6th Grade Hybrid Social Studies World Cultures

UNIT 5 Book Study:

Who Was Nelson Mandela?

By Pam Pollack

Distance Learning Resources

Name:                   Homeroom:                

Who  Was  Nelson  Mandela?  Reading  Journal    Chapter  1  

1. How  was  Rolihlahla’s  life  similar  to  Nya’s?  How  is  it  different?    

   

2. Consider  three  ways  that  Europeans  influenced  Rolihlahla’s  life.  Give  specific  EVIDENCE  to  support  your  claims  in  the  organizer  below.    How  did  Europeans  influence  Rolihlahla’s  life?  

Evidence   Page  #  

     

     

     

 

Chapter  2  3. What  did  the  tribal  leader  mean  when  he  said  “Among  these  young  men  are  chiefs  who  will  never  

rule  because  we  have  no  power  to  govern  ourselves”?        

4. How  many  colleges  could  Nelson  apply  to?  Why  do  you  think  that  was?  Answer   Evidence   Page  #        

 5. Nelson  was  adopted  by  a  rich  man.  How  did  being  wealthy  shape  Nelson’s  life?  (What  

opportunities  did  he  have  that  he  might  not  have  had  as  a  poor  boy?)            

6. How  did  education  change  Nelson’s  life?  Answer   Evidence   Page  #        

 7. Nelson  is  surprised  by  the  “electricity”  in  the  big  city  of  Johannesburg.  What  does  this  tell  us  about  

the  area  where  he  grew  up?    

   

8. Why  did  Nelson  want  to  be  a  lawyer?  Use  evidence  from  the  text  to  support  your  claim.  Answer   Evidence   Page  #        

 9. What  was  the  purpose  of  the  ANC  (African  National  Congress)?  

   

 10. What  was  “apartheid”?  

Chapter  3    

11. How  do  you  think  Nelson  Mandela  felt  when  the  Nats  won  control  of  the  government  in  1948?  Have  you  ever  felt  that  way?                  

12. What  kinds  of  things  were  illegal  under  the  system  of  apartheid?  Give  3  examples:    1.  

2.  

3.  

 13. What  was  the  purpose  of  apartheid?  

     

14. Define  civil  disobedience:        

15. What  is  an  example  of  an  act  of  civil  disobedience?        

16. Nelson  Mandela  became  a  lawyer.  What  kinds  of  crimes  were  his  defendants  accused  of  committing?  Give  2  examples.    1.  

2.  

 17. Do  you  think  the  laws  were  fair  under  apartheid?  Use  evidence  to  support  your  claim.  

Answer   Evidence   Page  #        

 

Chapter  4  

 18. How  did  Black  South  Africans  feel  about  apartheid?  

Answer   Evidence   Page  #        

 19. How  did  protesters  use  civil  disobedience  to  fight  against  the  system  of  apartheid?  Give  an  

example.    

 20.  What  was  similar  about  the  way  the  both  Gandhi  and  Martin  Luther  King  Jr.  made  change  in  their  

countries?            

21. Find  2  pieces  of  textual  support    for  this  claim:  “South  African  protesters  were  very  brave.”    

Evidence  (find  a  quote  from  the  text  that  supports  the  claim)   Page  #      

   

 22. Predict:  What  effects  might  happen  based  on  the  government’s  new  laws  limiting  black  education?    

 

All  black  children  would  be  taught  that  they  were  inferior  to  whites  and  only  good  for  serving  them.  

They  could  only  learn  enough  to  become  a  janitor  or  a  maid.  They  were  not  allowed  to  hold  higher  paying  jobs  like  doctor  or  lawyer.  

       

Chapter  5      23. Describe  how  the  women  in  the  photographs  below  are  related  to  Nelson  Mandela:  

 

 

ß  Who  is  Nomzamo  Winifred  Madikizela?  

 

ß  Who  is  Zenani  Mandela?  

 24. Why  were  black  South  Africans  trying  to  get  arrested?  

       

25. What  were  people  protesting  in  Sharpeville  on  March  21,  1960?      Why  did  they  want  to  protest?        

 26. A  “massacre”  is  defined  as  “violently  killing  a  whole  group  of  helpless  people.”  Do  you  think  what  

happened  in  Sharpeville  was  a  massacre?  GIVE  REASONS  for  your  opinion.  My  Opinion   My  Reasons      

   

27.  PREDICT:  What  do  you  think  will  happen  in  South  Africa  after  the  Sharpeville  massacre?    

Chapter  6    

28. How  did  the  government  respond  to  the  Sharpeville  massacre?  Is  that  what  you  predicted?            

29. Why  did  Oliver  Tambo  leave  South  Africa  after  the  shooting?  Do  you  think  this  was  a  good  idea?            

30. What  does  it  mean  to  go  “underground?”              

31. What  was  the  purpose  of  the  group  called  the  Spear  of  the  Nation?              

32. How  was  the  Spear  of  the  Nation  different  from  the  old  ANC?          

33. What  do  you  think  Dr.  Martin  Luther  King  would  have  said  to  Mandela  about  leading  the  Spear  of  the  Nation  group?  Explain  your  thinking.  

