Nelson Mandela was born in 1918 in South Africa. He joined the ANC political party in 1944 to protest the apartheid system which denied equal rights to people of color. After police opened fire on a peaceful protest in 1960, killing many, Mandela realized peaceful protest would not end apartheid. He was arrested in 1963 for trying to overthrow the government and spent 27 years in prison before being released in 1990. After his release, apartheid officially ended and Mandela became South Africa's first black president from 1994-1999, working to establish equal rights and end racial discrimination in the country.