
Nelson Mandela was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, political leader and philanthropist who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election. Wikipedia
Nelson Mandela timeline:
- 18 July 1918
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela is born at Mvezo in the Transkei
- 1935
Attends primary school near Qunu (receives the name ‘Nelson’ from a teacher)
- 1937
Enrols at Healdtown, the Wesleyan College at Fort Beaufort
- 1939
Enrols at the University of Fort Hare in Alice
- 1940
Is expelled from the University of Fort Hare
- 1941
Escapes an arranged marriage; becomes a mine security officer; starts articles at the law firm Witkin,Sidelsky & Eidelman
- 1942
Completes his BA through Unisa
- 1943
Enrols for an LLB at Wits University
- 1944
Co-founds the ANC Youth League; marries Evelyn Mase
- 1948
Is elected National Secretary of the ANC Youth League
- 1951
Is elected President of the ANC Youth League
- 1952
Sentenced to nine months in prison suspended for two years with 19 others;is banned for the first time; is asked to leave Wits over unpaid debt; starts South Africa’s first black law firm, Mandela & Tambo
- 1955
Watches in secret as the Freedom Charter is adopted in Kliptown
- 1956
Is arrested and charged with high treason with 155 others
- 1960
ANC and PAC are banned after the Sharpeville Massacre
- 1961
Is acquitted in Treason Trial; goes underground; calls on Verwoerd to set up talks on a non-racial future for South Africa; calls for a three-day strike in May over South Africa becoming a republic; is selected as Commander-in-Chief of Umkhonto weSizwe
- 1962
Secretly leaves the country for military training and to get support for the armed struggle; arrested on 5 August; sentenced to five years in prison for leaving the country without a passport and encouraging the strike
- 1963
Joins 10 others on trial for sabotage in the Rivonia Trial
- 1964
Sentenced with seven others to life imprisonment
- 1986
Starts meeting with the government to persuade them to talk to the ANC
- 1988
Is treated for TB in hospital for three months
- 1989
Graduates with an LLB from Unisa
- 1990
Released from Victor Verster Prison; leads ANC delegation in talks with the government
- 1993
Is jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with FW de Klerk for their efforts to end apartheid
- 1994
Votes in South Africa’s first democratic election; is inaugurated as President; his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, is published
- 1995
Starts the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund and donates to it a third of his presidential salary
- 1999
Steps down after only one term as president; starts the Nelson Mandela Foundation
- 2003
Starts the 46664 campaign to highlight HIV and AIDS; starts the Mandela Rhodes Foundation to build leadership in Africa
- 2004
Finally retires, saying, "Don’t call me, I’ll call you."
- 2013
Passes away peacefully at his home in Johannesburg aged 95
Nelson Mandela was undoubtedly one of the great moral and political leaders of our time. He was revered everywhere as a vital force in the fight for human rights and racial equality.
Read more about this incredible human being.
Nelson Mandela Foundation