 

Chapter  7  The  following  is  an  interview  with  Christo  Brand,  a  prison  guard  on  Robben  Island  when  Mandela  was  there.  He  later  became  Mandela's  guard  at  Pollsmoor  Prison.    What went on in this wing for the prisoners on Robben Island what were the rules? This is B section, where Mandela and all the leader figures of the struggle were kept ... ANC, PAC, all different organizations, were kept here. Single cells. They isolated them from the main community section. We opened in the mornings at 7:00, then ... the food came, till 8:00. People started cleaning their cells. They took their toilet buckets outside ... at the back there is the section where they cleaned it and put it outside in the sun. Some of the people would start doing some rounds, around on the courtyard outside, they would walk in the mornings. In the afternoons ... between 12:00 and 2:00, prisoners were locked up. After 2:00 ... some prisoners would go and play tennis outside--table tennis, tennis in the courtyard. Mandela would work in his garden. He was always busy working in his garden ... He would also sometimes take part in the activities outside in the yard, playing tennis ... Tell me about Mandela and his garden. ...[That was ] in Pollsmoor prison. We were fighting for a garden on the top roof. We got these 44-gallon drums cut in half. We brought up some soil, manure and everything ... I was also helping him ... He and Sisulu were mixing the soil with the manure and filling up the drums. There he started really producing a garden from onions, tomatoes, lettuce and different things he was planting. He was really fond of his garden ... [At Pollsmoor], in the mornings, he woke up early, which we observed through a window ... He would first ... exercise for at least an hour, push-ups, sit-ups ... then he would go to the shower. After that, Mandela would come back, start making his bed and things, and carry on with his studies. When we opened at 7:00 ... he stood up and he greeted us in the morning ... We started dishing out the food ... after that he did his washing ... [on] certain days ... Outside were community toilets ... and Mandela would do his washing there and would hang up his washing. He would come back and maybe drink a coffee or a tea ... after he was finished with his garden, he would study there till 12:00 [when] we locked up. Then he was moved back to the community cell ... he would, at least, sleep an hour during lunch hour, wake up at 2:00, exercise outside at the back, walk with his friends, colleagues, walk all around the courtyard, look at his garden before we locked him up. But he would also study sometimes in the afternoons. After lock up time in the evening, they would eat their food. He would start playing cards till 9:00, 10:00, and then he would maybe go through his books quickly again before he went to bed sometimes past 12:00 ... And that was his schedule on Pollsmoor prison and here at Robben Island was little bit different. On Robben Island after 4:00 lock-up time ... we would play music from 4:00 till 6:00 ... at 6:00 we automatically played some cassettes with the news bulletins of the day which were recorded. We would play that through on the intercom ... And when I was working that office, we also taped certain programs like Radio Today and other programs which they requested. We recorded it for them. And then the next day that would be censored by ... one of the people who was very expert on censoring in the office ... Then after the news finished in the evenings, we would start playing records, that is jazz music and records which people donated for Robben Island for the recreation of the prisoners ... They had a library where they kept all the records. They would pick the records of the day ... then 9:00 we closed everything down. Prisoners were actually not allowed to study late in the evenings ... Did you talk to Mandela while he was a prisoner? The head of the prison told us that we mustn't try to have unnecessary communication with the prisoners. We mustn't discuss politics or discuss any family members ... just do our job. They were very strict. We did communicate in certain ways with them, but not for long. Especially when they exercised at the back. Sometimes, when I greeted Mandela I would ask him how's his health, how is he feeling today. And ask, "What are you studying?" and be interested in what he was doing. But there was not really much communication between us. But from after '82, things changed. They tried to break the spirit of the ANC on Robben Island. They moved some of the leaders away from Robben Island, like Mandela, Sisulu, Mlangeni, four of them to Pollsmoor. I was also transferred to Pollsmoor prison that time. There, the communication was better. If you entered the cell, Mandela would ... make some coffee ... we must eat and drink coffee with him ... there was a more relaxed atmosphere there at Pollsmoor. Then we discussed his problems with his letters. I actually discussed his studies while we were drinking coffee ... there was not that strict relationship like on Robben Island.

34. What  can  we  learn  about  Mandela  by  reading  this  account  of  how  he  spent  his  time  in  prison?  

Primary  Sources  Make  Me  

HAPPY! An  Acronym  for  Analyzing  Primary  Sources  

 

Description   Why  is  this  important?  How  might  this  

affect  the  reliability  or  value  of  the  source?  

