Nelson Mandela was born on July 18, 1918 in a small village in South Africa. His given name is Rolihlahla Mandela. Rolihlahla is a Xhosa language meaning "pulling the branch of a tree but is commonly none as "troublemaker." Mandela's father was supposed to become chief but unfortunately did not because he had a quarrel with the local colonial magistrate. Also his family lost all there fortune because of this conflict. Since he was not named chief their family had to move to an even smaller village named Qunu. Catastrophically his father passed away with lung disease when Mandela was nine years old. He then was adopted by Chief Jongintaba Dalindyebo as a favor to his father. When Nelson was six-teen years old he took part of a very important African tradition. In this ceremony he would undertake a surgical procedure called circumcision. He would be have this operation with twenty-five other boys. At this ceremony Chief Meligqili would speak. But since their land was controlled by white men the speech was sad and resentful. Since he was adopted he was presumed to be in a high office as a counselor to a chief. Since he was royalty he attended Clarkebury Boarding Institute. After high school went to the University College of Fort Hare. When he was a sophomore in college he was elected to the Student Representative Council. (bio).
Once he returned home from college his adopted father informed him that he will be getting married. Chief Jongintaba wanted to make sure that his son had a properly planned life and followed their customs to par. Mandela did not like that his father was forcing him into a marriage so he fled from home. He then settled in Johannesburg to study law at the University of Witwatersrand. Mandela then begun to get involved in the anti-apartheid movement, joining the African National Congress or ANC in 1942. Nelson conducted peace for 20 years against the South African government and racist policies.