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On December 5, 2013, former South African President Nelson Mandela passed away at the age of 95. People around the world mourned the death of this human rights activist. Thousands of South Africans waited hours to walk past his casket to pay their respects, and world leaders and celebrities attended his funeral, including Pope Francis, several US presidents, and Bono. Mandela was born in 1918 in South Africa. While in law school, he joined the African National Congress. The ANC spoke out against South Africa's apartheid laws, which allowed separate treatment of people based on skin color. He began his activism in the 1940s and was arrested many times before he received a life sentence in 1964. After spending more than 25 years in jail, Mandela was released in 1990 and soon after partnered with South African President F. W. de Klerk to help end apartheid. They won the Nobel Peace Prize together in 1993. The next year, Mandela became the first African president of South Africa. After his term as president, he continued his work as a human rights advocate until he retired in 2004. After a long illness, he died in 2013. He will be remembered for his leadership for years to come.
Author
Matt Doeden was born in southern Minnesota and lived parts of his childhood in Golden Valley, Minnesota, and Madison, Minnesota. He studied journalism at Mankato State University, where he worked at the college newspaper for three years. In his senior year, he served as the paper's Sports Editor, which put him in charge of the entire sports section, the sports writers, and the photographers. He covered mostly college sports, but also the Minnesota Vikings, who held training camp at MSU. His work allowed him to meet and interview people like Dennis Green, Cris Carter, Robert Smith, and more. Matt went on to work as a sports writer for the Mankato paper, and then he got a job as an editor with a small children's publisher called Capstone Press, and in 2003 he decided to start his own business as a freelance writer and editor. Since then, Matt has written and edited hundreds of books. Lots of them are on high-interest topics like cars, sports, and airplanes. He also writes and edits on geography, science, and even math.
