{"id":95724,"date":"2023-03-17T07:19:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-17T11:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=95724"},"modified":"2023-03-17T14:38:47","modified_gmt":"2023-03-17T18:38:47","slug":"nelson-mandelas-childhood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/nelson-mandelas-childhood\/","title":{"rendered":"Nelson Mandela\u2019s Childhood: The Early Life of a &#8220;Troublemaker&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>How did Nelson Mandela\u2019s birth name set the stage for his extraordinary life? How did he get the name &#8220;Nelson&#8221;?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Long Walk to Freedom <\/em>chronicles Nelson Mandela\u2019s extraordinary life story, as told by the man himself. Mandela is known as one of history\u2019s great peacemakers, but his own life wasn\u2019t a peaceful one. Even his birth name reflects this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Continue reading to learn about Nelson Mandela\u2019s childhood based on what he wrote in his autobiography.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-nelson-mandela-s-childhood\">Nelson Mandela\u2019s Childhood<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Nelson Mandela\u2019s childhood began in a small South African village called Mvezo, where he was born in 1918. He was a member of the Thembu tribe, which is part of the Xhosa nation. His father, Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa, was the chief of Mvezo and the Thembu tribe. Unfortunately, Mphakanyiswa passed away when Mandela was only nine years old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: While <em>Long Walk to Freedom <\/em>says that Chief Mphakanyiswa died when Mandela was nine, the Nelson Mandela Foundation claims that it was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nelsonmandela.org\/content\/page\/faqs#:~:text=When%20did%20Nelson%20Mandela%E2%80%99s%20parents%20die%3F\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">most likely three years later<\/a>, when he was 12. In fact, the original manuscript for <em>Long Walk to Freedom <\/em>gave the year of his death as 1930, which would confirm that Mandela was 12. The newer version of the book doesn\u2019t specify the year of Chief Mphakanyiswa\u2019s death, only how old Mandela allegedly was at the time\u2014which would place his father\u2019s death in 1927.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mandela\u2019s birth name was Rolihlahla, a Xhosa word for \u201ctroublemaker.\u201d The name proved prophetic: Even as a child, he had a reputation as a rabble-rouser. <strong>His strong sense of justice\u2014and his willingness to cause trouble in pursuit of justice\u2014would define his life and his greatest accomplishments.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: Although Mandela became known (and revered) for making trouble on a <em>national<\/em> scale, having a reputation as a troublemaker can have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/lizryan\/2017\/01\/31\/five-advantages-to-being-a-troublemaker\/?sh=2e530a4142b6#:~:text=Here%20are%20five%20advantages%20to%20being%20a%20troublemaker%3A\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">some surprising benefits<\/a> even in a personal or workplace context. For instance, when people expect you to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-speak-your-mind-without-fear\/\">speak your mind<\/a>, even if your thoughts are controversial, it becomes easier to do so\u2014and you\u2019ll quickly learn if a particular place or group isn\u2019t a good fit for you based on the response you get. You may also&nbsp; gain more opportunities for leadership; by definition, a leader has to be someone who doesn\u2019t just repeat what everyone else is saying.)&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rolihlahla became the first member of his family to attend school, at the urging of two of his father\u2019s friends. Mandela notes that those same friends convinced his mother, a woman named Nosekeni Fanny, to convert to Christianity and to baptize Rolihlahla into the Methodist church (formerly known as the Wesleyan church). He received his Christian name from his teacher on his first day of school, and, from then on, he was known as Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mandela explains that, at the time, it was typical for Africans to take a second, more \u201cBritish\u201d name\u2014a throwback to a time when Britain controlled South Africa and British culture was seen as superior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: Giving new names to colonized people is one way that colonists assert their cultural dominance; they replace people\u2019s original identities with new ones that are more closely aligned with the colonists\u2019 culture and language. In former British colonies, as well as in Britain itself, people often Anglicize their names even today <a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2022\/04\/13\/the-real-cost-of-anglicising-your-name-16067191\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">to avoid discrimination<\/a>. People with \u201cforeign\u201d-sounding names, regardless of their actual nationalities or upbringings, often find that people have negative reactions to them: For instance, people may assume that they can\u2019t speak English very well. However, in recent years, some prominent figures have been pushing back against this trend and reclaiming their original names, such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/tv-and-radio\/2021\/apr\/05\/actor-thandiwe-newton-reclaims-original-spelling-of-her-name\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Westworld<\/em> actress Thandiwe (formerly Thandie) Newton<\/a>.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How did Nelson Mandela\u2019s birth name set the stage for his extraordinary life? How did he get the name &#8220;Nelson&#8221;? Long Walk to Freedom chronicles Nelson Mandela\u2019s extraordinary life story, as told by the man himself. Mandela is known as one of history\u2019s great peacemakers, but his own life wasn\u2019t a peaceful one. Even his birth name reflects this. Continue reading to learn about Nelson Mandela\u2019s childhood based on what he wrote in his autobiography.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":95728,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,33],"tags":[940],"class_list":["post-95724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-people","tag-long-walk-to-freedom","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Nelson Mandela\u2019s Childhood: The Early Life of a &quot;Troublemaker&quot; - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Nelson Mandela\u2019s birth name was Rolihlahla, a Xhosa word for \u201ctroublemaker.\u201d Learn about this freedom fighter&#039;s childhood in South Africa.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/nelson-mandelas-childhood\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nelson Mandela\u2019s Childhood: The Early Life of a &quot;Troublemaker&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nelson Mandela\u2019s birth name was Rolihlahla, a Xhosa word for \u201ctroublemaker.\u201d Learn about this freedom fighter&#039;s childhood in South Africa.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/nelson-mandelas-childhood\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-03-17T11:19:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-03-17T18:38:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/nelson-mandela-art-on-a-wall.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/nelson-mandelas-childhood\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/nelson-mandelas-childhood\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13\"},\"headline\":\"Nelson Mandela\u2019s Childhood: The Early Life of a &#8220;Troublemaker&#8221;\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-17T11:19:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-17T18:38:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/nelson-mandelas-childhood\/\"},\"wordCount\":629,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/nelson-mandelas-childhood\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/nelson-mandela-art-on-a-wall.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Long Walk to Freedom\"],\"articleSection\":[\"History\",\"People\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/nelson-mandelas-childhood\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/nelson-mandelas-childhood\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/nelson-mandelas-childhood\/\",\"name\":\"Nelson Mandela\u2019s Childhood: The Early Life of a \\\"Troublemaker\\\" - 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