It always seems impossible until its done Thats one of the most popular quotes said by a man who

is considered by many one of the greatest figures of the twentieth century: Nelson Mandela. He spent 27 years in prison. He was President of South Africa for 5 years. And hes spent the 93 years of his life trying to show there is no such thing as black and white. Nelson Mandela's life has been dedicated to making South Africa a non-racist country and to have equal rights for black and white people. Even though he spent many years in prison, he gave hope for black South Africans, and eventually became the first black President of South Africa. His efforts, and the example of his belief, closed a gap between black and white people throughout the world. When Mandela was growing up, and during his imprisonment, the laws of apartheid kept the races apart, with special 'white only', 'colored only' and 'black only' facilities. Thanks to Mandela's efforts, apartheid has been abolished, and black South Africans are now allowed to vote and get well-paid jobs, and now have the same rights as white people to public facilities.

Early life Nelson Mandela was born on 18 July 1918, In South Africa. His father named him Rolihlahla, which means in Mandela's tribal language 'pulling the branch of a tree'. A more colloquial translation would be 'troublemaker'. At school all the children were given English names by their teacher, which is how Rolihlahla became Nelson. Nelson was still young when his father died. One of his father's friends, the regent of the tribe, took Nelson in as his own son. When he was older, Nelson was sent off to college, and attended three in turn. The first was a government college, Clarkebury, where Nelson studied law. The second was called Healdtown, which, under the apartheid laws of South Africa at that time, where different races were kept apart from each other, was the largest college for black people in the Southern Hemisphere. Finally he attended Fort Hare University, which had the reputation of being an elite school, with only 150 students. However, it was very strict, and Nelson was suspended for a year after student political events made him a target. Although he could have returned after his year of suspension, Nelson did not do so. Mandela went to Johannesburg and got his first job: a mine policeman.
Later, Nelson went to the University of the Witwatersrand, where he studied law once

again. Then he found a new job, and became a lawyer. He met other black lawyers,

and, together with Oliver Tambo and Walter Sisulu, formed the first all-black law partnership in South Africa. APARTHEID
Nelson grew up under the apartheid which was a system of legal racial segregation in South Africa. Thi legislation classified the population into four racial groups ("native", "white", "coloured", and "Asian"),[1] For example, one of the most significant laws was The law of the Land. The former made it illegal for blacks to purchase or rent land from whites except in reserves; this restricted black occupancy to less than eight per cent of South Africa's land. There was a law that forced segregation in all public amenities, public buildings, and public transport with the aim of eliminating contact between whites and other races. "Europeans Only" and "Non-Europeans Only" signs were put up.

The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages prohibited marriages between white people and people of other races. There was also a law that forced physical separation between races by creating different residential areas for different races. Led to forced removals of people living in "wrong" areas.

And of course, there was also a law that denied black people the option of appealing to the courts against forced removals They werent allowed to vote. The prevention of illegally occupying an unoccupied space or building gave the Minister the power to remove blacks from public land. It was created a Black Education Department which would compile a curriculum that suited the "nature of the black people" The author of the legislation himself said that this was made with propose to prevent Africans receiving an education that would lead them to aspire to positions they wouldn't be allowed to hold in society. Instead Africans were to receive an education designed to provide them with skills to serve their own people in the homelands or to work in laboring jobs under whites.

ACTIONS In 1942, Mandela joined the African National Congress (ANC) which had a non-violent approach to seeking change to the apartheid laws. He began organising protests

against apartheid policies. In 1956, he and 156 other members were brought to court on charges of treason. After a trial lasting five years, all were found not guilty. Mandela soon realised that non-violent protests would not work, and turned to sabotage, forming Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation) to act as the military section of the ANC. Certain that all he had done would lead him to be arrested again, he went into hiding.

Capture Although Mandela was in hiding, he still managed to organise attacks by Umkhonto we Sizwe. Before long he was the most wanted man in South Africa. Not until 1962, however, was Mandela captured. For some time, he had been in hiding outside South Africa, but now he had returned, and was driving back to Johannesburg disguised as a chauffeur because a black man travelling 'on equal terms' with a white would arouse suspicion. He was driving when, according to Mandelas autobiography, a car full of white men shot past them and made him stop. When Mandela fell asleep that night in prison he thought 'At least tonight - 5 August 1962 - I do not have to worry about whether the police will find me. They already have.' Mandela was charged with 'inciting African workers to strike' and 'leaving the country without valid travel documents'. He was found guilty, and sentenced to five years in jail. He had been in prison only a few months when he was taken to another prison, on Robben Island, with some other black political prisoners.
On 9th October 1963 Mandela charged with 'complicity in over two hundred acts of

sabotage aimed at facilitating violent revolution and an armed invasion of the country', and with being part of a plot to overthrow the government. The case continued for some months, and sentence was given in June 1964.Mandela was sentenced to life in jail, and taken back to Robben Island.

He was the prisioner number 46664. Once a prisioner that number became his name. He was only allowed to a visitor per year for 30 minutes and write and receive a letter every 6 months. His bed was a blanket on the ground and his bathroom was a bucket with a concave top that kept water in attempt to control the smell. The only time he could speak with others prisoners quietly without being heard by a guard was when they were allowed to clean their buckets.

The first few years after that were what Mandela later called 'the dark years', including the times when he heard that his wife, trying to continue the ANC's work, had been put under house arrest, and his eldest son, Thembi (aged 25, and the father of two small children) had been killed in a motor accident. Even in jail colored people were treated different. Usually white and Indian people received slightly better food than black people. By 1969, however, the prison set-up improved slightly. For an improvement I mean that the new uniforms for the political prisoners could be long trousers instead of shorts (used for black people to imply that they were 'boys' not men).

Release
Eventually, and partly as a result of international pressure, including stiff sanctions, FW de Klerk started to dismantle the apartheid laws, when he came into government as President. The injustice of Nelson Mandela's continuing jail term had become an important cause of concern in several democratic countries, including Australia. There was even an international song, Free Nelson Mandela. These countries pressured the South African government to release Mandela and hold discussions with the ANC. After secret talks with the white government, on 11 February 1990, Nelson Mandela was released. Many times Mandelas freedom tried to be negotiated in exchange for him to stop his revolutionary actions. At what Mandelas answer was: Only free men can negotiate; prisoners cannot enter into contracts. The changes in South Africa moved quickly, with the ANC being allowed to be represented in free elections. As a result, Nelson Mandela became President in 1994. He appointed de Klerk as his Deputy President, and said they would hold hands and go forward together.

In 1993, Nelson Mandela was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, sharing it with FW de Klerk. Together, black and white, they had brought peace and reconciliation to their country. Why Is Nelson Mandela A Humanitarian?
Why is Nelson Mandela so important? Why did we chose him? Thats because hes a leader and should be an example for all of us. Nelson Mandela could have chosen to do other things with his

life. He had studied law, and was part of a law partnership at one time, so could easily have continued with that profession and ignored the civil rights issues. As a successful black lawyer in apartheid South Africa, he would have been reasonably well-paid, and much admired by the black population. Alternatively, Nelson could have incited a civil racist war, which would have caused much misery for millions of people. Instead Nelson devoted his life to humanity as a whole, and aspired to change the racist laws in his country as peaceably as possible. He suffered 27 years in prison, mostly on made-up or unjust charges, for trying to make his country a better place. He put up with his unfair punishments with barely a word of protest, except to repeat the need for justice.For example, his response in court to the charge of treason was: I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die. Thanks to Nelson Mandela, South Africa is no longer a racist country. He showed theres no such thing as black and white. We all are just people.