July 18 is Nelson Mandela International Day.
Nelson Mandela was an anti-apartheid leader who was jailed for 27 years under white minority rule in South Africa. Apartheid was a system of discriminatory racial segregation in South Africa.
Apartheid was eventually abolished in 1991, and Mandela won an all-race elections in 1994 to become the president of South Africa.
He served one five-year term, became a global statesman, and pursued charitable causes after that.
In total, Mandela did 67 years of public service.
The United Nations General Assembly approved of Nelson Mandela International Day in 2009, which was created both to honor the anti-apartheid leader and inspire others to “take responsibility for making the world a better place, one small step at a time,” according to a statement from the Nelson Mandela Foundation Initiative.
July 18 is also Mandela’s birthday, and this year’s Nelson Mandela International Day will be the first since his death.
Mandela was inaugurated for presidency on May 10, 1994, and died on December 5, 2013.
