The names of Nelson Mandela

Former South African President Nelson Mandela, remembered as an anti-apartheid leader, the first black president of South Africa, AIDS activist, and “hero for the world” died today at age 95. Mandela was instrumental in guiding his country out of the apartheid era by shaping South Africa into a multi-racial democracy while helping avoid an outright civil war. He spent nearly three decades behind bars as a political prisoner for agitating against white minority rule in the country, and he won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. He later became an advocate for a unified response to the AIDS epidemic in Africa, speaking out against the cultural stigma burdening those infected with the virus. "I leave it to the public to decide how they should remember me," he said in one of his last public appearances. "But I should like to be remembered as an ordinary South African who together with others has made his humble contribution."