The character arc of Nelson Mandela
Born 18 July 1918 in Mvezo. Died 5 December 2013 in Johannesburg. Between the two sit South Africa's first Black law partnership, a speech from the dock naming an ideal he was prepared to die for, twenty seven years in prison, a refusal of conditional freedom that made real freedom possible, and a presidency handed over on schedule. The line below draws that whole life in order.
Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who was Nelson Mandela?
The prisoner who freed his jailers too.
He came to Johannesburg at twenty three, running from an arranged marriage, and found the law. Mandela and Tambo, opened in 1952, was the country's first Black law partnership, and the queue outside it every morning was a map of what apartheid did to ordinary lives. The state answered with a five year treason trial that ended in acquittal, then with a capture, then with a life sentence.
At the Rivonia trial he told the court he cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society, an ideal he hoped to live for, but if needs be, an ideal for which he was prepared to die. Robben Island took twenty seven years. In 1985 the government offered release on conditions; his answer, read aloud by his daughter, was that only free men can negotiate. He stayed.
He walked out on 11 February 1990, negotiated the settlement everyone said was impossible, shared a Nobel Peace Prize with the man whose government had jailed him, and was sworn in as president four years after leaving a cell. Then he did the rarest thing on the record: he handed power over on schedule, after one term. His line is worth reading for what it refuses to carry out of prison: bitterness.
The moments
Nelson Mandela's timeline.
The 1940s
Fled to Johannesburg
Everyday. Twenty three, running from an arranged marriage, into night classes and the law.
Joined the ANC
Milestone, and it changed his direction. He helped found the Youth League the same year, impatient with polite petitions.
The 1950s
Opened the first Black law firm
Milestone. South Africa's first Black law partnership, with a queue out the door by morning.
Arrested for treason
Setback. The trial ran five years and ended in acquittal, all one hundred and fifty six of them.
Married Winnie Madikizela
Everyday. The struggle gave them a marriage of separations; the record keeps its complications too.
The 1960s
Captured near Howick
Setback, and it changed his direction. Seventeen months underground ended at a roadblock. He would not stand in open country again for twenty seven years.
Spoke from the dock
Everyday, and it changed his direction. An ideal for which I am prepared to die, he told the court, and sat down.
Sentenced to life
Setback, and it changed everything. Robben Island: a stone quarry, a small cell, and twenty seven years.
The 1980s
Take conditional freedom
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: stay until all are free, taken, or accept the conditions. The refusal is what made the unconditional walk of 1990 possible.
Refused conditional release
Everyday, and it changed his direction. Only free men can negotiate, his daughter read to a stadium. He stayed.
The 1990s
Walked out free
Milestone, and it changed everything. Twenty seven years, then a walk through the gate with the world watching.
The Nobel Peace Prize
Milestone. Shared with the man whose government had jailed him, which was the point.
Sworn in as president
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Four years from prisoner to president, by ballot.
Wore the Springbok jersey
Everyday. A rugby final stitched a country together for an afternoon.
Stepped down on schedule
Milestone, and it changed his direction. The rarest move on the board: one term, then power handed over on time.
The line ends 5 Dec 2013, in Johannesburg. What it set moving has not ended: the constitution he midwifed still stands, and every negotiator who chooses the table over the fire is walking his long road.
Your turn
Every story draws a unique line.
His took ninety five years, twenty seven of them behind one wall. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about three minutes.
Sources
- Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, 1994.
- The Rivonia trial transcript, 1964.
- The Nobel Prize archive, nobelprize.org: the 1993 Peace Prize.
- The Nelson Mandela Foundation archive.
- The inauguration record of 10 May 1994.