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In partnership with Continue the journey. Nelson Mandela: The Official Exhibition Learning Resources INTRODUCTION TO MANDELA Nelson Mandela: The Official Exhibition Learning Resources INTRODUCING NELSON MANDELA PRESENTATION NOTES Introducing 1. Introducing Nelson Mandela He was known by different names throughout his life: Nelson Mandela 2. Who was Nelson Mandela? • Rolihlahla – pronounced: Ho-li-shla-shla, An opportunity for students to share what which means ‘tree shaker’ or ‘troublemaker’ This presentation provides a useful introduction they already know about Nelson Mandela. in the Xhosa language. and very general overview of Nelson Mandela (also called Madiba) and his life, and the Possible prompts: • Madiba – clan name and the name he themes students are likely to encounter • South Africa preferred in later life. during their visit to Nelson Mandela: • Prisoner 46664 – as a prisoner on Robben The Official Exhibition. • Apartheid Island (the 466th prisoner to arrive on the Talking points are suggested for each slide • The ANC and the Freedom Struggle island in 1964). – you may like to further embellish these • Prisoner with information from the Timeline and other 3. South Africa (i) resources from this online set. • Leader One of 54 countries in the continent of Africa It is recommended that teachers read the • President Where is it, within the continent and in relation Teaching and learning with sensitive to the UK and Europe? Summing up: histories resource. • 1,219,090 square km • Lawyer. Revolutionary. Activist. Political Students could research and produce a prisoner. Symbol of the struggle against • About 9 times the size of England presentation of their own to go with the oppression. World leader. Humanitarian. • About 5 times the size of the UK titles and images. Nelson Mandela was all of these things. • He became the global face of the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. • He was South Africa’s first Black president – and its first democratically elected leader • He continues to remain an icon of human rights today – 100 years after his birth. 1 Nelson Mandela: The Official Exhibition Learning Resources INTRODUCING NELSON MANDELA PRESENTATION NOTES 4. South Africa (ii) 5. Meet Rolihlahla Class photo, 1938 (Nelson Mandela Foundation) Became known as (The Union of) South Africa Nelson Mandela was born Rolihlahla, on 18 – Nelson is eighth from right in the back row. in 1910. July 1918, in the village of Mvezo, in the rural Transkei (now the Eastern Cape). A young Nelson Mandela and his friend Bikitsha It has a European colonial history: c. 1941 (Nelson Mandela Foundation). • Late 1400s–1500s: the Khoisan peoples were He was born into the Madiba clan of the the established, dominant power in regions Thembu people. 7. Segregation and apartheid that are now in South Africa. Europeans This is a useful place to briefly explain some He spent his early life there and in the nearby began to trade with them. of the sensitive language and terms such as village of Qunu. ‘Black’, ‘White’ and ‘Coloured’ South Africans • 1600s: Europeans settled in the Cape region (see the Teaching and learning with sensitive for the first time. Zulu, Xhosa and other 6. Meet Nelson histories resource). indigenous peoples became established in He was named ‘Nelson’ by his teacher at areas that would become primary school – assigning English Christian From the late 1800s onwards, Black Africans part of present-day South Africa. names to African people was common practice and other non-European peoples were at the time and a feature of colonialism. oppressed by the White descendants of the • Late 1700s–early 1800s: the British captured European settlers, who wanted domination. the Cape Colony from the Dutch; British His father died when Nelson was 12. This was driven by a conviction that White settlers started arriving in the region from people were inherently superior and brought the early 1800s. Nelson moved to the ‘Great Place’ of Mqhekezweni where he was brought up by civilisation to ‘the natives’ – largely discounting • 1830s–40s: The Great Trek. Dutch- Regent King of the Thembu people, tribal social structures and religious beliefs that speaking settlers migrated inland to seek Jongintaba Dalindyebo. had been established for centuries. independence from British rule. They seized South African people lived in an increasingly land and, in many areas, displaced His father and the Regent were two major segregated society. Black African people. influences on his life. ‘White’, ‘Black’, ‘Coloured’ and ‘Indian’ South • Late 1800s: gold and diamonds were In 1941 Nelson ran away to Johannesburg – Africans were segregated e.g. different discovered, transforming South Africa’s a large city and direct contrast to his rural buses, different park benches, different economy. Following a series of wars/ beginnings – with the Regent’s son, Justice, shops, different exits and entrances to conflicts, Britain forcibly took control of to escape arranged marriages. public buildings. two independent, Dutch-speaking republics; together with the two English-speaking British colonies, these formed the Union of South Africa. 