Nelson Mandela
                     Nelson 
Mandela
Who Was Nelson 
Mandela?
Nelson Mandela was a social rights 
activist, politician and philanthropist 
who became South Africa’s first 
Black president from 1994 to 1999. 
He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 
1993.
Source: www.biography.com
African National 
Congress
After becoming involved in the anti-
apartheid movement in his 20s, 
Mandela joined the African National 
Congress in 1942.
 For 20 years, he directed a 
campaign of peaceful, nonviolent 
defiance against the South African 
government and its racist policies. 
Source: www.biography.com
Early Life
Mandela was born on July 18, 1918, 
in the tiny village of Mvezo, on the 
banks of the Mbashe River in 
Transkei, South Africa. His birth 
name was Rolihlahla Mandela. 
Source: www.biography.com
Family
Mandela's father, who was destined 
to be a chief, served as a counselor 
to tribal chiefs for several years but 
lost both his title and fortune over a 
dispute with the local colonial 
magistrate. 
The family lived in huts and ate a 
local harvest of maize, sorghum, 
pumpkin and beans, which was all 
they could afford.
Source: www.biography.com
Education
At the suggestion of one of his 
father's friends, Mandela was 
baptized in the Methodist Church. He 
went on to become the first in his 
family to attend school.
Source: www.biography.com
Political 
Awakening
When Mandela was 16, it was time 
for him to partake in the traditional 
African circumcision ritual to mark 
his entrance into manhood. 
The ceremony of circumcision was 
not just a surgical procedure, but an 
elaborate ritual in preparation for 
manhood. 
Source: www.biography.com
University Life
Under the guardianship of Regent 
Jongintaba, Mandela was groomed to 
assume high office, not as a chief, 
but a counselor to one. 
As Thembu royalty, Mandela 
attended a Wesleyan mission school, 
the Clarkebury Boarding Institute 
and Wesleyan College, where, he 
would later state, he achieved 
academic success through "plain 
hard work." 
Source: www.biography.com
Higher Education
In 1939, Mandela enrolled at the 
University of Fort Hare, the only 
residential center of higher learning 
for Black people in South Africa at 
the time. 
Fort Hare was considered Africa's 
equivalent of Harvard, drawing 
scholars from all parts of sub-
Saharan Africa. 
Source: www.biography.com
Anti-Apartheid 
Movement
Mandela soon became actively 
involved in the anti-apartheid 
movement, joining the African 
National Congress in 1942. 
Within the ANC, a small group of 
young Africans banded together, 
calling themselves the African 
National Congress Youth League. 
Source: www.biography.com
Prison Years
In 1961, Mandela orchestrated a 
three-day national workers' strike. 
He was arrested for leading the 
strike the following year and was 
sentenced to five years in prison. 
In 1963, Mandela was brought to 
trial again. This time, he and 10 
other ANC leaders were sentenced 
to life imprisonment for political 
offenses, including sabotage.
Source: www.biography.com
Nobel Peace Prize
In 1993, Mandela and President de 
Klerk were jointly awarded the Nobel 
Peace Prize for their work toward 
dismantling apartheid in South 
Africa.
Source: www.biography.com
Death
Mandela died on December 5, 2013, 
at the age of 95 in his home in 
Johannesburg, South Africa. 
After suffering a lung infection in 
January 2011, Mandela was briefly 
hospitalized in Johannesburg to 
undergo surgery for a stomach 
ailment in early 2012.
Source: www.biography.com