- 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013
- South African anti-apartheid politician - apartheid means a former social system in South Africa in which black people and people from other racial groups did not have the same political and economic rights as white
- First black and democratically elected President of South Africa (1994 -1999).
- Mandela served 27 years in prison, initially on Robben Island.
- Mandela was often called Tata ("Father") and described as "the father of the nation".