"We've lost our greatest son," said South African President Jacob Zuma as he announced that former South African President Nelson Mandela had passed away at age 95 on Thursday. Mandela seemed destined for dissident leadership. His middle name, Rolihlahla, means “troublemaker” in his native Xhosa language, and for decades his outspoken activism was a thorn in the side of South Africa’s apartheid government. After receiving a life sentence for trying to overthrow the ruling white-supremacist regime, Mandela spent 27 years in brutal imprisonment. But the later triumphs that emerged from his struggle were great. In 1990, with internal and external pressure reaching a crescendo, Mandela finally walked out of prison with his fist raised high. Four years later, he was elected as his country’s first black president in its first democratic election. He stepped down in 1999 and turned his attention toward international human rights, campaigning against poverty, HIV/AIDS, and children's issues. Despite his increasing frailty, Mandela remained a powerful symbol of freedom and benevolence across the world. An hour after his passing was announced, President Barack Obama urged the world to "strive for a future that is worthy of his sacrifice."
As a young man, pictured here in 1952, Nelson Mandela donned boxing gloves to release energy and tension. Growing up in a traditional village, Mandela was educated as a lawyer and became an active figure in the anti-apartheid movement in Johannesburg after the all-white National Party came to power the 1950s.
Nelson Mandela, on the right, walks with African National Congress leaders Patrick Molaoa and Robert Resha into the Johannesburg courtroom where they were facing charges of treason in the 1950s. He was among 156 standing accused during the five-year trial, but managed to avoid a conviction.
Supporters of the African National Congress give a thumbs up as a prison van with anti-apartheid militants are transferred to Johannesburg's courthouse in 1956.
Mandela and his second wife, Winnie, smile during their wedding in 1957. More than 30 years later, Winnie was at her husband's side when he walked out of prison, but they divorced six years later, in 1996.
Mandela, grinning widely as he leaves the treason trial hearings, dons a sharp suit. The activist was known for his love of clothes.
Jurgen Schadeberg/AP
In 1960, police shot dead 57 unarmed supporters of the Pan Africanist Congress—a militant rival to Mandela’s African National Congress—during a peaceful protest against laws which forbade blacks from cities without proper paperwork. It became known as the Sharpeville Massacre, and was one of the most defining political moments of the apartheid era. In response, ANC leaders like Mandela and Albert Luthuli publicly burned their passbooks.
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South African women demanded the release of Mandela, who was appearing in court on a charge of incitement. The women, joined by Winnie Mandela, chanted on the steps of the Johannesburg City Hall. In 1962, Mandela was convicted of satotage and conspiracy to overthrow the government, and was handed a life sentence.
After 27 years in prison, Mandela leaves Victor Verster Prison with his wife, Winnie, on Feb. 11, 1990. Just four years later, South Africans held their first multiracial elections and elected Mandela as their first black president.
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Two days after the release, Nelson and Winnie Mandela saluted a crowd of 120,000 waiting to hear him speak at the Soweto's Soccer City stadium.
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From imprisonment to a private audience with the pope. Pope John Paul II and Mandela shake hands at the Vatican in 1990.
A one-day visit to Amsterdam brought out 15,000 admirers, who Mandela adressed from the balcony of a theater during the year of his release.
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Six years after Mandela met with an Arkansas govenor and presidential hopeful, Bill Clinton awarded him the Congressional Gold Metal. Here, in 1992, Mandela did not endorse Clinton, but did praise the dedication of the Democratic Party in aiding the South African struggle.
South Africans perch atop a campaign billboard for presidential candidate Nelson Mandela.
Hundreds formed a winding line while waiting to vote in South Africa's inagural all-race elections in 1994.
Denis Farrell/AP
Mandela grins widely and votes for the first time in his life on March 26, 1994.
In four short years, Mandela had moved from prison to the presidency. Here, commemorating five years of freedom, the South African leader sits in his former cell in the notorious Robben Island prison, where he spent 19 of his 27 captive years.
Was he stifling a laugh at that hat? In 1996, Queen Elizabeth and President Mandela waved from a carriage during his state visit to Britain.
Nelson Mandela smiled at the graduation of his stepson Malenga Machel from the University of Cape Town. His third wife, Graca Machel, is on the right.
Mandela and his wife look at the coffin of his son, Makgatho, who died of complications from AIDS in 2005. He soon became active in fighting the disease and its misperceptions, acknowledging he had neglected it during his presidency.
The former president celebrates his 89th birthday surrounded by children at the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund in Johannesburg.
No bad blood here. Nelson Mandela is flanked on the right by his former wife Winnie Mandela, and, at left, his current wife, Graca Machel, during the ANC Madiba 90th Birthday Celebrations in 2008.
A 90-year-old Nelson Mandela waves to a crowd of 50,000 from the stage of the 46664 Concert in Celebration of Nelson Mandela's Life at Hyde Park in London. It was hosted by Will and Jada Pinkett Smith and raised money for Mandela's HIV/AIDS awareness campaign.
Mandela and his wife are driven across the field ahead of the 2010 World Cup final soccer match between the Netherlands and Spain at Soccer City in Johannesburg.
A young imitator who came to dance for well-wishers of Nelson Mandela poses outside the entrance to the Mediclinic Heart Hospital, where the former president was treated for three months before going home.
Ben Curtis/AP
As Mandela's health was the subject of countless rumors, street artist Victor Landeta spray-painted a portrait of the human-rights activist on a sliver of the former Berlin Wall in Kleinmachnow, Germany.
"He no longer belongs to us, he belongs to the ages," Barack Obama said after hearing of Mandela's death. His legacy prevails: Here, in August, South Africa's football fans celebrate during the Nelson Mandela Sports & Culture Day.
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