Nelson Mandela

Introduction to Apartheid

The way that apartheid started was when the English and Dutch came from their homeland and they colonized South Africa in the seventeenth century. The domination of the English and Dutch or also known as the (Boers and Afrikaners) aside from the Afrikaners, the Dutch established the new colonies of Orange Free State Transvaal. In the 1900’s the discovery of diamonds in those lands made the English invade, and from there on the Boer war began. England gained independence and the two groups had an uneasy power sharing in the 1940’s when the Afrikaner party was able to gain strong majorities. The strategists from the National Party invented apartheid as it means to have control over the social and economic system of South Africa. Initially apartheid was to maintain white dominance while extending the racial separation. Starting in the 1960’s a plan called the “Grand Apartheid” was put in effect, emphasizing separation of territory and police repression. Race laws touched every aspect of social life in South Africa, including a prohibition of marriage between non-whites and whites, and the permission of “white-only” jobs. In 1950, the Population Registration Act required that all South Africans be racially classified into one of three categories: white, black (African), or colored (of mixed descent).

Biography

Nelson Mandela was born in Mvezo on July 18, 1918 with the name Rolihlahla Mandela. Later during primary school he was given the name Nelson. He went on to Clarkebury Boarding Institute and then to Healdtown for secondary schooling. Nelson enrolled at University College of Fort Hare for his Bachelors in Arts but then later suspended for participating in a boycott and left without getting his degree in 1948. After running away to Johannesburg with his cousin in 1941, Nelson met Walter Sisulu and entered the African National Congress in 1943.

Mandela met Evelyn Mase through Walter Sisulu. “It was in the lounge of the Sisulu’s home that I met Evelyn Mase … She was a quiet, pretty girl from the countryside who did not seem over-awed by the comings and goings … Within a few months I had asked her to marry me, and she accepted.” They had four children together.

In 1963 Mandela and several ANC leaders were arrested for illegal exit from the country. They were sentenced to life in prison but then released on February 11, 1990. Mandela received the 1993 Noble Peace Price for his work with the ANC and the next year he was “inaugurated as President of a democratic South Africa on May 10, 1994,” but after one term as president he stepped down.

The Apartheid

Apartheid was a system that was to discriminate against black Africans. But Mandela and the ANC fought against the system. The law came to power in South Africa from 1948 through early 1994. It was a violation of the international laws. The whole idea of the apartheid was a political separation, but it most had to deal with segregation. In 1958 black citizenship was taken away from then.

During that time people were separated by race/color. The blacks had to use different buses, bathrooms, schools and hospitals. Thereon Nelson Mandela went to prison and settled on the island on Robben Island. But while he was in prison he still continued his work with no stopping. To the community he was a symbol of resistance. He never gave up on his promises of freedom. He was released when the ANC was banned. At that time there hadn’t been anyone like Nelson Mandela who had tried to end the Apartheid like he did. He was heard all around the whole. His speeches became popular. After Nelson was out of prison on 1990. He became the president of Africa. It was over. The apartheid was over and the racism wasn’t heard around as much anymore.