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Nelson Mandela Augusto Ruschi

  • Mandela is born

  • Attends University of Fort Hare

    Mr. Mandela is admitted to the University of Fort Hare, a black institution
  • Joins the African National Congress (ANC) as an activist.

    Joins the African National Congress (ANC) as an activist.
  • First Marriage

    Mr. Mandela marries with Evelyn Ntoko Mase
  • South African government (Afrikaner-dominated National Party) limits the freedom of black Africans even more when the apartheid policy of racial segregation is introduced across the country

  • Opens the first black legal firm in South Africa with fellow lawyer Oliver Tambo providing free or low-cost legal counsel to many blacks who would otherwise have been without legal representation.

    Mandela was prominent in the ANC's 1952 Defiance Campaign
  • Freedom Charter adopted at the Congress of the People calling for equal rights and a program of the anti-apartheid cause

  • His marriage of 13 years to his first wife Evelyn Ntoko Mase breaks up

  • Marries Nomzamo "Winnie" Madikizela, a social worker, and the couple have two children. Their marriage ended in separation in April 1992 and divorce in March 1996

  • Sharpeville Massacre: Police kill 69 peaceful protestors and the ANC is banned

    Mandela goes into hiding and forms an underground military group with armed resistance
  • Arrested after living on the run for seventeen months and was imprisoned in the Johannesburg Fort.

    Nelson Mandela was sentenced to five years in prison but again goes on the run
  • Captured and convicted of sabotage and treason and sentenced to life imprisonment at the age of 46, initially on Robben island where he would be kept for 18 years

    Captured and convicted of sabotage and treason and sentenced to life imprisonment at the age of 46, initially on Robben island where he would be kept for 18 years
  • His mother dies and his eldest son is killed in a car crash but he not allowed to attend either of the funerals

  • Nelson Mandela is released from prison after 27 years

  • Becomes President of the African National Congress ( ANC )

    The International Olympics Committee lift a 21 year ban on South African athletes competing in the Olympic Games.
  • Separates from Winnie Mandela after she is convicted of kidnapping and being an accessory to assault.

  • Nelson Mandela and Mr de Klerk are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

    Nelson Mandela and Mr de Klerk are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
  • Free Elections where black South Africans are allowed to vote for the first time. Nelson Mandela runs for President

    inaugurated as the first black president of South Africa. He appoints de Klerk as deputy president and forms as racially mixed Government of National Unity.
  • South Africa hosts the 1995 Rugby World Cup and South Africa wins

  • Marries with Graca Machel, the widow of the former president of Mozambique, on his 80th birthday.

  • Relinquishes presidency in favor of Thabo Mbeki, who was nominated ANC president in 1997.

  • Appointed as mediator in the civil war in Burundi

  • Nelson Mandela was diagnosed and treated for prostate cancer with radiation

  • Attacked the foreign policy of the George W. Bush

  • Nelson Mandela announced that he would be retiring from public life at the age of 85

  • His son, Makgatho Mandela died of AIDS

  • Mandela died

    Mandela died