Former President of South Africa and Nobel Peace Prize Winner Nelson Mandela was once considered a terrorist and required special permission to enter the US. Members of the African National Congress (ANC), a political party established to peacefully protest the formal racial segregation of the white minority ruled Apartheid regime of South Africa, were classified as terrorists by South Africa during the 1970s and 1980s. Other countries, including the US and Britain, also put the ANC on terrorist watch lists.
The Apartheid rule of South Africa ended in 1994, and Mandela became president of South Africa; however, the US did not put pass legislation to remove the ANC from their terrorist watch list until 2008.
More about Nelson Mandela:
- Mandela’s birth name was Rolihlahla, but his teacher began calling him Nelson when he was nine years old as it was customary for South African children to be referred to by English names in school.
- In 1952, Mandela established the first black law office in South Africa.
- Mandela had a cameo appearance in a movie: 1992’s biopic , as a teacher quoting the American civil rights activist Malcolm X to his South African classroom.