Research Paper On Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela was a well known activist, prisoner, and president. His independence started early as his father passed away when he was only twelve years old. He learnt stories of his ancestors that inspired him to try and help his people. Mandela once said, “After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb,” and that certainly stood true for him because after spending 27 years in prison he went on to be the president of South Africa. Mandela was born on July 18th, 1918 in the village of Mvezo. His parents were principal counsellors to the Acting King of the Thembu people. He began school at the University College of Fort Hare, but he was expelled for joining a protest. The King was not happy about it at

The same year, he married a nurse, Evelyn Mase. They had two sons and two daughters, but unfortunately one of the daughters died in infancy. Nelson and Evelyn got divorced in 1958. Before that Mandela helped to adopt a more radical mass-based policy for the ANC in 1949. In 1952 he became the National Volunteer-in-Chief of the Defiance Campaign. He and 19 others were charged under the Suppression of Communism Act for their part in the campaign and sentenced to nine months of hard labour, and were suspended for two years. Mandela was able to practise law after receiving a two-year diploma in law on top of his BA and in 1952 he and Oliver Tambo established South Africa’s first black law firm, which was known as Mandela &

During the trial he married a social worker, Winnie Madikizela, in 1958, they had two daughters and were divorced in 1996. In 1962 Mandela secretly left South Africa to get help from England for his armed struggle to help establish Umkhonto weSizwe. When he returned to Africa a few months later he was arrested for leaving the country without a permit and inciting workers to strike. At what became known as the Rivonia Trial in 1964, where he was facing the death penalty, he said, “I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.” Mandela was convicted the next day and sentenced to a life in prison. Mandela’s mother passed away in 1968, and his oldest son passed away in 1969 and he wasn’t allowed to go to either one of their funerals. He was finally released from prison in 1990. In 1993 he and President FW de Klerk won the Nobel Peace Prize and in 1994 he was able to vote for the first time in his