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South Africa
Thanks for logging on to Apartheid in South Africa. You can learn about various things about South African. This is where you can learn about politics and how they freed people from the government. You can learn about the (ANC) and there position in South Africa. Starting from the years of the mid 1940’s and on up to the 1990’s. You will also be learning about Nelson Mandela who won the Noble Peace Prize.
Though there were many political figures that assisted with the freeing of Africans from the stronghold of their government, Nelson Mandela played one of the most significant and popular roles as a South African activist.
Mandela was the winner of the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize, and he was the first black president of South Africa, from 1994-1999. He attended college at the University of Fort Hare in Alice, where he became very active in the political struggle against racial discrimination in South Africa. He was expelled in 1940 for participating in a student demonstration against apartheid laws. He then continued his studies at the University of South Africa and the University of Witwatersrand.
While continuing his post-secondary studies he became more and more involved with the African National Congress (ANC). He helped to create the African National Congress Youth League in 1944, and soon after became their president.
The most significant events in Mandela’s time would come after 1948. This is when the National Party came to power in South Africa, and the Apartheid laws were implemented. In 1952, the ANC put together a campaign known as the “Defiance Campaign”. Protesters with this campaign across the country simply refused to obey the apartheid laws. Mandela became one of the four deputy presidents of the ANC shortly after.
Towards the end of the 1950’s Nelson Mandela along with Oliver Tambo and other activists took the ANC and its followers to a more militant approach. Mandela was charged with treason in 1956 because the ANC decided to increase activity, but he was acquitted after a five-year trial.
In 1962 he was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison for incitement and illegally leaving South Africa. Mandela was put on trial for sabotage, treason, and, violent conspiracy. Mandela, along with other leaders were given a guilty sentence, and a punishment of life in prison. He was detained at the Robben Island Prison for the next 18 years. While in prison he was able to keep in close contact with the anti-Apartheid movement. He also secretly wrote the majority of his autobiography, which was published in 1994. He was then moved to the maximum-security prison near Cape Town.
Mandela became an international symbol of resistance to apartheid during his lengthy imprisonment, and various world leaders continued to demand his release. The new South African president F.W. de Klerk granted their wishes after much international and domestic pressure.
Nelson Mandela was a figurehead in getting the apartheid laws banned. He fought for equality of all people in South Africa, and he stood for equality throughout the world. Though his efforts were diligent and admirable, it is sad to say that he still hasn’t fully succeeded with his efforts.
Written By: Walter
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