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T
ALL ABOU

NELSON MANDELA
South Africa’s first black president Nelson
Mandela was a world-famous human rights
activist, who spent many years of his life
behind bars for protesting against racism!

1918 1942
Nelson Mandela was born on 18 July
1918 in the village of Mvezo, South
Africa. His dad Henry was chief of a
»» Nelson loved to study and after school
he qualified as a lawyer. But his country
was very unequal, so life was difficult.
tribe called the Thembu, and his great White people led privileged lives and
grandfather was the tribe’s king. His held positions of power, whereas black
name when he was little was actually people had very few rights – they
Rolihlahla but on his first day at school weren’t even allowed to vote in elections.
his teacher gave him the English name

»»
Nelson, and it stuck!
1948
He joined the African National
Congress (ANC) in 1944 – a political
group that strived for equal rights. But
1956-1962 things got even worse in 1948 when
Nelson travelled around the government introduced a system
South Africa to gain called ‘apartheid’. These racist new
support for non-
violent protests. But
» laws meant that non-white people had
to live completely separate lives from
his activism landed white people. They weren’t allowed to
him in trouble, and live in the same areas, attend the same
he was put in jail. schools, sit together on trains and buses
During his five years or even bathe on the same beaches.
behind bars, things
didn’t improve at all, so
in 1961, after his release,
he and the other ANC 1963-1990
leaders took more dramatic action and formed a secret military
group. Nelson went into hiding and wore disguises to evade
capture. But in 1962 he was eventually arrested.
»

»
Nelson was
affectionately
known as Madiba
(the name of his 1993-2013 ■
clan) by many of
his supporters. After being freed, Nelson worked with the
government to end apartheid and make To help him
sp eak with his
the country a fairer place, and in 1993 nents,
he won the Nobel Peace Prize for his political oppo d
Nelson le nele
ar
efforts. With black people now allowed to Afrikaans whi
vote, Nelson won the 1994 election and in prison.
became South Africa’s first black President.
He retired from office in 1999 and continued Nelson was sentenced to life in prison for
to promote equality, peace plotting to overthrow the government and sent
and freedom around the
world. Nelson passed away
» to a prison on Robben Island, near Cape Town.
He spent the next 27 years locked up! During
in December 2013, aged this time the anti-apartheid movement gained
Illustrations © Marek Jagucki.

95, but his spirit of strength more and more support, and ‘Free Nelson
and compassion will always Mandela!’ calls echoed around the world.
shine brightly, just like his In 1990 South African President F.W. de Klerk
colourful ‘Madiba’ shirts! met with him and he was finally released.