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Nelson Mandela, the former South African president, who led the dismantling of the country's racist and brutal apartheid system, has died. Mandela was 95 years old.
South Africa's President, Jacob Zuma announced Mandela's death, saying "We've lost our greatest son."
US President Barack Obama spoke shortly after Zuma's announcement, praising Mandela as a man who "bent the arc of the moral universe toward justice."
"He no longer belongs to us -- he belongs to the ages," says Obama.
Mandela's Failing Health
Mandela had a number of issues with his health in recent years, including repeated hospitalizations with a chronic lung infection. He had been listed in "serious but stable condition" after entering the hospital in June before returning home to receive continued medical care.
In April, Mandela spent 18 days in the hospital due to a lung infection and was treated for gall stones in December 2012.
Mandela's public appearances had become increasingly rare as he dealt with his declining health.
His last public appearance was in July of 2010, when he attended the final match and closing ceremonies of the soccer World Cup held in South Africa.
Nelson Mandela was born in 1918 in a remote village in South Africa.
His tribal name, Rolihlahla, meant "troublemaker," a moniker Mandela would more than live up to in his lifetime.
In 1952, he emerged onto the national stage when he helped organize the first country-wide protests called the Defiance Campaign. That same year he opened the country's first black law firm.
Ruth Mopati, his secretary at the firm, wrote about the way he was then in the book 'Mandela', saying "he was able to relate to people with respect and therefore he was respected in return".
While Mandela's party, the African National Congress, had always been dedicated to non-violence, in 1960 the ANC was banned to prevent further protests after police shot dead 69 black protestors in what became known as the Sharpeville massacre.
The events radicalized the organization and led to the creation of the ANC military wing, for which Mandela became its first commander in 1961.
In 1962, Mandela was sent to prison on a charge of inciting a strike.
"At 1:30 in the morning, on March 30, I was awakened by sharp, unfriendly knocks at my door, the unmistakable signature of the police. 'The time has come,' I said to myself as I opened the door to find half a dozen armed security policemen," Mandela said.
Two years later, Mandela was sentenced to life in prison for sabotage and conspiracy to overthrow the white government. Much of the next 27 years in prison were spent in the infamous Robben Island prison where he did hard labor in a lime quarry.
During his nearly three decades behind bars, Mandela would become a myth. The government even banned any use of Mandela's image or words, leaving a whole generation to grow up knowing little about the world's most famous political prisoner.
After 27 years, President F.W. de Klerk announced in 1990, "Mr. Nelson Mandela will be released from Victor Vestor prison…" On February 11, 1990 Mandela emerged from prison into a world he had not seen in almost three decades.
Mandela described leaving the prison and greeting the crowds by saying, "I raised my right fist and there was a roar. I had not been able to do that for 27 years and it gave me a surge of strength and joy."
Mandela and de Klerk forged an uneasy partnership in the coming years, despite sharing the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.
Peace, however, would not come quickly. More than 4,000 people died in political violence in the year leading up the country's free elections in 1994.
On April 27, 1994, millions of blacks in an extraordinary show of determination lined up for hours to cast their first ballots. The ANC won in a landslide and Mandela became South Africa's first black president.
Mandela announced: "I am the product of Africa and her long cherished dream of a rebirth that can now be realized so that all of her children may play in the sun."
He remained in office for five years. In 1999, in his final act of leadership, he oversaw the peaceful transfer of power to a handpicked successor.
In 2001, Mandela was diagnosed with prostate cancer, but doctors said that wasn't unusual for a man of Mandela's age and treated it with radiation therapy.
Mandela: A Global Statesman
Mandela's public appearances had become increasingly rare as he dealt with his declining health.
His last public appearance was in July of 2010, when he attended the final match and closing ceremonies of the soccer World Cup held in South Africa.
A Trying Figure of Africa's Struggle for Freedom
Nelson Mandela was born in 1918 in a remote village in South Africa.His tribal name, Rolihlahla, meant "troublemaker," a moniker Mandela would more than live up to in his lifetime.
In 1952, he emerged onto the national stage when he helped organize the first country-wide protests called the Defiance Campaign. That same year he opened the country's first black law firm.
Ruth Mopati, his secretary at the firm, wrote about the way he was then in the book 'Mandela', saying "he was able to relate to people with respect and therefore he was respected in return".
While Mandela's party, the African National Congress, had always been dedicated to non-violence, in 1960 the ANC was banned to prevent further protests after police shot dead 69 black protestors in what became known as the Sharpeville massacre.
The events radicalized the organization and led to the creation of the ANC military wing, for which Mandela became its first commander in 1961.
In 1962, Mandela was sent to prison on a charge of inciting a strike.
"At 1:30 in the morning, on March 30, I was awakened by sharp, unfriendly knocks at my door, the unmistakable signature of the police. 'The time has come,' I said to myself as I opened the door to find half a dozen armed security policemen," Mandela said.
Two years later, Mandela was sentenced to life in prison for sabotage and conspiracy to overthrow the white government. Much of the next 27 years in prison were spent in the infamous Robben Island prison where he did hard labor in a lime quarry.
During his nearly three decades behind bars, Mandela would become a myth. The government even banned any use of Mandela's image or words, leaving a whole generation to grow up knowing little about the world's most famous political prisoner.
After 27 years, President F.W. de Klerk announced in 1990, "Mr. Nelson Mandela will be released from Victor Vestor prison…" On February 11, 1990 Mandela emerged from prison into a world he had not seen in almost three decades.
Mandela described leaving the prison and greeting the crowds by saying, "I raised my right fist and there was a roar. I had not been able to do that for 27 years and it gave me a surge of strength and joy."
Mandela and de Klerk forged an uneasy partnership in the coming years, despite sharing the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.
Peace, however, would not come quickly. More than 4,000 people died in political violence in the year leading up the country's free elections in 1994.
On April 27, 1994, millions of blacks in an extraordinary show of determination lined up for hours to cast their first ballots. The ANC won in a landslide and Mandela became South Africa's first black president.
Mandela announced: "I am the product of Africa and her long cherished dream of a rebirth that can now be realized so that all of her children may play in the sun."
He remained in office for five years. In 1999, in his final act of leadership, he oversaw the peaceful transfer of power to a handpicked successor.
In 2001, Mandela was diagnosed with prostate cancer, but doctors said that wasn't unusual for a man of Mandela's age and treated it with radiation therapy.
Mandela: A Global Statesman
After he left office, Mandela became a global statesman, mediating conflicts in some of the world's worst troubled spots.
He also devoted much of his time to his charity for children. In an interview with PBS' "Frontline," Rick Stengel who co-authored "A Long Walk to Freedom" with Mandela, said "One of the things that separates Mandela from other people ... is that he's an optimist. He's a cockeyed optimist."
In 2008, tens of thousands of people turned out in London to honor him for his 90th birthday. Nelson Mandela told them the fight against injustice is not yet won. But after a lifetime of working for peace, he told the crowd, "It is in your hands now."
In the end, the boy who was named "troublemaker" became one of the greatest peacemakers of the past century.
He will be greatly remembered as a symbol of the fight for human rights, and as a leader who healed a greatly divided nation in the face of overwhelming odds.
RIP Madiba
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