociology Final
Laura Fischer
A time line of Nelson Mandela’s Life
Over the course of the semester we have had the opportunity to study Nelson Mandela and the impact he has had on the world. In this paper I dug deeper to look at and study his key life experiences from a sociological perspective. Mandela lived a remarkable life because he was willing to suffer. Mandela was fearless. I think we can all learn a lot from Mandela, he once wrote “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.
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Mandela and the other prisoners were often subject to inhuman punishments. It was here that he wrote his first draft of a long walk to freedom. Around 1976 there was a huge amount of black protesting going on and Mandela was the leader behind it all. The whole world was beginning to take notice and this led to a free nelson campaign. The government offered Mandela his freedom in exchange for various political compromises, including the renouncement of violence and recognition of the “independent” Transkei Bantustan, but sticking to what he believed in Nelson rejected these deals and offers. He was then moved to a different prison. Finally in 1990 the newly elected president demanded Mandela’s release from prison. Mandela had been in prison for nearly thirty years. That same president also released then ban on the ANC. On April 26, 1994 South Africa had its first multiracial parliamentary elections in history. Mandela knew at this time if he was running he could not be seen as bitter, he must be bigger then it all. A majority chose the ANC to lead the country so on May 10 Mandela was elected to be the first black president of South