The ANC Youth League was founded in 1944, with Nelson Mandela among its founding figures.
Mandela, Anton Lembede, Walter Sisulu, Oliver Tambo and others established the league to promote a more militant and active approach within the African National Congress. The founders believed that young Africans should drive mass political action against segregation and white minority rule.
Anton Lembede became the league’s first president, while Mandela served on its executive committee. The organization helped shape the ANC’s postwar political strategy and influenced the Programme of Action adopted in 1949.
The ANC Youth League is distinct from the ANC itself, which was founded in 1912. It is also not the same organization as the later armed wing Umkhonto we Sizwe, formed in 1961.