The organisation was initially founded as the South African Native National Congress (SANNC) on 8 January 1912 in Bloemfontein, with the aim of fighting for the rights of black South Africans. The organization was renamed the ANC in 1923.
The National Party (Afrikaans: Nasionale Party) was a political party in South Africa founded in 1915 and first became the governing party of the country in 1924. It was in opposition during the World War II years but returned to power and was again in government from 4 June 1948 until 9 May 1994.
Every square inch of South Africa was designated as belonging to a racial grouping, and blacks were removed from villages and lands where generations had lived and had worked fields they believed they owned. In 1956, the government indicted 156 opposition leaders, including Nelson Rolihiafia Mandela, leader of the African National Congress. The ANC issued what it called a Freedom Charter, asserting that South Africa belonged to all who lived in it, "black and white," and it called for universal suffrage and the individual freedoms found in the US Bill of Rights.
In 1963, government forces discovered the headquarters of Spear of the Nation and found Nelson Mandela. They arrested him and others, and in 1964 Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment
