Historical Who is Who

Central figure in the struggle against Apartheid and the peaceful transformation of S Africa into a ‘Rainbow’ country of politically equal races. He first became politically active in the early 1940s, joining the African National Congress in 1944. Having trained as a lawyer, with his colleague Oliver Tambo he set up the first black law firm in S Africa in 1952. His arrest and life-imprisonment for Association with the armed struggle only ended in 1990 – and his emergence marked the birth of the new S Africa and his reconciliatory role as President. He set out to challenge inherited antipathies and though he was effective in this, especially through personal example and the work of the Peace and Reconciliation Commission, tribal and racial tension, incidents of blatant self-serving, foolish ignorance and corrosive corruption persist. The high regard in which he was already held internationally during his prison years has been magnified since to the extent that he represents not only black resistance, but all human resistance against oppression.

Life

• ·        http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/famouspeople/nelson_mandela
• ·        https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/biography
• ·        http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/mandela/teach
• ·        http://www.csmonitor.com/1999/0510/p9s1.html
• ·        http://www.australianreview.net/digest/2002/10/tiffen.html

Writings

• ·        http://www.theguardian.com/world/series/great-speeches-nelson-mandela
• ·        http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-06/nelson-mandela-letters/2900788

Video

Nelson Mandela's life story (14 mins) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgQBoXsxr8w