Nelson Mandela was an activist in apartheid South Africa, who was imprisoned for political offenses and eventually became the country’s first black president after the first fully democratic elections took place in 1994. Apartheid was an extreme system of segregation and racial discrimination that existed in South Africa from 1948 to 1994, requiring citizens to register as one of four races, and with voting restrictions based on race. Movement within the country was also restricted, as well as education and employment. Mandela came of age during apartheid and organized within the African National Congress (ANC) against the apartheid government, through protests, strikes, and eventually through the armed wing of the ANC known as the MK. He was imprisoned for 27 years, from 1964 to 1990, and was seen as the head of the anti-apartheid movement which set the foundation for him to become president in 1994. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.
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