Oliver tambo biography

(1917-1993)

Who Was Oliver Tambo?

Oliver Tambo opened the first Black law firm in South Africa with Nelson Mandela. Tambo would go on to serve in exile as acting president of the African National Congress, a party that agitated to end his country's apartheid regime.

He returned to South Africa in 1990, turning over party leadership to Mandela.

Early Life and Career

Oliver Reginald Tambo was born on October 27, 1917, in the village of Bizana, South Africa to the Pondo people.

Oliver tambo biography

Of modest farming origins, he earned a scholarship to attend the University of Fort Hare, the only university open to Black citizens in the country, where he studied education and science. He received his bachelor's degree in 1941.

Working With Nelson Mandela

In 1944, Tambo and Mandela, who came from the same region as Tambo and also attended Fort Hare, helped form the Youth League of the African National Congress.

Tambo taught at a missionary school for a time but opted to study law, se