Nelson Mandela is an African American leader who fought for the rights of his people. Through trials and tribulations he stood his ground and kept on fighting.
Nelson was a born leader and utilized his talents at an early age. When he was younger he used to take care of his family and make sure everything went right through all the injustice that society bestowed onto his people. Throughout his life Nelson Mandela watched as his people were mistreated and with this in mind he decided to join the African National Congress in 1942.
Nelson got involved with the ANC} in a big way. He became one of the youth leaders on the National Executive Council. Nelson along with the other members of the ANC} were making great strides towards justice and equal and liberal rights when Mandela was imprisoned for 6 months on the conviction of contravening the Suppression of the Communist Act. While in confinement Mandela started a practiced in Johannesburg. In the late fifties Mandela’s attention turned to the struggles of his people which involved exploitation of labor, pass laws, and the nascent Bantustent policy, and the segregation of open universities. Policies that wouldn’t let blacks go to the same universities as whites because it was a threat to the system grew and Mandela started to take action.
In the process of trying to correct all the wrongdoings that was happening to his people Mandela was the victim of various forms of repression, he was banned, arrested and then imprisoned for the majority of the rest of the decade. Mandela was sentenced to life Imprisonment and started his years at the notorious Robben Island. Mandela had been imprisoned from 1962 to February 11th, 1990.
Mandela is most noted for his roles as a peace maker and an activist on the fight for equality in his native country of Africa. He was selected as the former president of the National African Congress, and he also was the first-ever Black President of S. Africa.
His guiding philosophy and the things that Mandela stood for was equality amongst all people and justice in Africa. He wanted his people to have the right to vote and he wanted laws and rules to be fair and give the people of S. Africa a chance at a better life. The major obstacles of his life were imprisonment and the fact that the government tried to bribe him and force him to act and say things that went against his philosophy. Persistence and the will to keep on fighting helped Mandela get through hard times. The most noted measure of success would be receiving the Nobel Piece Prize in 1993.
Nelson Mandela went through a lot of adversity and trauma in his life, but he kept on fighting and wouldn’t let these adversities stand in his way of creating equality for his people in S. Africa.
In conclusion, we all can learn from Mandela. His will power and determination to keep fighting for what is right can help us as a people in our everyday struggles. A great quote that Mandela lived by that’s very useful is “this struggle is my life.” He said this once he was elected president and felt as though the people’s pain and repression were his as well and if they didn’t succeed than neither would he.
Basically he placed the needs of all those who looked up to him on his plate and fought for them. Now if we all could do this at least once in our lifetime than the world would be a much better place.
