Birth: July 18, 1918 at 2:54pm (not documented but best time available) in Umtata, South Africa
~~~~Background~~~~
South Africa The Good News / www.sagoodnews.co.za [CC-BY-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Mandela was a lifetime activist for the establishment of a fair and non-racial democracy in his home country of South Africa.
He was college educated but completed his under graduate studies via correspondence courses after being suspended for participating in a strike. He went on to study law and became involved with anti-colonial politics and the resistance organization called the African National Congress (ANC).
After the new National Party rose to power in the South African government in 1948 and began implementing apartheid policies (control of government by the country’s white minority), Mandela and the ANC rose to visibility as voices of opposition.
He was tried for treason several times from 1956 to 1961 but was always acquitted. The ANC was banned by the government in 1960, but Nelson continued his crusade against the government’s policies.
Arrested in 1962 and convicted of sabotage and conspiracy to overthrow the government, he was sentenced to five years of hard labor. Near the end of serving that time, his sentence was extended to life imprisonment.
He remained a political prisoner for 27 years because of his anti-apartheid activities, where he contracted and suffered from tuberculosis due to conditions in his cell.
While in jail, both his popularity and international recognition of his cause grew. After his release in 1990, he was elected head of the ANC when it reconvened for the first time since its banning 30 years before.
By 1993 he had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and became South Africa’s first black president in 1994. He was 75, and he served in that role until 1999. He remained active in world issues until 2004 when he finally retreated from public life. This year (2013), his health deteriorated significantly and he is reportedly alive as of this writing but in critical condition and on life support. He is 95.
Although he was not initially effective as a public speaker, he was a good organizer of resistance efforts and was popular. Using his natural charisma and charm, he became a very effective leader and politician in pursuit of his mission and paid careful attention to his image in the press.
He has been married three times [it's probably not easy to be married to someone as driven and focused as he obviously was all his life]. His third wedding, to Graca Machel on his 80th birthday in 1998, was attended by world celebrities such as Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Danny Glover and Naomi Campbell.
He has written two books, The Struggle is My Life (1986) and Long Walk to Freedom (1994).
He has received international acclaim and more than 250 honors for his tireless work against the violence and oppression of colonialism and apartheid. He claims to have inherited his father’s “proud rebelliousness” and “stubborn sense of fairness.”
Regarding his political career and revolutionary activism, he has stated that, “[I] simply found myself doing so, and could not do otherwise.”
It is no exaggeration to say that this man steered the course of dismantling racially-based, oppressive government policies and attitudes in South Africa, and helped to change and lift all of humanity in the process.
~~~~His Chart~~~~
Nelson Mandela is a Projector Type, with all four of his “motor” energy centers undefined.
- See more at: http://humandesignforsuccess.com/nelson-mandela/#more-6864
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