Nelson Mandela - Biography

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.