Mandela, Nelson

Cultural  

1. The most prominent leader in the struggle of South African blacks against apartheid. Mandela joined the radical African National Congress (ANC) in the 1940s, and in the 1960s he was sentenced to life imprisonment for sabotage and conspiracy by the white minority government of South Africa. Even in prison he remained the acknowledged leader of the ANC. In 1990, the white government released him from jail as part of a series of moves to reach a compromise with the blacks. After his release, Mandela was elected South Africa's president in the nation's first all-race elections. In 1993, he was a cowinner of the Nobel Prize for peace.

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Example Sentences

During apartheid, he was an underground A.N.C. operative whose boldness caught the attention of Winnie Mandela, Nelson’s wife and an anti-apartheid activist.

From New York Times

“And now they’re comparing him to Nelson Mandela? Nelson Mandela spent a very long time in jail – he didn’t.”

From The Guardian

Ndaba Mandela, Nelson Mandela’s grandson, said: “Bigotry and fear do nothing but spread the virus”.

From The Guardian

Eddie wept as he told me how when he fell ill, Mandela—“Nelson Mandela, my leader!”—came into his cell and crouched down to wash out his pail of vomit and blood and excrement.

From Time

There is a beautiful praise song from the days before the country was born, a song that may have been sung on a day like the one on which I met Mandela, “Nelson Mandela! Nelson Mandela! Hauna o tswanang le yena” — There is none.

From Salon