Historical  Context  

Where and when was this source written? What else was going on at the time?  

   

Audience  & Author      

Who was this source meant for? How might Who wrote this source? How does her/his age, gender, job, nationality, race, religion, etc. impact this source?  

   

Point  Of  View  

What is the Point of View of the author? What did this person think/feel/believe/ or know?  

   

Purpose  

Why was this source created?  

   

Y is  this  Important?

What does the document help us understand? What makes this an important text? Why does this matter?

 

 

Chapter  8    

35. Why  did  the  government  make  a  law  that  subjects  like  math  and  science  had  to  be  taught  in  the  white  language  of  Afrikaans  (instead  of  tribal  languages)?            

36. Why  did  the  white  government  work  so  hard  to  stop  non-­‐whites  from  getting  a  good  education?              What  does  this  tell  us  about  the  importance  of  education?  

         

37. What  was  the  purpose  of  forcing  Black  people  to  move  to  “homelands”  that  were  not  their  homes?          Did  anything  similar  ever  happen  in  the  United  States?          

38. What  were  the  students  protesting  in  Soweto?          

39. What  similar  event  happened  here  in  Texas?              

40. What  do  the  Soweto  uprising  and  the  murder  of  Steve  Biko  tell  us  about  the  government  of  South  Africa?  

   

Chapter  9  41. Read  Mandela’s  letter  below  and  for  each  paragraph,  provide  a  brief  summary  of  the  content  in  

your  own  words.  Then  complete  the  HAPPY  organizer  on  the  next  page.    

On 31 January 1985, South African President P.W. Botha, speaking in parliament, offered Mandela his freedom on condition that he ‘unconditionally rejected violence as a political weapon’. His daughter Zinzi read Mandela’s reply to this offer to a mass meeting in Jabulani Stadium, Soweto, on 10 February, 1985. Below is an excerpt of text of his response as read publicly by Zinzi. I am surprised at the conditions that the government wants to impose on me. I am not a violent man. My colleagues and I wrote in 1952 to [Daniel François] Malan asking for a round table conference to find a solution to the problems of our country, but that was ignored. When [Johannes Gerhardus] Strijdom was in power, we made the same offer. Again it was ignored. When [Hendrik] Verwoerdwas in power we asked for a national convention for all the people in South Africa to decide on their future. This, too, was [ignored]. It was only then, when all other forms of resistance were no longer open to us, that we turned to armed struggle [violence]. Let President Botha show that he is different to Malan, Strijdom and Verwoerd. Let him renounce violence. Let him say that he will [destroy] apartheid. [Let him make the African National Congress legal again.] Let him free all who have been imprisoned, banished or exiled for their opposition to apartheid. Let him guarantee free political activity so that people may decide who will govern them. I cherish my own freedom dearly, but I care even more for your freedom. Too many have died since I went to prison. Too many have suffered for the love of freedom. I owe it to their widows, to their orphans, to their mothers and to their fathers who have grieved and wept for them. Not only I have suffered during these long, lonely, wasted years. I am not less life-loving than you are. But I cannot sell my birthright, nor am I prepared to sell the birthright of the people to be free. I am in prison as the representative of the people and of YOUR organization, the African National Congress, which was banned. What freedom am I being offered while the organization of the people [the ANC] remains banned? What freedom am I being offered when I may be arrested on a pass offence? What freedom am I being offered to live my life as a family with my dear wife who remains in banishment? What freedom am I being offered when I must ask for permission to live in an urban area? What freedom am I being offered when I need a stamp in my pass to seek work? What freedom am I being offered when my very South African citizenship is not respected? Only free men can negotiate. Prisoners cannot enter into contracts. Herman Toivo ja Toivo, when freed, never gave any undertaking, nor was he called upon to do so. I cannot and will not give any undertaking at a time when I and you, the people, are not free. Your freedom and mine cannot be separated. I will return.  

Example  Summary:  Why does the government want me to say I won’t support violence? I’m a peaceful man and I’ve tried many times to peacefully solve this problem with the government, but they have ignored me when I want to talk.                                    

               

 

Chapter  10  

 42. Above  is  the  Preamble  (basically  an  introduction)  to  the  South  African  Constitution  of  1996.  Based  

on  the  Preamble,  what  is  the  purpose  of  the  new  Constitution?              

43.  Look  at  the  excerpt  of  the  Constitution  given  to  you.  What  problems  that  existed  under  apartheid  does  this  section  of  the  Constitution  try  to  solve?      

How  things  were  during  Apartheid   How  the  new  Constitution  says  things  should  be      

 

44. Make  a  timeline  of  Mandela’s  life  from  his  released  until  his  death.  Add  details  and  draw  pictures  to  make  your  timeline  complete.      

December 5, 2013 Mandela dies at home in Johannesburg

February 11, 1990 Mandela is released from prison.