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Nelson Mandela Essay

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Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was a South African resistance leader who received a life sentence on Robben Island for opposing apartheid. Nelson Mandela personified struggle throughout his life. He is still leading the fight against apartheid after spending nearly three decades of his life behind bars. He has sacrificed his private life and his youth for his people, and remains South Africa's best known and loved hero.

Nelson Mandela was born in a village near Umtata in the Transkei on July 18, 1918. His father was the principal councilor to the Acting Paramount Chief of Thembuland. After his fathers death, the young Rolihlahla became the Paramount Chiefs ward to be groomed to assume high office. However,

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In 1950, Mandela was elected to the NEC at national conference (Apartheid).

	The ANCYL programme aimed at attaining full citizenship and direct parliamentary representation for all South Africans. In policy documents of which Mandela was an important co-author, the ANCYL paid special attention to the redistribution of the land, trade union rights, education and culture. The ANCYL strived to free education for all children, as well as mass education for adults (Woods).

	When the ANC launched its Campaign for the Defiance of Unjust Laws in 1952, Mandela was elected National Volunteer-in-Chief. Mandela traveled the country organizing resistance to discriminatory legislation. Mandela was

convicted of contravening the Suppression of Communism Act and given a suspended prison sentence. Shortly after the campaign ended, he was also prohibited from attending gatherings and confined to Johannesburg for six months

(Ngubane).

	During this period of restrictions, Mandela wrote the attorneys admission examination and was admitted to the profession. He opened a practice in Johannesburg, in partnership with Oliver Tambo. In recognition of his outstanding contribution during the Defiance Campaign, Mandela had been elected to the presidency of both the Youth League and the ANC at the end of 1952 (Woods).

	Their professional status did not earn them any leniency toward the brutal apartheid laws. The

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