Almeida 1

Edson Almeida Filho

Dr. Tabitha Clark

ENGW 1111

10/11/2020

The Backstage of a Heroic Story

On February 11th, 1990, an impatient crowd waited in the streets of Cape Town for the

moment their hero would be taking his first steps as a free man. With ANC flags waving under a

scorching sun, the tension in the air was nearly visible, and the expectations upon the man who

fought for the freedom of a nation were set high. The twenty-seven years had made his name

famous worldwide, but the face depicted in the flags would no longer be the same. The crowd

longed for answers. Would he appear tired and debilitated? Would he be bitter and angry over

the unjust sentence that imprisoned him for over a third of his life? Suddenly, the noise and

questions turned into silence, and there was one answer. A suited elegant tall man walked out

alongside his wife, with a fist raised high and a subtle smile on his face. Nelson Mandela was

free, and he could see the dream that he had for so long fought for standing in front of him. Black

and white together, celebrating his freedom. One aspect did not fit, however. After twenty-seven

years of incarceration and his lifelong mission nearly accomplished, the subtle smile was nearly

a cold response to the magnitude of the situation. Where was the euphoria and tears of pain and

happiness? Was the man walking the streets of Cape Town the same who once entered Robben

Island prison? The question of whether prison had changed Mandela was justifiable. His calm

reaction would not be one that people would have expected. To further understand this moment,

it is important to learn about the sequence of events that happened in his life.
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Nelson Mandela was born in the Mvezo village in South Africa on July 18th, 1918. As a

young man, he was exposed to strong examples of black leadership. After the death of his father,

the king of the Thembu tribe adopted Nelson and raised him as a son. "He talks about listening to

the elders there ... One of the things that he absorbed there was this ability of the chief to listen to

what everybody had to say. The chief didn't speak until everybody had had their say, and then he

sort of weighed that" (Stengel). It was not until moving to Johannesburg, however, that Nelson

Mandela felt the burden of racial segregation weigh heavily on him. In the schools and streets,

the discrimination was evident and it angered Mandela.

In 1948, six years after Mandela got into politics, the South African National Party

sanctioned the Apartheid laws. The Apartheid enforced racial segregation and condemned any

form of interracial relationship. Although the terms that it proposed were already present in

society, the sanctioning of this set of rules reinforced white supremacy in South Africa. With an

increasing spotlight in the black community, Nelson Mandela and other comrades used their

influence fueling revolts from the non-white citizens of South Africa. He established many

organizations such as the ANCYL and the MK. He incited boycotts and violent as well as

peaceful protests. His fame concerned the authorities that eventually sentenced him to five years

of confinement in Johannesburg. However, Nelson Mandela defied the establishment often and

traveled to different nations in search of resources for weapons and support to fight violence with

violence. Eventually, Mandela was captured, and to his misfortune, a year later, the government

arrested some of his comrades and found documents with his name that showed plans to

overthrow the government. On June 12th, 1964, Justice de Wet found him and his comrades

guilty of sabotage of an attempt to overthrow the government, sentencing them to life in prison.
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They say prison changes a man, and it is true. The psychological burdens prisoners carry

are heavier than one could imagine. Most, when looking at such prominent figures such as

Nelson Mandela, think of them as divine figures, ignoring all the personal conflicts that go

beside the main plot of his life. At the time in which Mandela was imprisoned, he had recently

gotten married, and his newest daughter was one, whom he only saw again fifteen years later. "

Not seeing them may be why I've developed an obsession with children—I missed seeing any for

27 years. It's one of the most severe punishments prison life can impose" (Mandela). The series

of traumatic events continued. His mother came to pass away in 1968, and a year later, his son

Madiba Thembekile died in a car accident. The authorities never allowed Nelson to go to his

funeral. "...you could observe his reservedness and his withdrawal almost. That he was deeply

affected, and he spoke a lot about his relationship with his children, with his wives and so

on"(Alexander). The inner conflict must have been excruciating. The pain of a father, husband,

and son. Of a man who fought for the freedom of a nation, but at a high cost.

The twenty-seven years in prison were harsh, more than most can even begin to picture.

Yet, Nelson Mandela never lost sight of the ultimate goal. From inside the prisons, he was still

able to organize boycotts and protests. His eminent influence often disguised his humanity.

"...when there was some terrible event, the others were amazed above all by his self-control.

Often, he would be almost exasperating in his self-control" (Sampson). This was because he

understood that the cause should never be affected by outside factors. It nearly seemed that by

being in confinement, he had learned to confine his emotions. A once eccentric and ambitious

man became a calm and strategic leader. “Here is a man who, for 27 years, had to reshape

himself, to emerge as ... some people call him, a saint. He is not a saint. He is fallible. And he's

quick himself to admit whenever he has been rash, that he is also fallible” (Sexwale).
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As Mandela walked graciously in the streets of Cape Town, the smile disguised feelings

that overwhelmed him. Each step most likely brought memories of his trying past in the jail cells.

"I did discover that he was tremendously hurt and wounded and bitter about what happened to

him, but he also realized to create this multiracial, free democratic South Africa, it had to be a

rainbow nation it had to be black and white and brown."(Stengel). The subtle smile was an

understanding that the mission was yet to be completed. Nelson Mandela understood that for this

dream to come to fruition, he would have to overcome prejudice and welcome all kinds of

people, even those who once corroborated with the Apartheid. Nelson Mandela, with a fist raised

high, traveled a path that will always be remembered.

Nelson Mandel release from jail 30 years ago (AP Photo/Greg English)

Work Cited
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Carlin, John, and Anthony Sampson. “The Long Walk of Nelson Mandela.” PBS, 1 Jan. 2001,

www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/mandela/interviews/sampson.html. Accessed 14

Oct. 2020.

---. and Neville Alexander. “The Long Walk of Nelson Mandela.” PBS, 1 Jan. 2001,

www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/mandela/interviews/neville.html. Accessed 14

Oct. 2020.

--. and Richard Stengel. “The Long Walk of Nelson Mandela.” PBS, Frontline, 1 Jan. 2001,

www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/mandela/interviews/stengel.html. Accessed 14

Oct. 2020.

---. and Tokyo Sexwale. “The Long Walk of Nelson Mandela.” PBS, 1 Jan. 2001,

www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/mandela/interviews/sampson.html. Accessed 14

Oct. 2020.

English, Greg. “The Day Nelson Mandela Left Prison.” AP, 10 Feb. 2020,

apnews.com/article/7aa2aa4c5132da1676087cb6be48c9d0.

“How Prison Changed Nelson Mandela | TIME” YouTube, uploaded by TIME, 6 December

2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USNSbO-K6-M&t=14s.

Winfrey, Oprah, and Nelson Mandela. “Oprah Talks to Nelson Mandela.” Oprah.com, May

2015, www.oprah.com/world/oprah-interviews-nelson-mandela/all. Accessed 14 Oct.

2020. Interview from O, The Oprah Magazine in April 2001.