When Mandela's father died, another regent of the tribe, Jongintaba, offered to become Mandela's guardian. Mandela's father was very headstrong and often challenged them, and it wasn't long before the British revoked his status as chief. The British influence, however, had weakened the authority of tribal chiefs, so the position carried little political clout at the time.Īdditionally, the British could oust anyone who threatened their authority, because each chief had to be ratified by the government. 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. At birth, he was named Rolihlahla, which means “trouble maker” in the Xhosa language. He belonged to the Xhosa tribe, a proud ethnic group that highly valued law, courtesy and education. Mandela was born in 1918, in Mvezo, a small village in the South African countryside. 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. Nelson Mandela hardly needs an introduction.
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