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Mandela enters court for the last time. Nearly a year had passed since his arrest in Rivonia. Almost 2,000 people gathered outside the Palace to show support. Mandela and the others were not sent to hang, but were given life in prison. This was largely due to international pressure. The night of the trial, Mandela and the six others were taken to Robben Island were they would stay for the next 18 years.

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The authorities had discovered Rivonia. Mandela is charged with sabotage along with many others. At this time, he at only served nine months out of his five year sentence. The death sentence by hanging is very likely.

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Mandela rejects Prime Minister Jimmy Kruger's offer. Kruger stated that, "if you recognize the legitimacy of the Transkei government and is willing to move there, your sentence would be dramatically reduced." Mandela “wholly rejected the bantustan policy and would do nothing to support it."

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Mandela is taken to Pollsmoor Prison. The commanding officer told Mandela, along with three others, to pack their things. Without a proper goodbye to the men Mandela had befriended and supported at Robben Island for almost two decades, the group left.

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Mandela and the other men agree to use the trial not as a test of the law, but as a platform for their beliefs. "They were not concerned with getting off or lessening the punishment, but with having the trial strengthen the cause for which they were all struggling for, no matter the price for themselves." Mandela read his final paragraph in his statement for four hours. He was found guilty on all counts, and would not appeal if given the death penalty.

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At the Palace of Justice in Pretoria, the Supreme Court sits The State versus Nelson Mandela and others. This later became known as the Rivonia Trial, the most significant political trial in the history of South Africa. Mandela is charged with sabotage and conspiracy rather than high treason because the case does not require a long preparatory examination as treason does. However, the death penalty is still the same.

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Mandela is captured after leaving Durban, still disguised as a chaffeur. The police were tipped off and spent days waiting. Mandela is sentenced to five years in prison for incitement and leaving the country without a passport. This was the longest and stiffest sentence yet imposed in South Africa for a political offense. He gets taken to Pretoria.

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Mandela is still working underground. He forms the Umkhonto we Sizwe (The Spear of the Nation) or MK. This was a militant organization not directly connected to the ANC. Mandela is selected as Commander on-Chief.

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The ANC and PAC are now banned after the Sharpeville Massacre. Mandela has to go into hiding. He continues to work and is dubbed the "black pimpernel."

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Mandela divorces Evelyn. He then marries Nomzamo Winnie Madikizela and they have two daughters together. This becomes his longest marriage.

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Mandela is arrested and joins 155 others on trail for treason. They were all acquitted by March 29, 1961. Afterwards, Mandela would go underground to continue the fight.

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Defiance campaign begins. Mandela is arrested and charged for violating the Suppression of Communism Act, convicted with 19 others. They are sentenced to nine months imprisonment with hard labor. After, he was suspended for two years.  He later opens South Africa's first black law firm with Oliver Tambo.

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Mandela co-founds the ANC Youth League (ANCYL). He also marries Evelyn Ntoko Mase and they have four children together. During this time, he begins to rally support for mass protests using peaceful methods to protest against apartheid.

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Mandela's father dies. Mandela is then entrusted to Thembu Regent Jongintaba Dalindy at the age of 12. The regent treated Mandela as a son and provided him many opportunities.

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Nelson Mandela is born Rolihlahla Mandela at Mvezo, a tiny village in the district of Umbata, the capital of the Transkei.  The Transkei is home to the Thembu people, who are part of the Xhosa nation, of which Mandela is a member. He would receive his Christian name 'Nelson' after on his first day of school.