Nelson Mandela Nelson Mandela was born on July 18, 1918, Umtata, Transkei. Nelson Mandela was a South African lawyer and he was also a black nationalist who was the African National Congress fropm March 1990. Mr. Mandela was imprisoned from 1962 to February 1990 because of his poltical activities, and he became a symbol of the frustrated aspirations of South Africa's black majority. Nelson Mandela the son of chief Henry Mandela of the Xhosa-speacking Tembu tribe, Nelson mandela was educated …showed first 75 words of 268 total…

…showed last 75 words of 268 total…were tried for sabatage, treason, and violent conspiracy in the celebrated Rivonia Trial, named after a fashionable suburb of Johannesburg where raiding police had discovered quantities of arms and equipment at the headquarters of the underground Umkhonto." Spear of the Nation," the ANC's military wing. Mandela had been a founder of the organization and admitted the truth of some of the charges that were made against him. On June 11, 1964, he was sentenced to life imprisonment.