2 Nelson Mandela: The Official Exhibition Learning Resources INTRODUCING NELSON MANDELA PRESENTATION NOTES In 1948, apartheid was introduced in South 8. The Freedom Struggle Nelson Mandela was banned and arrested a Africa by Prime Minister D.F. Malan’s National Unsurprisingly, groups formed to oppose number of times. Party. As a result of 148 apartheid laws, segregation and apartheid. At one trial he wore traditional Thembu dress Black South Africans were: This resistance movement became known as as a statement of his African identity. • Made to carry passbooks to confirm ‘the Freedom Struggle’. their identity 9. Rivonia Trial, 1964 quote A key political group was the African National • Subject to curfews in the towns and cities – Nelson Mandela and the ANC went Congress (ANC). Mandela became one of its i.e. they were not permitted to be out after ‘underground’. leading members. a certain time in the evening He was eventually arrested and sentenced to These groups organized protests that were • Harassed and brutalised by police life imprisonment. peaceful at first. E.g: • Denied rights at work and employment in • The Defiance Campaign – large groups During the Rivonia Trial he made an certain jobs of Black South Africans mobilised and extraordinary three-hour speech from the dock purposefully broke apartheid laws, such as which ended with these words. • Not allowed to vote walking through ‘Whites only’ entrances and This speech is widely believed to have saved refusing to carry passes, hoping to flood the • Forced to live in rural ‘reserves’ called his life and the lives of his comrades also on prisons, bring chaos to the system and force Bantustans trial. Many had believed they were certain to changes to the law. receive the death sentence. Mandela’s speech • Denied a proper education • Sharpeville (1960) – a large group of effectively turned the tables and put the And much, much more. 5,000 gathered at government offices in government on trial. Sharpeville to hand in their passbooks as a This segregation and oppression was called Mandela’s powerful use of words – as both protest. Police opened fire on the unarmed apartheid (an Afrikaans word literally meaning a writer and speaker – is a recurring theme and unsuspecting crowd, killing 69 people ‘apart’ or ‘separate’). throughout his adult life. and wounding 148 more. Many were shot It was an unjust, brutal, LEGALISED system in the back as they tried to run away. This that denied Black African people many basic became known as the Sharpeville Massacre – human rights. a significant turning point in the Struggle. 3 Nelson Mandela: The Official Exhibition Learning Resources INTRODUCING NELSON MANDELA PRESENTATION NOTES 10. Prison He was not allowed a visit from his daughters allowed to compete in the Olympics and Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years – 18 of until 1975 – by which time he had been in prison other international sporting events. Many them on Robben Island where he was kept in a for a decade. internationally famous musicians refused to tiny cell. For many years he was made to work perform at the South African entertainment every day in the prison quarry, breaking rocks. Mandela continued to resist apartheid in prison venue Sun City. and became a spokesman for other prisoners, Under the most appalling and brutal conditions, e.g. he repeatedly requested long trousers and A 70th birthday tribute concert for Nelson Nelson Mandela continued to display better food for inmates. Progress was slow but Mandela was staged at Wembley Stadium extraordinary qualities such as determination, eventually concessions were granted. In many in 1988. It was televised and watched by resilience, kindness, respect to his fellow small and clever ways, Mandela began to form approximately 600 million people in 60 prisoners – and even to his jailers. relationships and gain the respect of his jailers. countries worldwide. Apartheid also determined prison rules. 11. The Freedom Struggle continues (i) 13. Freedom and healing (i) Black prisoners were given fewer ‘privileges’ In South Africa: the Freedom Struggle became After 27 years in prison, Mandela was and the worst food. They were made to wear increasingly violent. E.g. The 1976 Soweto eventually released by President F.W. de Klerk shorts and called ‘boy’ in one of countless daily uprising: children and students were murdered in 1990. attempts to humiliate them. by police when they protested against being South Africa was on the brink of civil war and At first, Mandela was not allowed to send or taught in Afrikaans in schools apartheid was failing. The government had receive any letters for six months. Around the world: Mandela became the global little choice but to unban the ANC and other Letters were then heavily censored, often with face of the Struggle – even while still inside political opponents, and begin negotiations.

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