Nelson Mandela: Why He Is Considered a True Hero

Defining the Hero

Is Nelson Mandela a true hero in the purest sense of the word? Is he justifiably considered a legitimate hero today? This paper points to several reasons why Nelson Mandela is indeed a bona fide hero — among the most revered and remarkably strong leaders in history. Webster's New World College Dictionary explains that a hero is "any person admired for courage, nobility, or exploits, especially in war… any person admired for qualities or achievements and regarded as an ideal or model." The Oxford Universal Dictionary offers complementary definitions, including: "One who does brave or noble deeds," and "A man who exhibits extraordinary bravery, firmness, or greatness of soul, in connection with any pursuit, work or enterprise" (Oxford Universal Dictionary, Little, et al., 1933, p. 895). From any of these perspectives, Nelson Mandela qualifies as a hero without equivocation.

Mandela's Early Life and Path to Activism

Daniel Lieberfeld writes in the peer-reviewed Peace Review that Mandela was born July 18, 1918, and grew up hearing the oral histories of tribal elders in South Africa's Transkei region (Lieberfeld, 2004, p. 387). The relatively uncorrupted pre-colonial tribal society he knew was undermined by British imperial conquests, Lieberfeld explains. While in high school, Mandela became involved with the African National Congress (ANC) — his initial foray into politics. In college, as a member of student government, he refused to compromise on a matter of principle and was expelled from the University of Fort Hare.

In time, Mandela became the first Black African attorney in South Africa. He subsequently became involved in the ANC's more militant actions against apartheid — the institutionalized segregation of races under a white-led government — and was further radicalized when a May Day protest in 1950 turned violent and police massacred a number of Black protesters. In 1960, the Sharpeville protest resulted in nearly 70 protesters killed. The ANC was officially banned, and Mandela left the country to seek funds "and military support for the ANC from newly independent African countries" (Lieberfeld, 389).

When he returned to South Africa, he was a hunted man. He went underground for 17 months, essentially abandoning his family, while organizing for the ANC. He was put on trial in 1963, and although he knew he could face the death penalty under apartheid's treason laws, he delivered an impassioned courtroom speech that remains part of his enduring legacy in the fight for racial justice. A democratic, non-racial South Africa was, for Mandela, "an ideal which I hope to live for and achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die" (Lieberfeld, 389). He received a life sentence rather than a death sentence.

Imprisonment, Resilience, and Political Negotiations

The years in prison subjected Mandela to "prolonged and intensive self-denial, given the years of heavy labor, poor diet, physically debilitating conditions." Stone-breaking in a lime quarry left him with permanent difficulty reading because the dust permanently damaged his eyes. Despite enduring racist oppression, he developed a "high degree of control, mastering his anger and other emotions," along with a "steely toughness in his dealings with adversaries" (Lieberfeld, 390). These qualities proved invaluable after his release, when he needed cool-headedness and discipline to negotiate the terms of a new government for South Africa.

Because he had learned both steely toughness and political patience, Mandela was able, upon his release and subsequent rise to the presidency, to negotiate the implementation of a coalition government. He even won the trust of the "potentially militant Afrikaner Volksfront," thereby assuring a peaceful transition to majority rule and democracy (Lieberfeld, 391).

In 1985, the then-president of South Africa, William Botha, visited Mandela on Robben Island and offered "to release him provided he gave up armed struggle" (Gill, 2005, p. 171). Mandela replied that "there could not be any agreement between a prisoner and the president" (Gill, 171). However, in 1990, the new and more liberal president, F.W. de Klerk, released Mandela and lifted the ban on the African National Congress (Gill, 171). A 1992 national referendum, put to the white minority, authorized elections that included Black citizens for the first time. Mandela won the overwhelming majority of seats and was elected president. After 342 years of white domination, what Gill describes as the "most hated colonialism and despicable apartheid ended on May 10, 1994" (Gill, 171).

Conclusion: An Unprecedented Hero

Among several other notable and legitimate heroes in the world — Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Charles Lindbergh, and others — how many endured 27 years in prison for the crime of trying to liberate people from a racially segregated society? The answer is none, and that is precisely the point. Mandela is a genuine hero not simply because he survived an unjustified sentence of 27 years in prison, but because he emerged from those brutal years as a competent, well-balanced leader who then became president of his country. That combination of suffering, moral steadfastness, and transformative leadership represents, from the standpoint of this paper, a form of heroism that is pure and historically unprecedented.

Works Cited

Cheers, Michael D. "Nelson Mandela Reveals Private Side of His Life as a Prisoner for 27 Years." Jet, 77.22 (1990): 12–17.

Gill, M.S. Immortal Heroes of the World. New Delhi, India: Sarup & Sons, 2005.

Lieberfeld, Daniel. "Peace Profile: Nelson Mandela." Peace Review 16.3 (2004): 387–392.

Oxford Universal Dictionary. Little, William, Fowler, H.W., Coulson, J., and Onions, C.T. Oxford, UK: Oxford at the Clarendon Press, 1933.

Webster's New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition. "Hero." Retrieved December 17, 2011, from http://www.aahea.org/bulletins/articles/heroes.htm.