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Nelson Mandela and African National Congress

A Powerful organization that changed the segregated country of South Africa forever was the African National Congress. Originally called the South African Native National Congress, the African National Congress (ANC) is the oldest political organization in South Africa founded in 1912. This organization was intended to be a non-violent organization that would educate black South Africans but soon in the 1940s and 50s they sponsored many strikes, marches, and protests. The ANC eventually held their own strikes and protests and soon formed a military wing in 1961 that sabotaged the African government. During the last forty years the government made racial Separation against black South Africans legal in South Africa. The ANC fought for black African rights and an end to the apartheid, but however ended up getting banned in 1960. Although the African National Congress (ANC) became outlawed for over thirty years, this organization succeeded in finally gaining equal rights for all South Africans and improving South Africa’s political system.

The ANC gaining equal rights for all South Africans is due to a man named Nelson Mandela. Nelson Mandela, proclaimed as “one of the 20th Century’s greatest leaders” , was born 1918 in a small village of South Africa. Around the age of 22, Mandela finished his boarding school education and soon attended Fort Hare University. From there Mandela earned his BA degree and entered law school. Nelson Mandela started his political career by joining the ANC around 1943. A couple years later in 1944, Mandela and his friends formed the ANC Youth League created to make the ANC a more activist organization. “In 1948, a popular political party named the National Party created the a policy which began the production of new laws supporting racial discrimination and the

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