NELSON MANDELA

the College of Fort Hare and the University of Witwatersrand. At Witwatersrand, Mandela got his law degree  and met the future activist he would be working with. Nelson Mandela became a leader in the African National Congress . At first he pushed hard for the congress and the protesters that tried to follow the Mohandas Gandhi's non-violence approach. However, he started to doubt this approach would work and started up an armed branch of African National Congress. He planned to bomb only certain buildings. He wanted to make sure that no one would be hurt. He was classified as a terrorist by the South African government and sent to prison. Mandela  spent the next 27 years in prison. His prison sentence brought a new insight into the anti-apartheid movements. He was finally released in 1990 because of  international pressure. As soon as he was released Nelson continued his campaign to end apartheid. His hard work finally paid off  when every race was allowed to vote in the 1994 election. Nelson Mandela won the election and became president of South Africa , however there were several times during the process violent threats broke out. Nelson kept the calm and prevented a HUGE civil war. In 1993 Nelson Mandela was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.