On the 18th of July
in 1918, a baby was born in a clay hut in the village of Qunu near Umtata,
Transkei (See map of South Africa). His parents had to choose two names, an African one, which was
Rolihlahla, & a western one, which was Nelson.
He used to hear stories of valour of his ancestors during the
wars of resistance to defend their land. He wanted to share in the struggle too.
His father was the principal councillor to the Paramount Chief of the Thembu. He
died when his child was 9. Mandela's mother took him to the Paramount Chief
Gongintaba, who was a relative of the father. Mandela became his
ward and was prepared to take a high office. But he
was so greatly affected by the cases in the Chief's court that he became determined to be
a lawyer.
Education
Mandela went to school in
Healdtown, then to Fort Hare College to get a Bachelor of Arts
Degree. There he
was elected onto the Student's Representative Council, became involved in
politics and made a lasting friendship with Oliver R. Tambo (Left photo). Both of them shared in a
student strike in 1940 leading to their dismissal from the college. Mandela left
the Transkei with a cousin of his, in part to avoid a tribal marriage the
Chief wanted. In Johannesburg, he became a mine policeman and completed his BA
by correspondence. He met Walter Sisulu, who helped him do articles of
clerkship in a legal firm. Then Mandela began to study for a LLB (Bachelor of
Laws) at the university of the Witwatersrand, an open university that did not have racial
discrimination laws.
In August 1943, Mandela joined a walk with another ten thousand South Africans to protest against increasing the price of the Blacks' public vehicles ticket. The company had to drop the price after a boycott of 9 days. This incident affected Mandela; he knew he had to achieve his political goals.
Mandela boxed a little at Fort Hare. He began to take the sport more seriously in Johannesburg and played in the heavyweight division, but he says of himself that he wasn't a great boxer.
