Nelson Mandela: A Dream of Equality

Nelson Mandela, who sadly passed away recently, has undoubtedly been one of the most influential and thought provoking world leaders of the 20^th and early 21rst centuries. After struggling for years to vanquish apartheid rule where white South Africans were treated as superior to black South Africans, he was imprisoned for life by the authorities, only to be released decades later as an icon for the South African people's struggle against unfair oppression. His legacy looms large, and continues to influence and inspire those seeking true equality throughout the world until this day, including Tunde Folawiyo, the director of the African Leadership Academy which aims to develop and nurture the youth leaders of the entire continent.

Born on 18^th of July, 1918, Rolihlahla Mandela originated in the small town of Mvezo in Transkei. It was in this village setting that he would first be exposed to the accounts of those who had struggled against oppression, inspiring him to seek somehow to better the lives of those around him by abolishing inequality forever from the borders of South Africa.

After being expelled from the University College of Fort Hare for being involved in a student protest, Mandela refused to be subjugated into following tradition and being forced into an arranged marriage by his elders. In 1941, he left any ideas behind of returning to his remote home and instead took up residence in the capital, Johannesburg. Following this, he was able to finally complete his degree and graduated from the University of South Africa in 1943.

By 1952, Mandela had become increasingly disillusioned with the status quo in South Africa and so became a prominent figure in the non-aggressive fight against oppression through his role as the Chief of the Defiance Campaign by Maulvi Cachlia. This initiative was put in place to use civil disobedience to persuade the government to repeal unfair racist policies. By 1963, he had grown in influence and was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964 for his involvement in encouraging workers to strike against oppression.

Over the next two decades, he became an icon for those who wished to end the racist government system in South Africa, becoming a symbol for peace and tolerance around the world. Finally, after years of incarceration he was released from prison on the 11^th of February 1990. While his imprisonment was cruel, he never lost his belief in a free and tolerant society and reached this dream by becoming South Africa's first democratically elected president in 1994.
Nelson Mandela's legacy has grown over the years and has influenced, not just the people of South Africa, but millions of individuals around the globe. More specifically, his positive, life-affirming message has been one which has profoundly affected later generations of Africans, from groups fighting for democracy throughout other regions, to world leaders and individuals like the founder of the African Leadership Academy, whose story can be explored in this Tunde Folawiyo biographical article. Nelson Mandela's actions and words have come to mean much to many, and will continue to inspire for generations to come.

A biography of the novelist Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison is an African-American professor and novelist, whose books have had an enormous impact on the world of literature. Those who are familiar with her work, such as Tunde Folawiyo, will probably know that her novels have led to her winning several prestigious awards over the years; in 1988 she won a Pulitzer, and five years later she received the Nobel Prize for Literature. More recently, in 2012, she was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Born in Ohio in 1931, Morrison was named Chloe Ardelia Wofford (she chose to change her first name to Toni when she was a student at university).  She was an avid reader, and was often found poring over the writings of novelists such as Flaubert, Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy. An intelligent and talented young woman, she graduated with honours from her local high school, and went on to complete her undergraduate degree at Howard University.

In 1955, she received her MA from Cornell, after which she accepted a job at Texas Southern University. She remained in this position for two years, and then decided to return to Howard, to work as a lecturer. In the mid-1960s, she also took up fiction editing. In 1970 her first novel, The Bluest Eye, was published; this work, with its poetic dialogue, complex characters and powerful theme, captured the attention of many, and was very well received by critics and readers alike. Morrison wrote this novel while teaching full-time at Howard, and raising her two young children.

In 1973 her second book, entitled Sula, was published; two years after its publication, it was nominated for the National Book Award. However, it was her third novel that established Morrison as one of the greatest writers of her time; Song of Solomon was selected for the Book of the Month Club, and also won the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) Prize.

Her next work, Beloved, was written during the 1980s. Despite becoming a critical success, it was not chosen as the winner for the NBCC Prize, or the National Book Award. However, literature fanatics like Tunde Folawiyo might recall that a number of well-known writers and critics protested against this decision, and in 1988 it won Morrison not only the American Book Award, but also the Pulitzer Prize.  Her most recent work, Paradise, was released in the late 1990s.