Nelson Rlihlahla Mandela was born in the small village of Transkei near Umtata on July .
Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa, Mandela's father, was a hereditary counsellor and chief to .
the Thembu king, which made Mandela a member of the Thembu royal family. At age seven .
Mandela was sent to a Methodist mission school, where his first teacher gave him his English .
name Nelson. Two years later, his father died and Jongintaba Dalindyebo, Mandela's uncle, .
offered to be his guardian. During this time he assisted his uncle in official tasks and admired .
Jongintaba's leadership skills. In later years Mandela said that he based his leadership style on .
what he learned from his uncle: to listen carefully to others before expressing his opinions and .
working to achieve consensus. In 1939, after graduating from a Methodist secondary school, he .
entered the University College of Fort Hare (the only institution of higher learning open to .
Africans in the entire country). There he excelled academically, taking up boxing a cyber nd running, .
and was elected onto the Student's Representative Council. During his second year he was .
suspended from college for taking part in a student strike. Mandela returned home to .
Mqhekezweni where he found out that his uncle had arranged marriages for both him and his .
cousin, Justice Dalindyebo. The two had become very westernized in their thinking and refused .
to accept their awaiting brides, so the two ran off together to Johannesburg. While there Mandela .
completed his bachelor's degree through correspondence courses and eventually obtained a law .
degree from the University of South Africa. .
During his two years in Johannesburg, Mandela experienced enough racial injustices .
to understand that the political system was wrong and that something had to be done about it. In .
1943 he joined the African National Congress (ANC). Originally known as the S A Native .
National Congress, the ANC had been established in January 1912, their objective being to unite .
