Nelson Mandela was born in an African village called Mvezo in 1918. He went to primary or "elementary" school, and was given the name Nelson, to keep with the tradition of every schoolchild having a Christian name. Mandela went as far as going for a Bachelors Degree in the Arts, but was kicked out of school for being in a student protest. He then ran away to Johannesburg in 1941.

After making it to Johannesburg, Mandela was introduced to an African National Congress (ANC) activist, Walter Sisulu. Mandela later attended Communist Party Gatherings. He was impressed at how Europeans, Africans, and Indians all mixed as equals. Mandela never became a member because of the fact that the group was atheist, while he was an observant Christian.

In the South African election of 1948, only whites were allowed to vote. This started what was called the "apartheid" government, which mostly valued only whites. Mandela and the ANC were furious at this, and moved for peaceful protests against this form of government. Through differences in beliefs, changes were made in the ANC leadership, eventually placing Mandela as president.

Mandela studied law at the University of Witwatersrand, and was a victim of racism for being the only black African student. At school, he became friends with many liberal, communist, and other types of students. He was brought into politics and in 1943 marched for a successful bus boycott. He later became a member of the African National Congress.

In 1951, it was brought up that there should be a unified racial front against apartheid. Mandela spoke out against this idea but was outvoted. However, the activist did continue to believe in a multi-racial front against white supremacy. Luckily the African National Congress eventually went back to that idea, and Mandela's commitment to his beliefs caused him to become a public image in this movement for equal rights.