Nelson mandela life in prison notes

South African anti-apartheid leader and world human rights activist Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment on June 12, 1964 for his political activism by the South African establishment. He was freed from prison only after 27 years during which time he became the face of the anti-apartheid movement.

In this article, you can read about Nelson Mandela, the South African leader who fought against Apartheid and became the first black president of the country, for the IAS exam.

Biography of Nelson Mandela

• Nelson Mandela was born on 18^th July 1918 into a royal family of the Thembu tribe in the village of Mvezo in Cape Province. The tribe spoke the language Xhosa.
• His birth name was Rolihlahla. Aged nine, Mandela was adopted by another high-ranking member of the tribe who groomed him for a leadership role in the tribe.
• Mandela became the first member of his family to receive formal educa

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  Edited by Sahm Venter
  

  Foreword by Zamaswazi Dlamini-Mandela

  Arrested in 1962 as South Africa’s apartheid regime intensified its brutal campaign against political opponents, forty-four-year-old lawyer and African National Congress activist Nelson Mandela had no idea that he would spend the next twenty-seven years in jail. During his 10,052 days of incarceration, the future leader of South Africa wrote a multitude of letters to unyielding prison authorities, fellow activists, government officials and, most memorably, to his courageous wife, Winnie and his five children. Now, 255 of these letters, many of which have never been published, provide exceptional insight into how Mandela maintained his inner spirits while living in almost complete isolation, and how he engaged with an outside world that became increasingly outraged by his plight.

  Organised chronologically and divided by the four venues in which he was held as a sentenced prisoner, The Prison Letters of Nelson

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The story of Nelson Mandela The story of Nelson Mandela

Why did Mandela go to prison?

Mandela went to prison because he opposed South Africa’s apartheid laws.

Apartheid means “apartness” in the Afrikaans language. Apartheid laws separated South Africans into fyra different racial categories: “white/European,” “black,” “coloured (people of mixed race),” or “Indian/Asian.” White people – 15 percent of the South African population – stood at the top of society, wielding power and wealth. Black South Africans – 80 percent of the population – were relegated to the very bottom. 

Many South Africans defied apartheid. Tactics included civil disobedience campaigns, national strikes and boycotts. Nelson Mandela joined this struggle in the 1940s as a young lawyer. By the 1950s, he had become an important leader in the struggle against apartheid. 
 

The South African government responded to demands for equality and freedom with repression and violen