Nelson Mandela was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, political leader, and philanthropist who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. The following is an account of the life and times of Nelson Mandela.
Early life
"Nelson" Mandela as he would be affectionately know was born on the 18th of July 1918, his birth name was Rolihlahla Mandela, at Mvezo in Transkei. In 1925 he attended a primary school near Qunu where a teacher named him Nelson. He would go on to be a pupil at Clarkebury Boarding Institute in Engcobo in 1934, a student at Healdtown, the Wesleyan College at Fort Beaufort in 1937 and enrolled at the University College of Fort Hare, in 1939.
Political Life
Nelson Mandela began attending ANC meetings formally only in 1942 and two years later, he helped form the ANC Youth League (ANCYL). In 1951 he was elected President of the ANCYL. Nelson Mandela, together with 155 others were put on trial for treason in 1956, all were acquitted by March 1961.
Marriage Life
Nelson Mandela's first wife was Evelyn Mase, who he married on the 5th of October 1944. They would later divorce in 19 March 1958. In 1958 Nelson Mandela and Nomzamo Winnie Madikizela "Mother of the nation", they too would divorce, ending their marriage in 1996. Mandela would marry one more time, this time to Graca Machel on the 18th July 1998 and only separate by the death of Nelson Mandela on the 5th of December 2013.
