THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 15, 1995 TAG: 9501110375
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Book Review
SOURCE: BY JACKIE R. BOOKER
LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines
LONG WALK TO FREEDOM
The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela
Little, Brown. 576 pp. $24.95.
NELSON MANDELA TAKES the reader on a long and interesting journey, from his birth through his release from prison after 27 years of confinement to the 1993 South African parliamentary elections that resulted in his presidency, in his appropriately titled autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom. Mandela's accounts of his childhood and his activities within the African National Congress are especially revealing.
Born on July 18, 1918, Mandela was named Rolihlahla by his father, a chief in the Thembu tribe of the Xhosa nation. Although the literal meaning in Xhosa of Rolihlahla is ``pulling the branch of a tree,'' the more colloquial meaning, which translates as ``troublemaker,'' probably best describes the future ANC leader. A privileged child, Mandela was unaware of such distinction until his father died when he was 7 years old.
Without a father, Mandela, named Nelson upon entering school, was placed under the guardianship of the Xhosa chief, from whom he learned much about societal, economic and political systems. Sometimes prone to mischief, Mandela otherwise had a sheltered childhood.
Mandela's life in his late teens and early 20s proved tumultuous but helped shape his next five decades. At 16, he went through the traditional Xhosa manhood ritual of circumcision. Expected to serve as an adviser to the king, Mandela proved rebellious. He not only rejected an arranged marriage but also dated outside his ethnic group, a serious taboo. Throughout this period, because of his rural background, Mandela felt insecure. While attending college, he had his first contact with the African National Congress. He later ran away to Johannesburg, where he became increasingly involved in the organization.
Working first as a night watchman and later as a clerk for a mining company, Mandela eventually found employment at a white Johannesburg law firm. Among the many people he met at the firm were his mentor Walter Sisulu, Lazar Sidelsky, Oliver Tambo and others who became influential in the ANC. Mandela also met Evelyn Mase, his first wife. Their union produced first a son, then a daughter, but it lasted less than a decade. Evelyn became a Jehovah's Witness, and Mandela pledged his life to politics. He writes: ``A man and a woman who hold such different views of their respective roles in life cannot remain close.''
Between 1941 and 1952, Mandela received his bachelor's degree and a bachelor of laws degree and enrolled at the University of South Africa to study law. He was also elected to his first ANC position. Politicized during this decade of increasing ANC activity, Mandela rose within the organization. With his greater visibility came his first arrest on July 30, 1952. Charged with participating in a communist organization, Mandela remarked that his first brief imprisonment left him with the sense that he ``could walk upright like a man, and look everyone in the eye with dignity which comes from not having succumbed to oppression and fear. I had come of age as a freedom fighter.''
By 1961 Mandela was again targeted and subsequently arrested and charged with treason. Before his lengthy prison sentence, Mandela met and married Nomzamo Winnifred Madikizela, called Winnie. They were wed on June 14, 1958. Despite Mandela's frequent absences, including a period of nearly 18 months underground, the couple had four children.
Neither his 1963 trial nor his conviction broke Mandela's spirit. The imprisonment of several other ANC leaders along with Mandela led to their continued unity inside South Africa's prisons and increased membership rolls outside. With international sanctions forcing the South African economy into a near depression, secret negotiations began in 1986 between Mandela and the government. On Feb. 10, 1990, eight days after announcing that he would dismantle apartheid, President F.W. de Klerk released Mandela. Three more years of negotiations resulted in a new South African constitution and parliamentary elections.
This autobiography, while seemingly complete, leaves a number of issues unaddressed. Mandela does not discuss his rift with Winnie Mandela (rumored to be over her open infidelity), which led to their divorce; elaborate on communism and the use of violence as a political tool; or comment on the schisms within the ANC. His account is formal and presents an international hero who went from humble origins in a mud hut to the presidential palace.
Although a royal figure, Mandela often refers to himself as a ``country boy,'' a person who put his people and country first, and in the process sacrificed his life for freedom. MEMO: Jackie R. Booker is a former Norfolk State University history professor
who teaches at Western Connecticut State University. He is working on a
book about African-American family reunions. ILLUSTRATION: Jacket design by MARTHA KENNEDY
by CNB