Long Walk to Freedom Book Summary - Long Walk to Freedom Book explained in key points

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Long Walk to Freedom summary

Name: Long Walk to Freedom
Rating: 4.5 (170 reviews)
Author: Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela

The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela

4.5 (170 ratings)

24 mins

Brief summary

Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela is an autobiographical book detailing Mandela's life, imprisonment, and eventual presidency in South Africa. It's a powerful and inspiring story of perseverance and the struggle for racial equality.

Topics

Political Figures Autobiographies Black History African History

Table of Contents

Long Walk to Freedom
Summary of 12 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 12

What’s in it for me? Familiarize yourself with the life story of one of the twentieth century’s most revered individuals.

If asked to name the greatest icon of recent times, who would we pick? It’s a fair bet that many would choose Nelson Mandela. A man who suffered at the hands of an extremely unjust society, he refused to break, and instead kept fighting, kept pushing for justice and, after decades of punishment, won.

But what led Mandela to develop such strength and conviction? These blinks take you on a journey through Mandela’s life, showing the events that made the man.

In these blinks, you’ll discover

why Mandela had to turn to violence in the face of state brutality;
why Mandela turned against many of his supporters and talked to his arch enemy; and
how Mandela got his prison guards to support him against the government.

Note: The following blinks contain strong, offensive language. An Afrikaans racist slur appears in blink 4.

Nelson Mandela's interest in social justice began during his childhood in rural South Africa.

Nelson Mandela hardly needs an introduction. His life story is a classic tale of one man's struggle against oppression, and we'll certainly be telling it for years to come.

Mandela was born in 1918, in Mvezo, a small village in the South African countryside. He belonged to the Xhosa tribe, a proud ethnic group that highly valued law, courtesy and education. At birth, he was named Rolihlahla, which means “trouble maker” in the Xhosa language.

Mandela's father, Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa, was a chief in the tribe, a distinction that traditionally would have endowed him with high social status in the community. The British influence, however, had weakened the authority of tribal chiefs, so the position carried little political clout at the time.

Additionally, the British could oust anyone who threatened their authority, because each chief had to be ratified by the government. Mandela's father was very headstrong and often challenged them, and it wasn't long before the British revoked his status as chief.

When Mandela's father died, another regent of the tribe, Jongintaba, offered to become Mandela's guardian. This would end up having a huge impact on his life.

As a child, Mandela often attended tribal meetings at the regent's court, where he learned about the plight of his people. One of the most prominent figures there was Chief Joyi, an elderly chief with royal lineage who railed against white supremacy.

Chief Joyi taught that the surrounding tribes had lived peacefully until white Europeans arrived and sowed the seeds of conflict. The white man, he said, was greedy and stole land that should've been shared, shattering the tribes' unity.

Later in his life, Mandela would learn that Chief Joyi's history lessons hadn't always been correct. Nonetheless, they influenced his life dramatically: they opened his eyes to social injustice.

Mandela first began challenging authority as a student at Fort Hare.

The young Mandela was fond of physical activities like stick fighting, but he was an introvert as well. He was also the first person in his family to go to school, where his lifelong commitment to learning and education began.

The village school Mandela attended was entirely British. The students learned exclusively about British history, culture and institutions; African culture was simply never mentioned in the classroom. Mandela therefore learned the history of his own people from the elders in the regent's court.

Mandela's political work began in Johannesburg.

Johannesburg was a bustling city when Mandela arrived in 1941. He didn't know it at the time, but in Johannesburg he'd make lifelong friends who'd fight against oppression with him.

Mandela first took a job as a night watchman in a gold mine. To him, the gold mine was a powerful symbol of white oppression – thousands of Africans slaving away every day, in a massive capitalist enterprise that only benefited the white owners.

The National Party's rise to power saw the beginning of apartheid.

