World History Biographies: Mandela

Rolihlahla Mandela was born in 1918 in South Africa's Transkei territory. His first name could be interpreted as "trouble-maker." The name Nelson was added later by a primary school teacher. Following a boyhood filled with rural pursuits, Mandela prepared for a legal career. He received a law degree in 1942. He and a friend opened the first black law partnership in South Africa that same year. During his time at college, Mandela first became involved in student protest against white colonial rule and set out on the long walk toward personal and national liberation. Despite years of daily exposure to the inhumanities of apartheid, Mandela opted for nonviolence as a strategy. He joined the Youth League of the African National Congress and became involved in programs of passive resistance against the laws that forced blacks to carry passes and kept them in a position of permanent servility. In 1956, Mandela, along with other leaders of the ANC, was tried for treason, but he was acquitted in 1961. At around that same time, the ANC was banned. Mandela went underground for about a year but was arrested in 1962, convicted of sabotage and conspiracy, and was sentenced to life in prison. While in prison, Mandela assumed his full responsibility as a leader in the fight for a democratic and free society for all people. After two decades as the most famous prisoner in the world, Mandela began secretly negotiating not only his own release, but also South Africa's transition from apartheid to democracy. After his release from prison in 1990, Mandela began the hard work of uniting a divided people. He urged conciliation, not violence, and was elected president of South Africa in 1994, in the first truly open national election in which all races could vote. He retired as president in 1999. Named TIME Man of the Year in 1993, and one of Time's 100 Most Important People of the Century, Mandela himself has said "I was not a messiah, but an ordinary man who had become a leader because of extraordinary circumstances."

Ann Kramer has worked as a writer and editor for more than 30 years. She is the author of several books in National Geographic Kids' World History Biographies series. Her children's books include Nelson Mandela: From Political Prisoner to President, Black Peoples of America, and Women and War. Kramer lives in Sussex, England.