Nelson Mandela

by Jiaming Yang

      This paper is about Nelson Mandela. Although he is now president of South Africa, this was not his goal. This paper covers some of his youth and some of his goals.

     Nelson Mandela was born on July 18, 1918 at Qunu near Umtata, the capital village of the Transkei "reserve". His father was a political leader and his mother was a woman of strong character and dignity. He is the youngest and the only boy in the family. His upbringing was traditional. Because of his family influence, he grew up with a strong sense of responsibility.

     In the early days when he was very young, he helped family in the fields like his older sisters. At night he listened to the stories from the tribal elders by the fire.The stories were about the "good old days, before the arrival of the white man". These occasions were considered as the background to his political development. Later when he went to mission school, he was shocked to find the history books recognized only white heroes, describing blacks as savages and cattle thieves. However at home he heard of different stories - Black people were humiliated and killed by the white people.

     After his father's death when he was twelve, he became the Paramount Chief's ward. Those years of living with the Chief was a very gripping experience for Mandela. His exposure to discussing and resolving local problems gave him a keen interest in law. When he realized he was being prepared for chieftainship, he left for Johannesburg. He did not want to rule over an oppressed people.

     Nelson Mandela believed in nonviolence. He organized peaceful demonstrations to support his ideas. He believed that every man and every woman should be allowed to vote. Nelson Mandela said at one of his trials,

"I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."

For this he was sentenced to life in jail. His primary goal was to achieve equal status for all living in South Africa. He was in jail from 1962 to 1990. He spent most of his time in prison on Robben Island.

Before he entered jail he started to doubt if nonviolence was the correct choice. He felt that the government of South Africa was preparing to make war on his people, and that they should be prepared to defend themselves. In the 1980s he was offered many chances for release if he would give up the idea of violence. He kept his principles, but was finally released in February of 1990. After his release, he agreed to give up violence. Nelson Mandela became the president of south Africa in 1994.