1. He lived up to his name
Mandela’s birth name was Rolihlahla. In its Xhosa tribe, the name means pulling on a tree branch or troublemaker. The name “Nelson” was given to him by his teacher on his first day of elementary school. It is unclear why he chose that particular name. It was the 1920s, and African children were given names in English so that colonial teachers could easily pronounce them.
2. He had a cameo in a Spike Lee movie
He participated in Spike Lee’s 1992 biographical film “Malcolm X”. At the end of the film, he plays a teacher who recites Malcolm X’s famous speech in a room full of children from the Soweto school. But the pacifist Mandela did not say “in any way necessary.” So Lee cut out the Malcolm X images to close the movie.
3. There is a woodpecker named after him
From Cape Town to California, streets bearing the Mandela name abound. But it has also been the subject of some rather unusual tributes. Scientists have named a prehistoric woodpecker after it: Australopicus nelsonmandelai. In 1973, the University of Leeds Institute of Physics called a nuclear particle the ‘Mandela particle’.
4. He married a first lady.
Before marrying Mandela on his 80th birthday, Graça Machel married the President of Mozambique, Samora Machel. Her marriage to Mandela after her husband’s death means that she has been the First Lady of two nations.
5. He was a master of disguise.
When Mandela eluded the authorities during his fight against apartheid, he disguised himself in various ways, including as a driver. The press nicknamed him “the Black Pimpernel” because of his police evasion tactics. “I became a creature of the night. I would stay in hiding during the day, and go out to do my job when it got dark,” he says in his biography, “Long Walk to Freedom.”
6. A bloody sport intrigued him
In addition to politics, Mandela’s other passion was boxing. “I didn’t like the violence of boxing. I was more interested in his science: how you move your body to protect yourself, how you use a plan to attack and retreat, and how you stay in a fight,” he said. he says in his biography.
7. Their favorite dish is probably not yours
It has been won and dined by world leaders. But Mandela loved the simple pleasures of a traditional meal. One of his favorite foods was tripe, which is served in many African cultures.
8. He quit his daily job.
He studied law at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and opened the nation’s first black law firm in the city in 1952.
9. It was on the list of US terrorists.
Mandela was not removed from the United States’ terrorist watch list until 2008, at age 89. He and other members of the African National Congress were included in it because of their militant fight against apartheid.
10. He was inspired by a poem.
While in prison, Mandela read William Ernest Henley’s “Invictus” to his fellow inmates. The poem, about never giving up, resonated with Mandela along its lines “I am the owner of my destiny. I am the captain of my soul”. You may know it from the movie of the same name starring Morgan Freeman as Mandela.
.
Related
