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True or False? Nelson Mandela spent almost three decades in jail before becoming president of South Africa. True! From the 1940s to the 1990s, Nelson Mandela led a movement to gain rights for black South Africans. The white South African government tried to stop him by putting him in jail. After twenty-seven years, he was freed, and black South Africans won the right to vote in their own country. They elected Mandela to be the first black president of South Africa. His parents named him Rolihlahla, but his English teacher called him Nelson when he started school. Before he went to jail, he worked as a lawyer representing black South Africans. He helped write the Freedom Charter, which became the blueprint for South Africa's fight for equality.