Nelson Mandela: Civil Rights Activist & President Of South Africa | Biography — Transcript

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1. 0:01[Music]
2. 0:09against overwhelming odds he achieved
3. 0:12his dream of equality for all South
4. 0:15Africans Nelson Mandela was born on July
5. 0:1818th 1918 in a small South African
6. 0:21village his father a tribal Chief gave
7. 0:24his son the name Ry kaha at the age of
8. 0:28seven he began his British education and
9. 0:31his teacher gave him the name
10. 0:33Nelson when his father died Nelson was
11. 0:36sent to live with the leader of the
12. 0:38themo people he groomed Nelson for
13. 0:40leadership letting him sit in on Council
14. 0:43meetings sending him to the finest
15. 0:45schools during a break from college
16. 0:48Nelson ran away to Johannesburg in order
17. 0:51to avoid a pre-arranged
18. 0:54marriage it was 1941 and for the first
19. 0:57time Nelson came face to face with the
20. 1:00brutal reality of a racially divided
21. 1:02South Africa by entering the city as a
22. 1:05kind of anonymous black person he gets a
23. 1:07firsthand experience of what black life
24. 1:10is like um for urban black South
25. 1:12Africans at that time and he gets a kind
26. 1:14of immediate confrontation with the
27. 1:17white apartheid racist State I think
28. 1:20that he had two languages he had a deep
29. 1:24historical language from his own
30. 1:27learning his own training within his
31. 1:30tribal background but I also think that
32. 1:32he had a language of the law he had an
33. 1:36completely contemporary language and he
34. 1:38brought those two together in the
35. 1:40language of Human Rights he began
36. 1:43attending meetings of the African
37. 1:45National Congress an organization that
38. 1:48aimed to establish a democratic
39. 1:50government during this time he married
40. 1:52his first wife avelyn the apart regime
41. 1:56really begins to be kind of built up
42. 1:59after 194 8 when um the National Party
43. 2:02comes into power and they were the party
44. 2:04of
45. 2:05aarz a year later thec adopted
46. 2:09nonviolent Civil Disobedience as
47. 2:11official policy in 1952 they launched
48. 2:15the campaign for the Defiance of unjust
49. 2:17laws and Nelson traveled South Africa in
50. 2:20support of that effort the National
51. 2:22Party government took steps to restrict
52. 2:25Nelson's movements Banning him from
53. 2:27attending any Gatherings and confined
54. 2:29him to Johannesburg he was made the
55. 2:32chief volunteer of the youth League's
56. 2:34National Defiance campaign and that's
57. 2:37when he authorities began to notice him
58. 2:40the government knew that they had
59. 2:42someone that they could not look away
60. 2:44from he and Oliver Tambo decided to um
61. 2:49set up a law firm that will specialize
62. 2:52in um serving the black population that
63. 2:55will be a kind of a low priced Law Firm
64. 2:57an accessible law firm and that will
65. 2:59will specialize in defending black
66. 3:01clients against the apartheid
67. 3:03laws in 1956 the government arrested
68. 3:07Nelson and 150 other activists charging
69. 3:11them with
70. 3:12treason Nelson's Relentless dedication
71. 3:15to activism took a toll on his personal
72. 3:18life and his wife Evelyn left him as he
73. 3:21waited four years for his trial he met a
74. 3:23beautiful young independent-minded
75. 3:25Winnie Miki zela who would become his
76. 3:28second wife and
77. 3:311958 in 1960 the South African
78. 3:35government outlawed the African National
79. 3:37Congress Mandela went underground and
80. 3:40formed the muku wuiz the Spear of the
81. 3:43nation muku iser was formed after
82. 3:47sharpel when 67 people were killed men
83. 3:51women and children and over 180 were
84. 3:54wounded during a peaceful demonstration
85. 3:57it was at that time that Mandela
86. 3:59realized I think it was a very difficult
87. 4:01decision for him that nonviolent
88. 4:04resistance was not enough since he was
89. 4:07wanted by the government he traveled
90. 4:09abroad secretly gaining support for the
91. 4:11cause when he returned to South Africa
92. 4:14he was arrested and sentenced to 5 years
93. 4:17in prison while in prison he was also
94. 4:20charged with sabotage and conspiracy to
95. 4:22overthrow the government Mandela stood
96. 4:25trial but refused to defend himself
97. 4:28because this would legitimize the
98. 4:29state's case Mandela received a life
99. 4:32sentence to be served in the prison on
100. 4:35Robin Island a desolate Rock Island 7
101. 4:38miles off the coast of Cape
102. 4:40Town instead of being forgotten in jail
103. 4:44Mandela became a symbol for the movement
104. 4:46to end apartheid during the 1980s
105. 4:49several offers of release were made to
106. 4:51Mandela on the condition that he
107. 4:53renounced violence he
108. 4:56refused in February of 1990 the Govern
109. 4:59government declared thec legal and
110. 5:02announced Mandela was to be released
111. 5:05here's this man who hasn't been seen for
112. 5:07over a quarter Century walking out into
113. 5:10the
114. 5:11world now free at the age of 71 Mandela
115. 5:15was named the head of
116. 5:16thec his work to help bring an end to
117. 5:19apartheid earned him the Nobel Peace
118. 5:21Prize in
119. 5:231993 in 1994 For the First Time In more
120. 5:27than 300 years blacks and South Africa
121. 5:30would have the opportunity to vote for
122. 5:32their rulers at the age of 75 Mandela
123. 5:36was elected president in a
124. 5:39landslide becoming the president I think
125. 5:41he really really moved the world because
126. 5:44this was a place that most of us didn't
127. 5:46think would ever see black leadership
128. 5:49and so for him to rise to power after
129. 5:51being in jail for 27 years I think it
130. 5:54was just a really historical moment
131. 5:57Mandela proved to be a master politician
132. 5:59knowing when to be unyielding and when
133. 6:02to
134. 6:04compromise unfortunately his marriage to
135. 6:07Winnie came to an end in
136. 6:101996 in 1998 Mandela married his third
137. 6:13wife on his 80th birthday the following
138. 6:16year he stepped down as president of
139. 6:19thec Nelson used his stature to help
140. 6:22mediate the Civil War in Burundi he
141. 6:24continues to work with human rights
142. 6:26organizations and for AIDS awareness and
143. 6:29I think that he will be known as you
144. 6:33know one of the peaceful Freedom
145. 6:35Fighters of our time Nelson Mandela
146. 6:38continues to be a defining symbol of how
147. 6:40one man can truly make a difference in
148. 6:43the world