Nelson Mandela Essay

Nelson Mandela

From being locked up in prison on Robben island for 27 years to becoming president of South Africa. Yes I am telling you the story of Nelson Mandela. Nelson was an amazing person and did a lot of great things.

Nelson was born on the 18th of July 1918 and died on December 5th 2013. When Nelson was 9 years old his father past away and because of that his mother and him moved to a city called Mqhekezweni in South Africa. When Nelson was a kid he had quite a lot of names here are some of them, Dalibunga, Rolihlahla and obviously Nelson. Nelson went to Fort Hare University, then he studied for a Bachelor of Arts. He was ordered to leave because of his political activities. He moved to Johannesburg to work and completed his degree by correspondence. He then attended the University of Witwatersrand and studied for a degree in Law.  

Nelson was in a political party called ANC ( African National Congress ). Nelson wanted to stop apartheid, which is separating black and white people. Black and white people weren't aloud to be in the same room or shop together or live together. Nelson wanted to stop this from happening and for everybody to have equal rights. In 1962 he was arrested because he wanted to overthrow the state, that caused him to go to prison on Robben island for 27 years.  In his small cell he didn't have a bed, a sink, a shower or a toilet. Each day he was forced to work extremely hard.

When Nelson came out of prison he was a different man .  The prison had proved to him that he was going to try even harder to succeed his dreams.  For everyone to be treated evenly no matter what colour skin they had. Slowly but surely Nelson Mandela became a household name.  When he left prison he returned to being the leader of ANC.  He tried to stay away from the spotlight.  But the the spotlight didn't want to stay away from him, he was so inspirational that people wanted to follow and listen to him.  

Nelson teamed up with the South African President F.W de Klerk and campaigned against racism and apartheid . They did such a good job that apartheid was abolished in South Africa and in 1993 they were both awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Then in 1994 Nelson was voted in as the first black President of South Africa. Nelson was a famous man around the world for being apart of human rights.

In 1999 Nelson retired from the Presidency. He continued his good work around  the world with peace and equality and  has become one of the most well known people in the the world.