Nicola Coughlan and Helena Bonham Carter shine a light on extraordinary people in history.
, Nicola Coughlan shines a light on extraordinary stories of rebellion, risk, and the radical power of youth, looking at young people throughout history who have changed the world.
One episode focuses on Nelson Mandela, the South African leader who many today remember as the dignified elder statesman who was imprisoned for 27 years by the country’s apartheid regime. After his release in 1990, Mandela negotiated an end to racial segregation. He became its first Black president – and a revered figure on the global stage.
Yet his political career started when he was a much younger man. History’s Youngest Heroes looks at the early development of Mandela’s political identity through the Defiance Campaign in the 1950s.He was born Rolihlala Mandela in 1918 in the countryside of the Eastern Cape. When he was eight years old, his primary school teacher gave him the English name Nelson. Though his family were Thembu aristocrats, his parents lived in a simple hut with no electricity or running water.
The Defiance Campaign did not overturn apartheid, but ANC membership grew and Mandela was impressed that many more South Africans proved themselves ready to resist. “From the Defiance Campaign onward, going to prison became a badge of honour among Africans,” he wrote. It took more than 40 years to overturn apartheid – and he would do it.
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