Essay Database

Nelson Mandela Nelson Mandela led the African National Congress, a black liberation group that opposed South Africa's white minority government and apartheid. Mandela was initially opposed to violence, but after a massacre of unarmed black South Africans in 1962, he began advocating acts of sabotage against the government. “I have fought against white denomination, and I have fought against black denomination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons …

…president. Mandela's government was praised for its treatment of South Africa's white minorities. Mandela's government had its critics. Crime increased during his term, but the violent war between the races ended. Many South African said life is better today than it was before Mandela took power. Mandela married for the third time on his 80th birthday in 1998. A year later he retired from the presidency. The 400-year-old prison on Robben Island is now a museum.