Anti-Apartheid Revolutionary & Statesman · South African · b. July 18, 1918 · d. December 5, 2013
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was a South African anti-apartheid activist, politician and statesman who served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election. His government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid by tackling institutionalised racism and fostering racial reconciliation. Ideologically an African nationalist and socialist, he served as the President of the African National Congress (ANC) party from 1991 to 1997. Imprisoned for 27 years for his role in resistance against the apartheid state, Mandela emerged in 1990 to negotiate the end of white-minority rule. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 with F. W. de Klerk. The dignity, patience and discipline he displayed across decades of confinement made him one of the 20th century's defining moral figures.
No articles yet.