Essay Sample on Nelson Mandela

“When a man has done what he considers to be his duty to his people and his country, he can rest in peace. I believe I have made that effort and that is, therefore, why I will sleep for eternity.” These are words from a man who transformed his nation from being a racist one to a harmonious country in which blacks and white can enjoy equal freedom and all human rights. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as South Africa’s first black president from 1994 to 1999 while standing his ground against segregation and discrimination against race.  

Born on 18th July 1918, Mandela grew up in Transkei, which was an unrecognized state of eastern South Africa at the time. Aspiring to become a privy councilor, he went to Clarkebury Methodist High school and later joined the University College of Fort Hare and the University of Witwatersrand where he studied law. He was expelled from the college when he became an activist and denounced the ineffectiveness of the student government. In 1943 Mandela went to Johannesburg to become a political lawyer instead of what he had first planned. 

Nelson is known as one of the many Africans who showed progress in the fight against racism and the victory was partly due to how bad the act affected him. At Witwatersrand, he faced criticism as the only black student in the school. His interest in politics intensified making him join the African National Congress, where he pioneered the youth league of the congress. This was a group that fought for the civil rights of black South Africans. In 1950, Nelson Mandela became the national president of the African National Congress Youth League. At the start of a joint defiance campaign by the ANC in 1952, Mandela initiated a protest which led to a brief period of imprisonment in Marshall Square Prison. 

When the current president was banned by the apartheid government, Mandela was elected as the new leader of the ANC of Transvaal, a province of South Africa. In 1955, After trying peaceful protests in vain, Mandela resolved to violence as the only way to fight for minority rule. African National Congress was banned by the state government in 1960, however, that did not stop the group from staying active. Mandela joined the Pan-African freedom movement meeting in Ethiopia, where he traveled to other countries including Tunisia whose president presented him with 5 000 Pounds worth of weaponry.  

Nelson was captured on 5th august 1962 and arrested on the note that he encouraged workers to strike and left the country without permission. He was tried and sentenced to five years, yet in 1964 he was given a life sentence. While Mandela was in prison, he continued his fight for freedom while the country was in a state of political turbulence due to an increased number of protests against apartheid. Mandela faced many problems during his imprisonment namely: prostate gland surgery, and tuberculosis. Just the same his reputation increased, and he became popular outside South Africa, becoming the figure of resistance in the country.