Nelson Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom reading Exercise

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born in 1918 in the village of Mvezo in South Africa’s Eastern Cape. After his father’s death, he was adopted by the Thembu regent and exposed to councils where elders resolved disputes. At the University of Fort Hare and later the University of Witwatersrand, Mandela studied law and joined classmates debating colonial rule and the color bar that segregated public life.

In the 1940s Mandela helped found the African National Congress (ANC) Youth League, championing mass action against pass laws that restricted where Black South Africans could live and work. He opened the country’s first Black law firm with Oliver Tambo, providing affordable legal defense to residents targeted by apartheid statutes. The 1952 Defiance Campaign saw Mandela coordinating civil disobedience, leading volunteers to burn pass books and occupy “Europeans-only” train stations.

Mandela’s organizing drew national attention, but also state surveillance. He was banned from public gatherings and faced charges for treason after the 1956 government raid on ANC leaders. Though acquitted in 1961, he concluded that peaceful protest alone could not dismantle apartheid, writing that nonviolent tactics required “a partner who can be moved by moral persuasion.” That realization set the stage for the next phase of his activism.

In 1961 Mandela helped launch Umkhonto we Sizwe (“Spear of the Nation”), an armed wing of the ANC that sabotaged power stations and telephone lines to protest escalating repression. He traveled secretly across Africa seeking training and funding, speaking at the Pan-African Freedom Conference in Addis Ababa about the need for solidarity. Upon returning to South Africa, he lived underground and was dubbed the “Black Pimpernel” for evading arrest.

Mandela was captured in 1962, sentenced to five years for leaving the country without a passport, and later tried in the Rivonia case after police discovered ANC documents at Liliesleaf Farm. In June 1964 he and seven colleagues received life sentences for sabotage and conspiracy. During his statement from the dock, Mandela declared that a democratic and free society “is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”

Mandela spent 18 of his 27 prison years on Robben Island, performing hard labor in a limestone quarry. He studied Afrikaans to understand his jailers, earned a law degree by correspondence, and mentored younger prisoners about discipline and unity. International campaigns—ranging from UN resolutions to student-led divestment drives—kept his name in the headlines and pressured the South African government to negotiate.

Mounting international pressure and internal unrest forced the South African government to release Mandela on 11 February 1990. Within weeks he addressed crowds in Cape Town, calling for disciplined negotiations rather than revenge. He resumed leadership of the ANC, meeting President F.W. de Klerk to dismantle apartheid laws and secure the release of remaining political prisoners.

In 1993 Mandela and de Klerk shared the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to establish a multiracial democracy. South Africa’s first nonracial elections took place in April 1994, with over 19 million citizens casting ballots. Mandela was inaugurated as the country’s first Black president on 10 May 1994 and appointed a Government of National Unity that included former adversaries to emphasize reconciliation.

Mandela’s administration launched the Reconstruction and Development Programme to address housing, water, and electrification backlogs. He supported the creation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, led by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, to investigate past abuses while promoting restorative justice. After serving one term, Mandela stepped down in 1999, continuing to champion peace initiatives, HIV/AIDS awareness, and global human rights until his death in 2013.