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Mandela

Original nameNelson Mandela

Leader of the anti-apartheid struggle, symbol of forgiveness and reconciliation

Those Who Gave Power Back to the People · Revolution & Rights
South AfricaAnti-apartheidForgivenessReconciliation

Who they are

The leader of South Africa’s anti-apartheid movement and its first Black president. He spent twenty-seven years in prison for resisting apartheid, yet on his release chose not revenge but, with astonishing tolerance, negotiation and reconciliation with his former oppressors, leading South Africa peacefully out of apartheid and averting a civil war all but destined. With his life he showed another possibility of power: a man holding the force to settle old scores chose to rebuild a nation by forgiveness rather than retaliation.

Primary sourcesMandela, Long Walk to Freedomdocuments of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Key stories

Walking Out of Prison, Laying Down Hatred

Mandela was held twenty-seven years in the cells of Robben Island. On the day he walked free, he said: if I walk out of the prison gate but leave hatred and resentment still in my heart, then I am in truth still imprisoned. Elected president, he sought reconciliation with the oppressors and set up the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, letting South Africa face its wounds while avoiding a bloody reckoning. He proved: to end injustice, one need not repay it with another injustice.

Relationships

Mentor
🕊️Gandhi

Echoes today

Below are how modern works borrow or reinterpret this name or story — not the original material. The two differ, so keep them apart.

A symbol of "forgiveness, not revenge"Mandela leading South Africa peacefully out of apartheid by forgiveness became a global symbol that "to end injustice one need not repay it with another injustice"; his birthday is the UN’s Nelson Mandela International Day.

Appears in

The Widening of Rights"I Have a Dream" and Mandela’s Forgiveness
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