Nelson Mandela Legacy

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“A winner is a dreamer who never gives up.” -Nelson Mandela . Nelson Mandela lived by this, and he dreamed of having racial equality and he didn’t give up until he achieved his dreams. He refused to compromise his ideals, even when tempted with an early release from jail. He refused to let the societal conflict of protesting Apartheid compromise his beliefs, leading to an eventual end to segregation in South Africa. Nelson Mandela’s legacy began to form from the moment he was born. Nelson Mandela was born in Mvezo, Transkei, South Africa on July 18, 1918 (CNN Library). His birth name was Rolihlahla, which means troublemaker or “pulling the branch of a tree” (Mandela Foundation staff; Biography.com). Mandela was first given the name “Nelson” …show more content…

One of the good things in Nelson Mandela being in prison was that he became well known around the world (Pettinger). Mandela was even offered his freedom several times, but he refused to renounce armed struggle until Apartheid came to an end (Alexander). Although Mandela wanted to get out of prison, he knew that renouncing armed struggle would mean giving up the fight to end Apartheid. While at Robben Island, Mandela earned a bachelor of law degree from the University of London. After Robben Island, Mandela spent 6 years at Pollsmoor Prison, before being placed on house arrest on the grounds of a minimum security prison (History.com staff). He was finally released from prison on February 11, 1990, and emerged with his wife Winnie Mandela (Sampson). His release came with some help from new president F.W. de Klerk …show more content…

In 2004, Mandela announced his retirement from public life (Biography.com staff). After retiring from active politics, Mandela raised money to build schools and clinics in Africa as well as raising awareness for AIDS (Kareem). Sadly, he suffered a lung infection in January of 2011 (Biography.com). He lived for a few more years, but finally died of respiratory tract infection on December 5, 2013 (Nittle). At the time of his death, Mandela was 95 years old and passed away in his home in Houghton, Johannesburg with his family by his side (Pettinger and Jonas). He was buried on a hill overlooking his childhood village of Qunu (CNN