By SADIE PARKER, age 11
PHOTO: PresidenciaRD
On December 5, 2013, Nelson Mandela, 95, passed away quietly. A founding member of the African National Congress, he earned worldwide attention when he spent 27 years in prison for protesting against the brutal apartheid system that divided black and white people in his country. When released from prison, Mandela moved his nation into democracy and became South Africa’s first black president.
He will be remembered for his courage, dignity, and peaceful protests which earned him the Nobel Peace Prize. After retiring from the presidency, Mandela spent his final years working for causes that impact African people, like poverty, HIV/AIDS and peacemaking between nations.
Mandela’s internationally broadcast memorial on December 10, 2013 was held in Soweto and included enough world leaders and mourners to fill the rain-soaked stadium. President Obama, giving a speech at the the memorial said, “We will never see the likes of Nelson Mandela again.”
