MANDELA, Nelson (born 1918). A folk hero for South African blacks, Nelson Mandela led the armed struggle against their homeland's segregationist
policies. Dismayed by the apparent failure of nonviolent resistance, he was an outlaw for 18 months often wearing disguises to outwit the authorities. Ultimately he became a worldwide symbol of victory against apartheid when he was freed from a life sentence in prison.
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born on July 19, 1918, near Umtata, Transkei. To pursue a political career, he renounced his right to succeed his father as chief of the Tembu tribe. He studied law by correspondence. In 1944 he joined the African National Congress (ANC) and helped found its influential Youth League. His first jail sentence (suspended) was for the ANC's 1952 Defiance Against Unjust Laws Campaign.
After the 1960 massacre of thousands of unarmed pass-law protesters, Mandela became a fugitive. Security police caught him in 1962. In 1964 he was convicted of acts of sabotage while leading an underground wing of the banned ANC. As his legend grew, a campaign for his freedom intensified in the 1980s. Mandela was set free on Feb. 11, 1990. He shared the 1993 Nobel peace prize with South Africa's president, F.W. de Klerk.
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Excerpted from Compton's
Interactive Encyclopedia
Copyright ?1994, 1995 Compton's NewMedia, Inc.
