Nelson Mandela

A South African nationalist and politician, Nelson Mandela became the first freely-elected president of South Africa in 1994. He implemented several social reforms and was a key player in the development of a democratic South Africa.Born July 18, 1918 to Chief Henry Mandela, Mandela had a claim on the chieftainship of the Xhosa-speaking Tembu people but renounced it in order to become a lawyer. He attended the University College of Fort Hare and studied law at the University of Witwatersrand before opening a law firm with Oliver Tambo in 1952.

At this point in his life, Mandela had already joined the ANC in 1944 and had become one of its leaders in 1949. From 1949 until 1962, Mandela engaged in increasingly militant resistance against the ruling National Party's apartheid policy. Specifically, Mandela abandoned his nonviolent stance after the 1960 Sharpeville massacre of unarmed African civilians by police forces and after the banning of the ANC. Mandela began to advocate acts of sabotage against the South African government and was subsequently sentenced to five years in prison in 1962.

During the 1963 Rivonia Trial, Mandela and several other men were tried and found guilty of sabotage, treason and violent conspiracy. The trial was named for the district of Johannesburg where a cache of arms and equipment for the ANC's military branch, the Umkhonto We Sizwe or "Spear of the Nation," was hidden. As a founder of the Umkhonto, Mandela admitted to some of the charges brought against him and was sentenced to a life sentence on June 12, 1964.

Mandela spent 18 years at Robben Island Prison before he was transferred to the maximum-security Pollsmoore Prison for an additional six years, after which he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and hospitalized. His term in prison became a rallying cry for international opponents of apartheid. He was released Feb. 11, 1990 by South African President F.W. de Klerk, and on March 2, he was chosen as deputy president of the ANC after the active ANC president fell ill. Mandela eventually took over as president in July of 1991.

After his release, Mandela worked with de Klerk to fight apartheid and initiate nonracial democratic elections for the South African presidency. For their efforts, they received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. The first nonracial South African elections were held in April of 1994, and Mandela was elected president on the ANC platform. During his term, Mandela created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which investigated human rights violations under the apartheid system and sought to recompensate blacks through the introduction of housing, education and economic deployment efforts. He resigned in 1997, a year after he had overseen the enactment of a new democratic constitution, and retired from politics.