Nelson Mandela was born into a royal family of the Tembu people in Transkei, South Africa. In 1942 he earned a law degree and worked as a lawyer in Johannesburg. In 1944 he joined the African National Congress (ANC). For the next 20 years he directed a campaign of defiance against the South African government and its racist policies. Mandela was arrested several times in the 1950s for organizing strikes and other resistance to white minority rule. In 1964 Mandela was sentenced to life in prison for sabotage, treason, and attempting to overthrow the government. Mandela continued to be a powerful symbol of black resistance in South Africa even while in prison. During the 1980s a coordinated international campaign sought his release. Mandela was released from prison in 1990 after South African president F. W. de Klerk legalized the ANC, removed restrictions on black political groups, and suspended executions. Mandela was elected head of the ANC and began shaping it into a powerful political party. In 1991 Mandela began participating in negotiations in order to establish a multiracial government in South Africa. In 1993 Mandela and de Klerk were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1994 Mandela was elected president in South Africa’s first truly democratic election.
