These letters capture what it was like to be a banned political activist.
Mandela's life was regulated by the apartheid government from whom he needed
permission to leave Johannesburg to defend law clients or visit family. In the
first letter, Mandela angrily responds to authorities who denied his request for
a holiday trip; the other letters reveal the government's views of Mandela.
A short chapter from Mandela's memoirs offering anecdotes about life as a
fugitive and his various hideaways and disguises.
In a white suburb of Johannesburg, Wolfie Kodesh, a member of the ANC's armed
wing--MK--hid the fugitive Mandela in his bachelor flat for almost two months.
Here are Kodesh's memories of that experience.
This chapter from Mandela's memoirs recounts the plans he made and the books he
read to prepare for waging violence against the apartheid government.
Another reminiscence by Wolfie Kodesh, this time on the strategy and planning
for launching, in 1961, the ANC bombing campaign against apartheid's symbolic
buildings. Kodesh also details how Mandela joined in the testing of MK's first
bomb.
A close friend for decades, she describes Mandela's "adventurous streak" during
the Black Pimpernel days as well as his change of attitude following a trip to
other African countries during the fugitive period.
A close ANC associate and friend since the 1950s, Matthews recalls vividly the
moment in 1952 when Mandela stood up at an ANC black-tie dinner and revealed
his sense of his historic destiny as a future leader of South Africa. Matthews
also recounts memories of Mandela's fearlessness during this period, and how he
formed his ideas for MK and its armed struggle.
One of those sentenced with Mandela at the 1964 Rivonia Trial, Kathrada talks
about Mandela's early clashes with communists and other resistance groups;
Mandela's leadership during the Rivonia Trial; and Mandela's underground period
and his famous beard.
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