Nelson Mandela

Topic: The Autobiography of Nelson MandelaQuestions/Main Ideas: | Name: Kassandra Acuna Date: December 26, 12Notes: | | Born July 18, 1918 in Mvezo to the village chief Gadla Henry | A Country Childhood | Mphakanqiswa and one of his wives, | When he was born? | Nodekeni Fanny. Named Rolihlahla ("pulling the branches of trees", | | connotes troublemaker) | | Mandela, later acquired clan name Madiba and given Christian name | | Nelson by first teacher. | | | | Gold mining at Witwatersrand (a ridge or reef S of J.) is a major draw | Johannesburg | for workers. Meets mining headman Piliso. Regent wants them | | returned but they refuse. Meet Dr. A. B. Xuma, president general of | | the ANC. More lies. Arrested for possession of NM's pistol. Meets | | Walter Sisulu, who runs a real estate office and helps him land a job | | with lawyer Lazar Sidelsky as an articled clerk. Moves in with Rev. J. | | Mathubo of the Anglican Church. More lies lead to his having to | | depart and move in with nearby Xhoma family. He continues to work | | at night with UNISA (Univ. of SA) to earn his BA. Meets fellow | | employee Gaur Radebe, a member of the ANC and prominent | | member of the communist party (CP). NM now 23 y/o. Sidelsky | | warns him to avoid politics. Nat Bregman becomes his first white | | friend and tries to convert him to communism, takes him to many | | meetings, which were mixed racial gatherings. Meets Michael | | Harmel. Leads a life of exhilarating relative freedom and poverty in | | Alexandra Township, where Africans could own property. | | | Birth of a Freedom Fighter | Discussion of abuses of government, segregation, indignities. ANC | | creates a charter, African Claims. Walter's house is a mecca for | | activists. Meets Anton Lembede (a Zulu from Natal), who lectures | | against the black inferiority complex and for "Africanism", advocates | | the melting away of ethnic differences, sees Afrikaner nationalism | | as a prototype for African (black) nationalism, the only antidote for | | foreign rule and imperialism. Sees British paternalistic colonialism as | | an illusion, favors militant African nationalism. Also meets A. P. | | (Peter) Mda, who is more practical. Also meets Dr. Lionel | | Majombozi, Victor Mbobo, William Nkomo (med student, CP), Jordan Ngubane, David Bopape (secy of ANC and member CP). | Questions/Main Ideas: | Notes: | The Struggle is My Life | Chief Albert Luthuli elected new pres. of ANC (b. Southern | | Rhodesia, educ. Natal). NM banned. NM develops the "Mandela | | Plan" for how the ANC should function underground after it becomes | | illegal...Works for different law firm. Has given up on studying for LL. | | B. after failing exams repeatedly. Passes a qualifying exam to | | practice law w/o LL.B., starts his own practice 1952, joined by Oliver | | Tambo--the only solely black practice in SA, becomes very much in | | demand. | | | Rivonia [Trial] | Arrested Aug. 5, 1962 and charged with inciting strike and illegally | | leaving country. UN sanctions begin against SA in 1962. NM | | sentenced to 5 years. Demeaning treatment in prison. | | | Freedom | Parade and confusion in the mobs of supporters in Cape Town. | | Meets with ANC in Lusaka Zambia Feb. 1990. Rising opposition to | | ANC by the Zulu Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi, head of the Inkatha | | Freedom Party (IFP) and chief minister of KwaZulu, and by the Zulu | | king Goodwill Zwelithini. Fighting breaks out in Natal Mar. 1990, | | fomented secretly by the SA police, and the police do nothing to | | investigate. Police attack ANC demonstrators. | | His celebration of the people of SA, their goodness and generosity. | | His regrets for not being able to properly serve his wife, mother, and | | children. His hunger for freedom for his people. The long walk to freedom is not yet ended. | Summary: | On June 12, 1964, eight of the accused, including Mandela, were sentenced to life imprisonment. | From 1964 to 1982, he was incarcerated at Robben Island Prison, off Cape Town; thereafter, he | was at Pollsmoor Prison, nearby on the mainland. | During his years in prison, Nelson Mandela's reputation grew steadily. He was widely accepted as | the most significant black leader in South Africa and became a potent symbol of resistance as the | anti-apartheid movement gathered strength. He consistently refused to compromise his political | position to obtain his freedom. | Nelson Mandela was released on February 11, 1990. After his release, he plunged himself | wholeheartedly into his life's work, striving to attain the goals he and others had set out almost four | decades earlier. In 1991, at the first national conference of the ANC held inside South Africa after | the organization had been banned in 1960, Mandela was elected President of the ANC while his | lifelong friend and colleague, Oliver Tambo, became the organisation's National Chairperson. | | |