- Nelson Mandela (source)❝ I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear. ❞
Born on July 18, 1919 in Mveso, Transkei, South Africa, was Nelson Mandela. He recently died on December 5th, 2013 at the age of 95. He was best known for becoming the first black president of South Africa, in 1994. Mandela served as a president until 1994. He was a symbol of global peacemaking, and had won the *(1) Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. He was jailed for 27 years by violence between the time of June 12, 1964 to Feb 11, 1990 because he was encouraging South Africans to go on strike, and illegally leaving South Africa. People protested he should be free, becoming a symbol of his people. He enjoyed boxing - not the sport and violence it self, but the science behind it : how you have to move the body in certain ways to avoid attacks, how planning every move before you attack. On July 19th, Mandela has his own day called "Mandela day". His favourite dish to eat was "tripe", which was stomach lining of farm animals. He studied law at the university of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and opened the nation's first black law firm in 1952. Surprisingly, he was on USA's Terror watch list until 2008, along with his other members of the African National Congress because of their fight against *(2) apartheid. While Mandela was in prison, he would read William Ernest Henley's "Invictus" to prisoners. The poem inspired him, by the way it talked about never giving up. One of the lines were "I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul".
(Click for some links to some articles/videos about Nelson Mandela!)
1. "Giant Of History" (CBC News) - Barack Obama talks about Mandela being the "Giant of History" at a South African soccer stadium. (Article and video.)
2. The Life and Events of Nelson Mandela (CBC player) - A video where CBC news talks to the Canadian filmmaker of "The Life and Events of Nelson Mandela". (video)
3. Memorial of Nelson Mandela with world leaders and mouners (Telegraph.co.uk) - A video of Nelson Mandela's memorial at the last place of Mandela's public appearance.
4. Thoughts and Reactions on Nelson Mandela's death and Biography/Facts (NBC News) - Jacob Zuma speaks about him, video of mourners reacting to his death, and 7 ways he changed the world, and South Africa.
5. Comparing Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela - Comparing the two men together, finding similarities and differences.
VOCABULARY :
1) Nobel Peace Prize : A prize rewarded by the Nobel Foundation for achievements in the following fields : physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, economics, and the promotion of world peace.
2) Apartheid : a system that was used that discriminated people in South Africa. It involved political, legal, and economics discrimination against nonwhites.
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