| 1912 |
A few hundred
Africans meet to found the South African Native National
Congress. (Eleven years later the name of the organization is
changed to African National Congress (A.N.C.) |
| 1950 |
Nelson Mandela
becomes president of the ANC Youth League, six years after joining the
organization. The same year, South Africa's National Party passes
the Population Registration Act, authorizing classification of all
South Africans by race, and the Group Areas Act which becomes the
foundation for residential apartheid. |
| June
1955 |
The ANC calls for an
end to all racial discrimination. |
| December
1956 |
Nelson Mandela, and
over 150 other people, is arrested and charged with treason. |
| August
3, 1959 |
Mandela's treason
trial opens in Pretoria. |
| March 21, 1960 |
In Sharpville, South
African police open fireon
a crowd protesting pass laws, killing 69
demonstrators and wounding 180 others. Mandela, still awaiting trial on
his treason charge, is arrested at home and transferred to a Pretoria
jail, where his treated brutally. |
| April 8, 1960 |
The South African
government officially bans the ANC. The ANC does not dissolve,
but rather goes underground. |
| March
29, 1961 |
Mandela and the
other defendants in the treason trial are found not guilty and
discharged. |
| May
1961 |
Nelson Mandela goes
underground to organize a general strike. |
| October
1961 |
Mandela begins
staying at the ANC's hideout, Lilliesleaf Farm in Rivonia. |
| December
16, 1961 |
A newly military
spin-off
organization of
the ANC, Umkhonto We Sizwe, launches a campaign of sabotage against
South Africa's National Party government by lighting explosives at an
electricity sub-station. Over the next eighteen months, there
will be dozens of other incidents involving sabotaged facilities. |
| January
1962 |
Mandela leaves South
Africa to raise funds and gain international support for the ANC and
its objectives. |
| August
5, 1962 |
Nelson Mandela is
arrested after returning to South Africa from an extended overseas
trip. He is charged with leaving the country without a permit and
inciting a strike. |
| October
1962 |
Mandela is convicted
of leaving the country without a passport and inciting a strike.
He begins serving a five-year prison term. The same month, the
ANC establishes a "military wing," Umkhonto we Size (MK). |
| May
1963 |
The South African
government enacts a law that allows detention of persons suspected of
political crimes for 90-days without a warrant. |
| July
11, 1963 |
Seven men are
arrested at a farmhouse in the Johannesburg suburb of Rivonia.
The seven, who will be defendants charged with sabotage in the Rivonia
trial, are
incarcerated under a law allowing a 90-day detention without charges. |
| August
3, 1963 |
Police arrest
saboteur Bruno Mtolo, who will become the prosecution's star witness in
the Rivonia trial. |
| August
11, 1963 |
Two men the
government hoped to charged with conspiracy and sabotage, Harold Wolpe
and Arthur Goldreich, escape from a South African jail and within
twelve days are out of the country. |
| October
9, 1963 |
The Rivonia
defendants appear at the Palace of Justice in Pretoria, as the trial
opens. The defendants are charged with sabotage and
conspiracy. The defense asks for time to prepare its case.
Justice de Wet grants a three-week adjournment. |
| October
29, 1963 |
Justice de Wet
grants a defense motion to quash the indictment. The defendants
are re-arrested. |
| December
3, 1963 |
The Rivonia
defendants enter "not guilty" pleas to a redrawn indictment and
prosecutor Percy Yuter presents
the government's opening statement. |
| December 10, 1963 |
The prosecution's
star witness, Bruno Mtolo, takes the stand. |
| March
4, 1964 |
The prosecution
rests in the Nelson Mandela/Rivonia Trial. |
| April
20, 1964 |
Nelson Mandela
offers a statement from the dock ("I am Prepared to Die") as the
defense opens its case. |
| May
20, 1964 |
Closing statements
begin in the Rivonia trial. |
| June
11, 1964 |
The verdict is
announced in the Rivonia trial. Mandela and all defendants except
one (Rusty Bernstein) are found guilty. |
| July
12, 1964 |
The convicted
defendants are sentenced to life imprisonment by Justice de Wet. |
| July
13, 1964 |
Mandela is
transferred to prison on Robben Island near Cape Town. |
| 1985 |
Denis Goldberg is
released after spending 22 years in jail. |
| 1986 |
Mandela enters into
secret negotiations with officials of the South African government for
an eventual move to non-racial elections. |
| 1988 |
Goven Mbeki is
released from jail. |
| 1989 |
Walter Sisulu, Ahmed
Kathrada, Elias Motsoaledi, Raymond Mhlaba, and Andrew Mlangeni are
released from jail. |
| February
1990 |
Nelson Mandela is
released after spending 27 years in jail. |
| 1991 |
Mandela is elected
president of the ANC. |
| 1993 |
Nelson Mandela and
F. W. de Klerk are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. |
| April
27, 1994 |
The first democratic
elections are held in South Africa. |
| May
10, 1994 |
Mandela is
inaugurated as South Africa's first black president. |
| 1999 |
Mandela's term as
president of South Africa ends. |