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Qualities Of Nelson Mandela

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As the sun rose on July 18, 1918 the most important South African civil rights leader was born. Nelson Mandela was born into a royal tribe family and grew up under white control. However, Mandela never saw himself as the inferior race and in fact saw himself as an equal to the whites. This led him to become one of the best civil rights leader in the time of apartheid, but because he stuck up for what he believed, he was put in jail for 27 years. After spending the majority of his life in jail when Mandela got out, he became South Africa’s first black president and remained president in the years 1994-1999. Nelson Mandela was known as the man who used peaceful tactics and used his outstanding public speaking to free the blacks, but what …show more content…

In part of Mandela's “I Am Prepared to Die” speech, he states that “These attacks would serve as a source of inspiration to our people. In addition, they would provide an outlet for those people who were urging the adoption of violence” (Mandela). Mandela believed that even though some people didn’t want violence, if they had an open-mind like him then they could realize that this would be an effective compromise between non-violence and guerrilla warfare Therefore, even though many people overlooked this, Mandela was a truly open-minded person. At the beginning of Mandela’s journey he needed confidence in order to get up in front of crowds and this confidence managed to stay with him throughout his fight against apartheid. Mandela’s confidence was really his most valued trait because it gave him the ability to give his speeches and without them he would've never been known as such a great public speaker. In Mandela’s “I Am Prepared to Die” speech Mandela says “I do not...deny that I planned sabotage.” (Mandela). This is Mandela being so confident in what he is doing that he is not afraid to admit his crimes to a judge and this made people look up to him and it made a lot of people decide to follow him. In the article “Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s Liberator and Leader Dies at 95”, it is saying that when Mandela’s case wasn't that strong he was able to make himself believe that it was (Keller). Mandela’s confidence in

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