South African political leader Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (1918–2013) was a light — a symbol of freedom over apartheid and a beacon of hope for the world.

Born on this day in a mud hut in the village of Mvezo, South Africa, Mandela was a member of the Madiba clan. His African name, Rolihlahla, fittingly means “troublemaker.”

To fight apartheid, Mandela joined the resistance seeking to end minority rule. “I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society,” he once declared. “If needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”

Captured in 1962, Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment. Jailed for 27 years, he became a global symbol of resilience and transformation. On Robben Island, he and his fellow inmates turned hardship into wisdom — a “kind of unofficial university,” biographer Anthony Sampson wrote.

He carried a rare combination of courage, humility, and grace — a soul that endured the unthinkable and still radiated peace. Mandela didn’t just change a country; he changed the emotional temperature of the world.

Released in 1990, Mandela quoted Martin Luther King, Jr.: “We can loudly proclaim from the rooftops—Free at last! Free at last!” He reminded his nation that “it is not the individual that matters, but the collective.”

In 1993, he received the Nobel Peace Prize and the following year became South Africa’s first democratically elected president — guiding his homeland toward unity and peace.