Nelson Mandela was born in 1918 in South Africa and became the first member of his family to attend school after his father died. He later studied law and became a lawyer fighting against the apartheid system in South Africa. In 1964, Mandela was sentenced to life in prison for opposing the government but was released in 1990. He then worked to dismantle apartheid and became South Africa's first black president in 1994, winning the Nobel Peace Prize the previous year for his efforts to promote racial reconciliation.