Nelson Mandela
Born July 18, 1918, Mvezo, South Africa—died December 5, 2013,
Johannesburg), Black nationalist and the first Black president of South
Africa (1994–99).
His negotiations in the early 1990s with South African Pres. F.W. de
Klerk helped end the country’s apartheid system of racial segregation and ushered in a peaceful transition to majority rule. Mandela
and de Klerk were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1993 for
their efforts.
