If you have any access to a TV or a computer you would
have heard about the death of political leader Nelson Mandela. This has been a
major story across the globe since his death on December 5. The world has
together been mourning the loss of a man unwavering in his devotion to his cause,
and a symbol of freedom and peace to everyone.
Nelson Mandela was a South African revolutionary who
fought against poverty, racism, and apartheid, South Africa's segregation and discrimination. He joined the ANC (African
National Congress) in 1944 and engaged in resistance against the ruling party
of South Africa. He went on trial for treason in 1956 and was acquitted in
1961.
After plotting to overthrow the government by violence he
was sentenced to life imprisonment. During his time in prison people started to
see Mandela as a symbol of resistance in the anti-apartheid movement.
After 27 years Mandela was released from prison, and worked
to achieve the goals he and many others had set almost forty years before. In
1994 he became the first black president in South Africa, continuing his work
to end apartheid.
After seeing all of the news stories about Nelson Mandela
and what he did, I realized that it related to what I was learning in history
class.
This year, we have been learning about the slave trade
and European colonization in the Americas. We have been learning that when the
Europeans came over they thought of the Indians living in the Americas as lesser
people, and they thought they could rule them. The Europeans enslaved the
Indians and treated them poorly because they did not think of them as equals.
In South Africa, Nelson Mandela was working to end “apartheid”
which is the South African system of segregation and discrimination because of
race. Just like the Europeans, the white people of South Africa were segregating
the blacks and treating them differently because of the way they looked.
Nelson Mandela contributed immensely to the end of racism
and segregation in South America and will continue to have an impact for years
to come.
Bibliography:
“The Life and Times of Nelson Mandela.” Nelson Mandela. 2013. http://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/biography.
(accessed 8 December 2013)
Keane, Fergal. “Obituary: Nelson Mandela.” BBC News. 5
December 2013. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-22892784. (accessed 8
December 2013)
Pictography:
South Africa the Good News. “Nelson Mandela.” Photograph.
Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nelson_Mandela-2008_(edit).jpg.
(accessed 8 December 2013)
I thought this connection was very well written. I liked how you connected this to something so current. I heard about Nelson Mandela dying and thought that it was very sad. When I saw the picture of him and the title, it made me really want to read your connection. The short paragraphs also made me want to read your post. The connection between Europe and South Africa really made sense to me. The segregation was very similar in many ways. One thing you could add to make your post even better is a little bit more on the European colonization. In total your post is amazing and the connection fits very well.
ReplyDeleteReally nice job describing what Nelson Mandela did to influence the world today. I could really understand how badly he wanted to change the way people look at racism, poverty, and apartheid. We can see this through the way you told us that he was sentenced to a life imprisonment and after he was released still wanted to continue and do more to help all of the people affected by these terrible things. I liked how you compared what happened to Nelson to what we learned in class. I thought this current event really connected to what we are learning. I think you could add a little more detail about what we are learning in class. But, overall I really thought you did a great job describing what Nelson set out to accomplish and how what he did related to what we are learning in class.
ReplyDeleteI really liked how the connection you made fit so well into what we were learning about in class. The short paragraphs that you wrote, and the way your entry flowed sounded very nice, and I found it easy to follow. I liked that you explained the point you were trying to get across thoroughly. Although, you had a good connection, I think you could’ve explained your self a bit more. Especially where you brought up European Colonization, that point, wasn't very clear.Overall, I thought it was very well done.
ReplyDeleteI think this was a really informative blog about Nelson Mandela. I really didn't know a lot about them until after this blog, I found it very inspiring that he was willing to take a life sentence in jail to preach his rights about peace and ways to end slavery. I also find a connection to him and Martin Luther King Jr, because he was also like Nelson to fight against slavery and he risked his life to say what was on his mind. Overall, i really liked the blog post
ReplyDeleteThis was the talk of this weekend. I did not really know much of him until the I saw the stories on him on the news. I found this post to be very helpful and thoughtful as you connected Nelson Mandela to our what we learned in class. I really saw what we learned in class about modern day slavery connecting with this article, activist that were against slavery seemed similar to Mandela when he argued against the racism in South Africa. Your connection with the slavery in the colonization of the Americas was also a quite valid and interesting point. Finally, I found the information on the blog was quite informative and helpful in understanding how significant this man was to not just South Africa, but the entire world as well. A note on cosmetics, It felt very formal, and nicely done, with short paragraphs and a correct bibliography. Well done.
