The RevolutionaryDuring the 1950s Mandela was banned, arrested
and imprisoned for challenging apartheid. He was one of the
accused in the massive Treason Trial at the end of the decade
and, following the 1960 banning of the ANC, he went underground,
adopting a number of disguises--sometimes a laborer, other times
a chauffeur. The press dubbed him "the Black Pimpernel" because
of his ability to evade police. During this time, he and other
ANC leaders formed its armed wing--Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK).
Mandela was secretly appointed its commander in chief. "At the
end of the day...violence was the only weapon that would destroy
apartheid." Nelson Mandela, 1959 "Monitoring Mandela (Four
Police Letters)" These letters capture what it was like to be a
banned political activist. Mandela's life was regulated by the
apartheid government from whom he needed permission to leave
Johannesburg to defend law clients or visit family. In the first
letter, Mandela angrily responds to authorities who denied his
request for a holida