Walter Sisulu's home in Johannesburg became a hotspot for ANC members and African intellectuals. One of the people who frequented the house was Anton Lembebe, a prominent lawyer who'd have a big impact on Mandela.

Lembebe argued that Africa rightfully belonged to Black people. He called on African men from all tribes to unite and assert their right to the land.

As the National Party's tactics became harsher, Mandela saw the necessity of violence.

The National Day of Protest strengthened the ANC, but it also illustrated the power of the National Party, which only intensified its efforts to squash resistance.

After the protest, the National Party passed the Suppression of Communism Act. They then used it to go after Mandela.

The government went after Mandela and the other ANC leaders as the situation grew worse.

Mandela was arrested at his house on December 5th, 1956. The warrant for his arrest accused him of hoogverraad, the Afrikaans term for High Treason. He'd long expected the government to make a bigger move against the ANC, and now it had finally arrived.

The government claimed they had evidence that Mandela had planned violent acts in the Defiance Campaign. They also arrested nearly all of the Campaign's other leaders.

After the trial, the ANC's struggle moved underground and Mandela created the MK.

While Mandela and his friends were in prison awaiting trial, they decided it was time to move things underground.

Mandela knew there was no time for celebration after his release; the ANC had to fight back quickly and they needed to change their tactics.

The government persecuted Mandela as the struggle grew more intense.

By this point the government was willing to do anything to catch Mandela, who'd become an iconic figure in the movement.

They finally captured him on August 5th, 1962, when he was on his way back to Liliesleaf Farm after a secret MK meeting. He was then taken to prison, where he was joined by Sisulu, who'd also been arrested.

Mandela and his fellow prisoners kept up their resistance in prison.

After the trial, Mandela was taken to Robben Island, where he'd spend the next 20 years of his life.

Everyday life was very grim on Robben Island. Volleyball-sized stones were dumped into the prison courtyard each day and the prisoners had to crush them into gravel with small hammers. The weather was scorching hot.

Mandela and his fellow African freedom fighters had wide support from the international community, which pressured the South African government.

The guards at Robben Island gradually became less strict with the prisoners as time went on, but the situation outside only worsened. There were also signs of hope, however. The 1970s saw an increase in mass protests around Africa and a new, more militant generation of freedom fighters began to emerge.

Mandela and the other prisoners had limited access to the news, but they managed to get word of an uprising in 1976.

The South African government and freedom fighters finally began to negotiate when they both accepted that the violence was too much.

By the early 1980s, the struggle was only getting bloodier. Where would it end? The violence seemed to be spiraling out of control, pulling society down with it. Something had to be done.

In 1981, the South African Defense Force raided the ANC's offices in Maputo, Mozambique, killing thirteen people. The MK, who'd become more violent by that point, retaliated. In May, 1983, they detonated a car bomb outside a military facility in Pretoria as revenge, killing nineteen people.

Mandela was released in 1990, received the Nobel Peace Prize and continued his political work.

Nelson Mandela was released on February 11th, 1990. For South African people, however, freedom was still a long way off.

Mandela had been held in a low-security prison outside Cape Town since 1988. He had his own living space there, which served as a kind of halfway house between freedom and prison.

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What is Long Walk to Freedom about?

Nelson Mandela's A Long Walk to Freedom (1994) is one of the most famous autobiographies of recent times. It tells the story of his life, from his humble beginnings in the South African countryside to his work as an iconic anti-apartheid freedom fighter, and ends, after chronicling his twenty-year prison sentence, with his final victory and release.

Best quote from Long Walk to Freedom

It is a struggle of the African people, inspired by their own suffering and their own experience. It is a struggle for the right to live.

—Nelson Mandela

Who should read Long Walk to Freedom?

People interested in Nelson Mandela
Anyone curious about South African history
Proponents of social justice

About the Author

Nelson Mandela is among the most eminent political figures of the twentieth century. He was the icon of the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa, devoting his entire life to the cause. For his commitment to justice, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.

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