Nelson Mandela and Apartheid

Apartheid was an unfair form of government that made black people oppressed in South Africa. They would have to carry identity documents for almost everything they did. They would go to prison if they drank from the wrong water fountain. They would get the death penalty for being with a white girl. They were denied basic human rights. Nelson Mandela along with many others opposed Apartheid in the early 50s and late 60s. He became a famous person very fast because of his work with ANC. However, the South African government threw him in jail for life for sabotage of the government. Twenty-seven long years later, the government came to the conclusion that if Nelson Mandela died in jail, there would no doubt be a revolution where the blood of millions would be spilled. This is why they decided to release Nelson Mandela. Not long after, he finally made Apartheid go away. Later, he became president and served for five years and gained a Nobel Peace Prize. He no doubt prevented a civil war and showed the world the true meaning of peace.

African Independence

After World War II, many Africans did not want to go back to European rule. Europe had exploited Africa's resources for their own and resentment grew. However, many African nations were not ready or prepared for Independence. Ghana was a great example. It gained independence in 1957 with Kwame Nkrumah as its Prime Minister. Nkrumah had many plans for the nations such as building highways, schools and hospitals but this would cost a lot for the economy. Another example was Kenya where two things pushed them to be independent. The first was the rise of Jomo Kenyatta and the secret society of Mau Mau. The secret society tried to scare white British farmers instead of going to war. Kenyatta refused to arrest Mau Mau so the british arrested him for some time but later got out. This was the rise of African Independence.

The Right Stuff

In the Right Stuff, it shows how the US is doing a secret project to break the sound barrier also known as Mach 1. It shows how there were a number of test pilots who died trying to break the sound barrier. When they successfully broke the sound barrier, the US did not want to share word with the world because they were afraid the Russians might find out. The United States did not trust the Russians after WWII because they were still a communist country while the United States was democratic. When Russia found out, they started a space program where they launched a satellite on October 4, 1957. The name of the satellite was Sputnik. The US along with the rest of the world at that time was in shock and fear because they thought it was a death ray when soviet Russia explained it was just an experiment. This lead to JFK saying they planned to do a project with NASA where they planned for the US to walk on the moon. The film mainly focuses on the tensions betweeen Russia and the United States during the Cold War.

Nato and the Cold War

NATO was the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It was for the United States and countries of east and some western European countries. If a country would attack a nation that was a member of NATO, all of those other countries would retaliate. In response to this, the Warsaw pact was created. This pact would not be powerful unless the Soviet Union was part of it. Back then, the only two superpowers in the world was the United States and the Soviet Union. Unlike NATO, the Warsaw Pact was weakening because of the political scene of Russia towards the 80s and it fully dissolved in the 90s.