Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was a South African anti-apartheid activist, politician, and statesman who served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election. His government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid by fostering racial reconciliation. Ideologically an African nationalist and socialist, he served as the president of the African National Congress (ANC) party from 1991 to 1997.
Mandela in 1994
Photograph of Mandela, taken in Umtata, 1937
Mandela and Evelyn in July 1944 at Walter and Albertina Sisulu's wedding party in the Bantu Men's Social Centre
Mandela's former home in the Johannesburg township of Soweto
Internal resistance to apartheid
Internal resistance to apartheid in South Africa originated from several independent sectors of South African society and took forms ranging from social movements and passive resistance to guerrilla warfare. Mass action against the ruling National Party (NP) government, coupled with South Africa's growing international isolation and economic sanctions, were instrumental in leading to negotiations to end apartheid, which began formally in 1990 and ended with South Africa's first multiracial elections under a universal franchise in 1994.
Nelson Mandela burns his passbook in 1960 as part of a civil disobedience campaign.
Painting depicting the Sharpeville Massacre
List of attacks attributed to MK in South Africa between 1980 and 1983.
Desmond Tutu makes a speech in Los Angeles, 1986