ReplyDeleteThis blog post was very informative. I learned a lot about Nelson Mandela through reading this post. For example, I did not know that he was sentenced to life imprisonment and I did not know much about segregation and racism in Africa. Nelson Mandela was a hero and one of the most influential people to walk on this earth and you did a good job showing how influential he was. Also, there were nice short paragraphs in this post and there was a correct bibliography. Finally, I liked the connection you made back to our class, but I thought there could have been a little more explanation there. Overall, I thought this was a very well written blog post.
ReplyDeleteI think that you did very well in connecting a fairly recent topic among most media sources with what we have done in class previously. I now too know more about Nelson Mandela and his imprisonment, as well as all of the racial segregation within Africa. Your post helped show the importance of how influential this man truly is, despite all the things that has happened to the world because of slavery. I think if there was one thing that you could change about this is add a bit more about how this connects to our Modern Day Slavery unit within our history class. Other than that, I say this was a job well done.
ReplyDeleteThis post did a very good job a taking recent events and making a connection with history. Knowing a little bit about Nelson Mandela myself, I instantly saw the connection to modern day slavery. Mandela is a perfect example of the hope for modern day slavery, his actions sparked a revolution and made major changes. If anything, this will inspire others to do the same to where it applies to them. I do however feel as if your introduction paragraph could have been more powerful if you strengthened it further. Besides that minor error, the post was well written
ReplyDeleteI think that this post did great job at giving us the significance of Nelson Mandela's life and why his death really affected the world. I really didn't know alot about Nelson Mandela and his life before reading this article. I clearly saw the connection between Mandela and slavery in this article. I also gained some great information about the Apatheid in South Africa that I didn't know before. I think Mandela really symbolized a change/ end to modern day slavery and that us why his death was such an incredible loss to the world.
ReplyDeleteI really liked this piece of writing. I really think that, as someone who did not know much about Mandela, I learned a lot about who he is and what he stands for. Previously, when I thought of Nelson Mandela, I thought of him as a peaceful person. In the third paragraph, you wrote about how he had plans of violence to overthrow the govenment, which made me want to keep reading. This piece is excellent, and you did a great job :)
ReplyDeleteMakena,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this post! I'm going to be completely honest that I really did not know anything about Nelson Mandela until I read your post. I found your post very informative and easy to follow. I thought your introduction paragraph was amazing and it really grabbed my attention. I also really liked how you connected it to history class because as I was reading I really didn't know how I would connect it, but you did a really great job of that! Overall, I thought this was an excellent post! Great job!
I thought you did a tremendous job of summing up Nelson Mandelas life. Ive been watching some documentarys about Nelson and he has a really interesting story. I liked how you paragraphs were very short, and the picture had some vibrant colors in it, which really grabbed my attention. I liked how you mentioned the violence he was planning in the third paragraph, which for a weird reason wanted me to keep reading. I thought you wrote an excellent post about someone so important in history! Great Job!
ReplyDeleteMakena, when scrolling down the blog your post immediately caught my attention. Not only is your title grabbing, current, and intuitive, but your first sentence was what really began to get my interest. The wording of your 1st paragraph is very eloquent, but also provides a sense of accuracy in the content of what we're about to read. I'm a huge fan of Mandela, so when finding a post about something about his life and accomplishments before his death I knew I would want to read it! You did a phenomenal job in explaining Mandela's significance to our world and what he contributed to South Africa. Very well done!
ReplyDeletep.s: I never knew you were so good at writing! Great job on your post:)