Nelson Mandela.bio.com.

Web.28 January 2015.

http://www.biography.com/people/nelson-mandela-9397017.

Nelson Mandela.history.com.
Web.28 January 2015.
http://www.history.com/topics/nelson-mandela.

Nelson Mandela.brainPOP.com
Web. 28 January 2015.
https://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/worldhistory/apartheid/.

Guadalupe Reyes

Ms. Lightner
January 29, 2015

7th ELA 5th

Nelson Mandela: A Great Leader

Nelson Mandela was a great world leader. He

fought to stop apartheid. He was a great man. He
gave everything he had to make South Africa antiapartheid .
Nelsons real name is Rolihlahla Mandela.
Rolihlahla means trouble maker in Xhosa language
(Lang of Lit). Nelsons father was destined to be chief
,but lost his status over a dispute (bio.com). After his
father lost his status they had to move to Qunu , a
smaller village than Mvezo. The family lived in huts
and ate what they could afford, maize , sorghum ,
pumpkin, and beans. Mandela played the games a
boys his age would play; acting out male rights with
toys made by him ( bio.com). Mandela was baptized
in a Methodist Church. He was the first in his family
to go to school. In school he was told by his teacher
that his new name would be Nelson. When Mandela
was nine his dad died and he was adopted by Chief
Jongintaba Dalindyebo (bio.com). Nelson was treated
like the rest of the chiefs children. He took classes
on English and history: he then realized he had

developed an interest in African history. When

Mandela was sixteen he performed a ritual that
opened him to man hood, thus beginning his voyage
into adult years (bio.com).
Mandela enrolled at the University
College of Fort Hare (bio.com). In his second year of
university Mandela was elected to the SRC (student
representative council). During the election students
voted to boycott. Mandela resigned from his position
as an act of mutiny (bio.com). After Mandela came
home the chief announced that he had set up and
arranged marriage for Nelson. After Nelson heard the
news he had felt trapped so he ran away from home.
He settled in in Johannesburg where he worked a
wide variety of jobs while earning his bachelor
degree. He enrolled at the University of
Witwatersrand to study law. Soon he became
involved in the anti- apartheid movement by joining
the ANC youth league. The ANC finally adopted the
youth league methods of non-violence. For twenty
years Mandela organized acts of non-violent
defiance. Mandela got arrested along with onehundred-fifty others and was charged with treason.
Mandela was brought to trial and again got charged,
but this time with a life sentence .Mandela became a
symbol for black resistance that an international

campaign for his release was formed. Fredrik Willem

de Klerk was elected president and suspended
Mandelas execution (bio.com).
In 1991 Nelson Mandela was elected
president of the ANC. Mandela negotiated with F.W
de Klerk for the first multiracial elections. In 1994
South Africa had its first democratic election.
Mandela became South Africas first black president.
Mandela also published his auto biography, Long
Walk To Freedom (bio.com). While Mandela was
president he worked to keep the economy from
collapsing also creating new jobs. After Mandela
retired he kept a busy schedule by raising money to
build schools and clinics. Later Mandela was
diagnosed with prostate cancer. He was treated for
this and he formally retired from public life and went
back to his village. He then created a group of people
called The Elders. The Elders fought for peace,
womens equality, ending atrocities, and supporting
to address humanity crisis and promote democracy
(bio.com). He was hospitalized over the next many
years for lung infection. On December 5, 2013
Nelson Mandela died at home. On July 18, 2009 that
day was declared Mandela day; the day is to promote
peace.

Even though Nelson Mandela died he is still

a symbol of freedom. He will remain a symbol of
freedom forever in our hearts