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Nelson was born
Nelson Mandela born in Mvezo, Eastern Cape province, South Africa. His mother, Nonqaphi Fanny Nosekeni, is one of four wives of his father, Mphakanyiswa Gadla Henry Mandela, a “chief by both blood and custom“. -
Nelson begins school
His teacher, Miss Mdingane, gives him the English name “Nelson”. The apocryphal story is that she was unable to pronounce “Rolihlahla”. But Miss Mdingane, given her surname, was probably able to pronounce isiXhosa names. -
Xhosa initiation and circumcision ritual.
At the age of 16, Mandela undergoes the Xhosa initiation and circumcision ritual. He enrolls in the Clarkebury Boarding Institute in Engcobo. -
African National Congress
Meets Walter Sisulu, an active member of the African National Congress (ANC), South Africa’s major anti-apartheid liberation movement and today the country’s ruling party. Sisulu recommends Mandela for employment as an articled clerk at the law firm Witkin, Sidelsky and Eidelmana, and the two become firm friends. -
Programme of Action
The ANC adopts its Programme of Action, inspired by the Youth League, which advocates the weapons of boycott, strike, civil disobedience and non-cooperation with authority. -
Suppression of Communism Act
The government passes the Suppression of Communism Act. This bans the South African Communist Party. It also bans the “ideology” of communism. The Act broadly defines “communism” as anything aimed “at bringing about any political, industrial, social, or economic change within the Union by the promotion of disturbance or disorder” or encouraging “feelings of hostility between the European and the non-European races” -
The Congress of the People
The Congress of the People, and alliance of anti-apartheid movements that includes the ANC, adopts the Freedom Charter at Kliptown in Soweto. The charter declared fundamental tenets of a free South Africa, such as “South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and that no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of all the people.” -
The Congress of the People
Police open fire on a peaceful demonstration against the pass laws organised by the PAC in the township of Sharpeville, killing 69 people – many of them shot in the back. The reaction is immediate, with demonstrations, protest marches, strikes and riots across South Africa. -
spring Mandela from jail
A plan to spring Mandela from jail is infiltrated by secret agent Gordon Winter. Winter is working for the South African authorities, who want Mandela to escape so they can shoot him during recapture. The plot is foiled by British Intelligence. -
The Soweto Uprising
In Soweto, South African police open fire on schoolchildren protesting against the use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction. The Soweto Uprising begins, quickly spreading across South Africa. By the end of the year about 575 people have died, 451 at the hands of police. Thousands of young people leave South Africa to join the ANC’s forces in neighbouring countries. -
Robben Island to Pollsmoor Prison
Mandela is transferred from Robben Island to Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town, along with other ANC leaders Walter Sisulu, Andrew Mlangeni, Ahmed Kathrada and Raymond Mhlaba. It is speculated that this is to remove their influence on a new generation of young black activists imprisoned on Robben Island. -
“I Just Called to Say I Love You”
Stevie Wonder dedicates his Oscar for the song “I Just Called to Say I Love You” to Mandela. Wonder’s music is then banned by the state-run SABC, the South African Broadcasting Corporation. -
Negotiations to end apartheid
Negotiations to end apartheid between the ANC and the government begin at the presidential residence, Groote Schuur. They issue the Groote Schuur Minute, a joint commitment to resolve the existing climate of violence and intimidation and to remove practical obstacles to negotiation, including indemnity from prosecution for returning exiles and the release of political prisoners.