I’m sure that you have heard the name Nelson Mandela, but do you know who he was? He was many

Published 4 Nov 2025

Nelson Mandela

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I’m sure that you have heard the name Nelson Mandela, but do you know who he was? He was many, many things during the course of his life. Among them, he was a son of a tribal chief, a lawyer, an author and activist. He became a threat and enemy to the segregated ways of South Africa, ensuing his forthcoming status as a prisoner. He eventually became the President, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and an international hero. Many would say that he was to South Africa what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was to America.

He was born in 1918, six years after the African National Congress (ANC) was founded. After Mandela finished school and became a lawyer, he and a partner open the first Black law office in South Africa, but his country was changing. He joined the ANC in 1944, but shortly after, in 1948, the National Party came into power and apartheid became law. Apartheid was the practice of racial segregation in South Africa, similar to the often-bloody racial tensions of the American south, minus the aspect of slavery.

White people were very clearly the minority in South Africa, so soon after the National Party assumed control of the country, they began making changes to insure lasting power and control. Their first step was making the ANC illegal, which happened in 1960. This ushered in a wave of activism and resistance. In 1962, Mandela was arrested for treason and was accused of being a communist. As a result, he was sentenced to life in prison. He served a total of 27 years, 18 of which were on Robben Island, previously known exclusively as a leper colony. While incarcerated on Robben Island, when he wasn’t in solitary confinement, he did hard labor such as breaking rocks and building roads. When he was in solitary confinement he combatted the inhumanity and despair of isolation by writing constantly and working out. While imprisoned Mandela was not forgotten like so many are. His face and word became symbolic in the fight against apartheid.

He was finally released in 1990, while the National Party was still in power. The ban on the ANC was lifted and it was once again a legal political entity. This resulted in growing tension in the country; fear of losing power on one side, hope and resolve growing strong on the other. A civil war over power seemed inevitable, with bloody political instances happening more and more often as the tension rose. Mandela saw war as a lose-lose outcome for both sides, nearly alone in his theory of peace in his country. “My people said I was afraid. They said I was a coward”, he said.

Mandela secretly reached out to the leader of the opposing party for a private meeting. During this meeting, he was polite and respectful, sharing his concerns about the detriment of war and giving his opposition something to seriously think about. He impressed his racist opposer, so much so that he altered his plans, angering his men. He was a general and his soldiers wanting nothing less than bloodshed. But that did not happen.

In 1993, he won the Nobel Peace Prize with prior President, F.W. deKlerk.

In 1994, the first democratic elections were held in South Africa, open to citizens of all races. Nelson Mandela was elected President.

“During my lifetime, I have dedicated my life to the struggle of the African people. I have fought against White domination. I have fought against Black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons will live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal for which I hope to live for and to see realized. But…if it needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die”.

R.I.P.
Nelson Mandela
7/18/1918 to 12/5/2013