Nelson Mandela And Aparthied

Apartheid is a form of Racial segregation in South Africa. Its similar if not the same representation of what we had going on in America with Racial Discrimination. African people did not have the same privileges as the white people did in South Africa. Though it was their own home territory the white people had no problem in taking over and instilling Apartheid into their land. Non-white people were set separate from the "white only" community in many places such as Government, bathroom, restaurants, and even schools. People who opposed this system would be banned and political leaders who opposed would even be killed.

Like how I said Nelson Mandela was a very important role in this time period is because he was one of the people who led to the Independence of Africa more specifically South Africa. Due to Nelson Mandela non-white people gained their rights back on their land. Also by non-whites I mean that even if you were half white you were still considered non-white. Back on topic, Mandela was prisoned for 27 years until he was finally released in 1990. The reason for locking him up was because he was one of those few people who spoke up. He disliked Apartheid and how the minority (the whites) were taking control of the majority (non-white). Just like Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. he was one of those people who led non-violent strikes and protests. These methods have worked in the past so why not try it again. Simple civil-disobedient acts led to the imprisonment of Mandela.

Though Mandela was sent to jail he never gave up on hope and believed that Apartheid would come to an end. The people who led admired him plenty even when jailed his people didn't give up on hope either. In time Apartheid did fade away and Mandela was set free from prison. Soon non-whites gained their rights and independence from the whites. Nelson Mandela was seen as not only a political leader but also a political hero his ways of standing up for those who couldn't do anything shows what a hero does. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 for his actions. He is still alive today even after what he went through to get something for his people.

African Independence

Between the years of 1955 and 1975 Africa gradually started to gain their independence from overseas European Nations. The only countries exempt form this takeover were Libya, South Africa, Ethiopia and Egypt. This time period was also called the Scramble for Africa. African countries had no say in what the Europeans were doing due to the fact that the imperialistic Europeans were far more dominant in weaponry. Even though Imperialism also involved placing your own traditions into the country being taken over, many of the people in Africa were not pleased. Very few enjoyed the perks that were provided by the Europeans but little did they know that Europeans were just here for natural resources for themselves rather than helping the African population. That was the scenery of what was going on after 1955.

By 1975 Africa broke through the shackles of the European countries and gained their independence. A very important figure in Africa during this time period was named Jomo Kenyatta. Jomo gained a good education while growing up and soon studied politics while he worked as a carpenter. He was put in prison for trying to prevent the British from turning the Government system in Africa into communism which by the way would be a very bad mix with imperialism. After being let out of jail 7 years later, Africa had gained their independence and Jomo became the president of Kenya.

Some other important leaders during this time period was Cecil Rhodes. Rhodes was a racist British leader who tried instill British control over Africa. The famous picture of him standing over Africa with puppet strings really shows his character during this harsh time. Two other important figures during this time were Nelson Mandela who soon became president of South Africa and Kwame Nkrumah who was the leader of Ghana.

I will speak of Nelson Mandela in the next blog but Kwame Nkrumah also one of the men who deserve credit for part of the whole African Independence change. His three goals were to first learn to govern, second unify the four territories of the gold coast and lastly gain independence for his nation. on March 6 of 1957 Nkrumah declared Ghana independent.

Film Lesson: "The Right Stuff"

I found this movie to be very entertaining from its comedy and the plot itself. The back and forth competition between the U.S. and Russia was intriguing. For the most part of the movie I liked how it was more of a "I'm better than you" or "I can do this can you?" kind of relation between the two countries. Sure this was a serious time period in real life but in the movie the script apparently had a lot of room for some humor. For example the multiple shuttle launches until they we're finally successful. One of which didn't even get off the ground was hilarious because well for one it didn't blow up.

No wonder it was called the "Space Race." America was able to break the sound barrier. This scene was so well done just because of its believability due to the time frame in which the movie was made. Though we were able to do that we failed to send the first man to space. We were to send a man to space, after numerous tests on people, but instead ended up sending a monkey, yes a monkey. "The greatest nation in the world" prefers to send a primate into space instead of a real human due to fear of something going wrong. The monkey incident gave other countries a reason to make fun of America. Though the US didn't send a man to space, because it was far too dangerous, but Instead two or the three weeks later Russia successfully did it. Russia won that portion of the race by sending the first man into space, Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin. After which America was made fun of for not being able to do that.

The race was not over yet due to the fact that now either of the countries had to send the first man to the moon. This is where it was all business because America already lost one challenge in the race, they can't afford to lose another. We were able to send the first man to the moon and his name was Neil Alden Armstrong. This was the last thing that happened for the Space Race for there was nothing else to accomplish. We were already able to circle the globe multiple times. All in all, its a good solid movie and very factual. Shows you how much the human race can accomplish when in competitions like these. I mean breaking the sound barrier to sending people to the moon could soon lead to searching for other inhabitable planets. I'll remember Cold War because in this movie you never see any violence between Russia and the US it was just a simple Race to see who's better.

NATO and The Warsaw Pact

NATO stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which consisted of 28 countries. The countries within this organization were mainly the United States, Canada, and several Western European Countries. This organization was made after World War II and it was to provide aid for countries in need. Especially during a time right after WW2 European Countries were in dire need of aid. This organization could also work in a way as if one country needed help then others within the organization can help out.

In response to NATO, communist nations in Eastern Europe formed the Warsaw Pact. Out of all the countries in the pact the Soviet Union was by far the most powerful. As the dominant force in that allied side they kept Military bases in allied countries with a socialist form of government to keep them running. You can basically see this as a Capitalist vs. Communist kind of situation. Speaking of Capitalists and Communists this would lead into several events in the the Cold War. Since Communism was known to spread around NATO was a good way to make sure some of the Countries in Western Europe wouldn't be exposed to that kind of system of Government. In fact its actually very interesting how the Warsaw Pact was right next to countries that were in the alliance of NATO.

Although the Pact was formed 6 years after NATO it started to lose its power/recognition as countries went away like Eastern Germany formed back with Western Germany. Sooner or later the countries just split.