Twelve years ago, world leaders, including then President Obama and former presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, traveled to South Africa for Nelson Mandela’s funeral. Mandela died December 1, 2013.

As a young black lawyer in South Africa, Mandela became the leader in the movement to eliminate apartheid, the South African set of laws that discriminated against Blacks and Asians. When his influence became a threat to those in power, he was imprisoned at Robben Island for 27 years. Mandela emerged from prison unbroken, taking up his earlier mantra to live for freedom or to die for it. He was swept to power as President of South Africa four years after his release.

Mandela’s story would be remarkable simply because he was able to rise from rural obscurity to national and

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