Hello, if you have not already heard of me, my name is Nelson Mandela, and I am a leader in the citizens of South Africa who are not in favor of the apartheid. I have chosen to take the first step to lead the ANC who oppose the apartheid so we can let our government know that we should all be equal, have rights, and be a country as one. I am not the only one who has struggled to live the life that our government has given us to live in indignity and poverty. But I know that if we unite the citizens of South Africa, that we can make this country a place where people want to live and live happily with equality and the rights that our people deserve.
I was the first person in my entire family to go to a mission school where I received my name Nelson Mandela, but my friends and supporters of the ANC also commonly know me by my clan name Madiba. When my father defied a police officer and I started to live the nice life as a herd boy. I became an advisor to the Thembu royal house and a regent of the Thembu people at the age of nine after the death of my father. Slowly, I became more well-known in my tribe and even throughout my country. The elders in my tribe thought that I could retain more knowledge if I observed and if they taught me Xhosa history and culture. At the Thembu court I learned free speech and consensus decision making from the elders at the Thembu court, and even Dutch and British imperialism. I thought that I should follow my mother in my religious career so I became baptized in the Methodist Church, so I enrolled into a few mission schools. At the Clarkebury Boarding Institute where I decided to receive my education, where I reveled in sports and learned that ability is more important than lineage. After going to Clarkebury, I made the decision to continue my education at the Wesleyan College at Fort Beaufort, the largest liberal arts school south of the equator for Africans. At the college I learned to interact with other tribes, think on my own, and the respect the British manners. When I was 21 I enrolled at the University College at Fort Hare, the only place where South Africans could receive a higher education, where I studied law and joined the Student Christian Association where I met Oliver Tambo. I started my bachelors’ but did not complete it until 1943 because I did not agree with the principle of the voting system for the Student Representative Council. I then joined the ANC when I met Walter Sisulu and other leaders while I was studying law. After receiving my law degree in 1951, Oliver Tambo and I opened up South Africa’s first black law firm. Not long after that, myself along with 8,500 other blacks were arrested under the Suppression of Communism Act. I was later forbidden to attend meetings and restricted to Johannesburg. After being on trial from 1957-1961, I was acquitted of treason and was a free man kind of, once again. I then went underground with the ANC afraid of being re-arrested on new charges. I visited several countries looking for assistance for the ANC’s guerilla campaign. After returning to South Africa, I was convicted of conspiracy to overthrow the government, and sentenced life in prison in 1962, where I currently am writing this at the moment.
-Nelson Mandela, November 21st, 1962
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