Mandelawas a participant in the African National Congress (ANC) in 1943 a group ofyoung Africans who got together to fight for their rights, by startingboycotts, strikes and disobeying the laws of South Africa. They startedinfluencing people who had no voice, the people who couldn’t stand forthemselves and say whatever they wanted to say. The Sharpeville Massacre in1960 can be seen as a turning point in the attitude of the ANC, around 69innocent black citizens were gunned down during a peaceful protest. In 1960once the ANC got banned Mandela went underground and created “the Spear ofNation” which was a military army that was ready to fight for the UmkhontoatANC guerilla movement. This lead to his original imprisonment which was asentence of 5 years but he escaped. Following his recapture in 1964, he received a life sentence for treasonand sabotage.

He and his companions were sent to Robben Island prison wherethey began their long punishment.