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| Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg - May 13, 2008 |
Nelson Mandela was the first black president of South
Africa, serving from 1994 to 1999. In 1994, South Africa—after years of white
minority rule—held its first elections in which people of all races could vote.
Blacks won a majority of the seats in a new National Assembly, and the Assembly
selected Mandela to be president. The election marked the beginning of a new
era in South Africa.
Mandela had long been a leader of protests against
apartheid—the South African government's policy of rigid racial segregation. In
1962, he was imprisoned on charges of conspiring to overthrow the white
minority government. While in prison, Mandela became a symbol of the struggle
for racial justice. After his release in 1990, he led negotiations with white
leaders that eventually brought an end to apartheid and established a nonracial
system of government. From 1991 to 1997, Mandela served as president of the
African National Congress (ANC), a group that helped win political and civil
rights for the country’s blacks.
Mandela and then-President F. W. de Klerk of South Africa
shared the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize. They were honored for their work to end
apartheid and to enable the country's nonwhites to fully participate in the
South African government. Mandela was commonly known as Madiba, his clan name.
Early life. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born on July 18,
1918, in Umtata, in the Transkei territory of South Africa. His father was a
chief of the Xhosa-speaking Tembu people. Mandela gave up his right to succeed
his father and instead prepared for a legal career. He took classes from the
South African Native College (now the University of Fort Hare) and the University
of South Africa. He received a bachelor’s degree in 1943. He then studied law
at the University of Witwatersrand. In 1952, he passed the qualifying exam to
practice law. That year, in Johannesburg, he and political ally Oliver Tambo
opened the first black law partnership in South Africa.
Imprisonment. Mandela joined the ANC in 1944 and helped form
the organization's Youth League. In 1948, the South African government began to
introduce its policy of apartheid. The ANC called for equality for all races
and began leading open resistance to the government. In 1956, the government
arrested Mandela and others on a charge of treason, but he was found not guilty
in 1961. The government outlawed the ANC in 1960, but Mandela renewed the
protests and went into hiding. In 1961, he became the commander-in-chief of
Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation), an organization committed to an armed
struggle against apartheid.
Mandela was again arrested in 1962. In 1964, he was
convicted of sabotage and conspiracy and sentenced to life in prison. While
Mandela was in prison on Robben Island, growing antiapartheid forces in South
Africa and elsewhere argued that he should be freed. His wife at that time, Winnie
Mandela, became a leading spokesperson for his cause. Shortly before Mandela's
release in 1990, the government recognized the ANC as a legal political
organization.
End of white rule. After leaving prison, Mandela agreed to
suspend an armed struggle that the ANC had been waging against the South
African government. Over the objections of more radical ANC members, he urged
conciliation (closer relations) with South African President de Klerk and other
government leaders. He believed such an approach would enable blacks to obtain
political power peacefully.
In 1990 and 1991, the government repealed most of the
remaining laws that had formed the legal basis of apartheid. Negotiations then
took place for a new constitution and for a transition to a democratic society.
In April 1994, in the first South African election in which all races could
vote, the ANC won a majority of the Assembly seats, and Mandela became
president. Mandela stepped down as head of the ANC in 1997. In 1999, he retired
as president of South Africa.
Later years. Following his retirement, Mandela continued to
be an outspoken defender of human rights. Nelson and Winnie Mandela divorced in
1996. In 1998, Mandela married Graca Machel, the widow of former President
Somora Machel of Mozambique.
Mandela died on Dec. 5, 2013, after a lengthy battle with a
lung infection. People around the world mourned his passing.
