Jack Goldstein - 101 Amazing Nelson Mandela Facts

Title Page

101 AMAZING NELSON MANDELA FACTS

Jack Goldstein

Publisher Information

Published in 2013 by

Andrews UK Limited

www.andrewsuk.com

The right of Jack Goldstein to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998

Copyright 2013 Jack Goldstein

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Any person who does so may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

Disclaimer: All facts presented in this title were gained from common and reputable sources in print and on the internet. If any detail within this title is found to be incorrect, the author will be happy to publish a corrected version.

Introduction

Do you want to know all of the important facts about Nelson Mandela? Amongst many other things, the first democratically elected president of South Africa spent 27 years in jail, brought an end to apartheid in the country, and became one of the most celebrated public figures in human history. This easy-to-digest eBook gives you the information you need to know about prisoner number 46664 in handily organised sections.

Whether you are writing a history project on Mandela or you just want to find out more about the man who united his country, this pocket-sized fact-book is an easy way to get the information you want fast!

Early Years

1. Mandela was born on the 18 th of July, 1918. His full name is in fact Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela. He is actually of royal blood - born into the Thembu royal family, who ruled the Transkei region.
2. He was born in a village called Mvezo, near a town called Umtata (now known as Mthatha) in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.
3. Mandelas boyhood was spent herding cattle and other rural pursuits. When he was seven, Mandelas mother sent him to Methodist school so he could learn how to read and write. It was at this school that he was first given the forename Nelson.
4. When he was just nine, Nelsons father came to stay with him, however he sadly died of lung disease. Soon afterwards, his mother took him to a palace at Mqhekezweni. Here he was looked after by chief Jongintaba Dalindyebo and raised alongside the chiefs own children.
5. Here he attended church every Sunday, and Christianity became an important part of his life.
6. In 1936 Mandela attended Clarkebury Boarding Institute in Engcobo. Here he developed a love of gardening.
7. He was also a keen sportsman, and after moving to Healdtown Methodist college in Fort Beaufort, he became an excellent boxer and long distance runner.
8. Moving onto University, Mandela started a degree at the University of Fort Hare. In addition to his study, he spent his time ballroom dancing, acting (including in a play about Abraham Lincoln) and - as a committed Christian - giving out bibles in the local community.
9. He also became involved in the Students Representative Council, however when boycotting against the quality of the food that students received, he was suspended - and decided to leave university altogether,.
10. Mandela returned to the palace at Mqhekezweni, however the chief - Jongintaba Dalindyebo - tried to force an arranged marriage on him and he ran away to Johannesburg.

A Young Man

1. After running away, Mandela first started work as a night watchman for a mining company - but when the foreman discovered he was a runaway he was sacked.
2. He then went to stay with a cousin, who introduced him to an African National Congress (ANC) activist called Walter Sisulu. The ANC was an organisation set up in 1912 to campaign for increased rights for black South Africans.
3. Sisulu found Mandela a job with a law firm. This area of employment interested him and he started a BA in Law through a correspondence course with the University of South Africa.
4. Whilst working at the law firm, Mandela became friends with a member of the ANC called Gaur Redebe. Redebe encouraged Nelson to join the ANC, and his first action was marching in support of a bus boycott against fare rises.
5. During his time here, he was also visited by Jongintaba who forgave him for running away. A year late, the chief died, and Mandela returned to pay his respects, however he didnt make it back in time for the funeral.
6. Later that year, Mandela completed his law degree and decided that rather than became a privy councillor in Thembuland (where he had grown up alongside chief Jongintabas son) he would begin a career as a lawyer.
7. Throughout this period, Mandela had become even firmer in his belief that everyone should be treated equally. He became more active in the ANC and was part of a delegation that visited the organisations president, suggesting that an ANC youth movement should be set up.
8. Soon afterwards, the African National Congress Youth League was set up, and Mandela became a part of its executive committee.
9. Although South Africa had always been a hotbed of inequality, things got significantly worse when in 1948 the severely racialist National Party came into power (after an election in which only whites were allowed to vote). They introduced new apartheid legislation which - rightly - angered the ANC.
10. Because of this, Mandela and his executive colleagues from the ANC advocated more direct protest action, such as boycotts and strikes.

The ANC

1. In 1950, after a number of years with the ANC, Mandela was elected as the president of the youth movement. He was still committed to his work as a lawyer however and gained a position with the law firm H.M. Basner.
2. Later that year, the ANC started preparing for a joint defiance campaign; one that focused on non-violent resistance (in the same way Gandhi had protested against the British occupation of India).
3. On the 22 nd of June 1952, Mandela addressed 10,000 people and called for the start of the resistance campaign. Because of this, he was arrested and put in prison for the first time.
4. After a short time he was released, but continued campaigning for the ANC. Membership of the organisation grew to around 100,000. In response to what the government saw as a serious threat, they introduced the Public Safety Act, a euphemistically-titled piece of legislation which permitted martial law.
5. In July that year, Mandela was arrested under another piece of legislation the government had introduced to suppress the ANC and other protest groups - The Suppression of Communism act. He - along with 20 other members - was sentenced to nine months hard labour, although this was suspended for two years.
6. During this period he still continued his career in law, working for firms including Terblanche & Briggish and Helman & Michel. It was during his time with the latter of these firms that he became a fully-fledged attorney. He went on to open his own law firm with a man called Oliver Tambo. The two took on a number of cases brought by aggrieved Africans, including many the focused on police brutality.
7. The government werent overly happy with the law firms success, so they passed a law which limited the areas in which black Africans could work, and withdrew the companys permit.
8. Scared of his influence, over the next few years the government repeatedly banned Mandela from making public appearances, in the hope it would limit the following of the ANC.
9. in 1956, Mandela was arrested for high treason. Although he was granted bail, the trial itself lasted almost six years - with Mandela regularly being returned to prison. After one incident where he was imprisoned without charge, his defence team actually withdrew in protest. In the end, Mandela and his fellow accused actually represented themselves in court.