Nelson Mandela. Within this essay I am going to write about three main turning points in Nelson Mandelas life

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History Essay

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Turning points in Nelson Mandela’s life

Within this essay I am going to write about three main turning points in Nelson Mandela’s life.  Mandela was the leader of the ANC youth league, he later went on to become the first black president of South Africa.  He also created MK, Umkhonto we Sizwe, which helped to bring down Apartheid with their violent ways. The three main turning points I am going to write about, describe and explain are, Mandela joining the ANC youth league, starting Umkhonto we Sizwe and about his imprisonment for 27 years.  I will be discussing these three events in relation to Mandela, the ANC and the anti Apartheid movement.

The ANC was formed in 1912, and stood for the African National Congress, it was the main black anti Apartheid group for South Africa.  It set up many protests to fight for rights but failed to achieve its aims many times.  It was originally called the African Native National Congress until 1923.  Its first president was a man named John Dube.  The ANC had a policy of Non-violence which they later came to rethink as a response to government actions.  

The ANC youth league was formed to gain more members and give the chance for younger people to get involved with stamping out Apartheid.  The ANC youth league was formed in 1944 and aimed entirely on destroying the Apartheid system.  Nelson Mandela was the leader of the youth league; he later went on to become the leader of the ANC.  From the ANC youth league many young men arose who had very strong and powerful leadership qualities, which would later come to help the fall of the Apartheid system.  The membership steadily grew because the ANC became better organised and began bigger and better protests to end the Apartheid system.  

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In the 1950’s the ANC began many campaigns which would help their cause.  The Defiance Campaign (in 1952), Freedom Charter (in 1955) and The National Day of Protest (in 1952).  The Defiance Campaign were mass protests against the Apartheid system, black Africans would wear ANC armbands and protest in white only areas to show that they were not scared to protest.  The Freedom Charter was written because blacks needed to make a statement of their vision for South Africa so the higher powers in the South African government could see what exactly was demanded by the ANC.  The Freedom Charter ...

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