On June 12, 1964, Nelson Mandela began a 27 year jail sentence.

Whilst behind bars he was quoted as saying: “I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”

Thankfully, he lived, and after the end of apartheid went on to serve as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999.