Which South African political organization did Nelson Mandela join in 1944?

Nelson Mandela joined the African National Congress in 1944.

That year he helped establish the ANC Youth League with Walter Sisulu, Oliver Tambo, and other young activists. The league pushed the older organization toward mass mobilization and stronger opposition to racial discrimination and white minority rule.

Mandela’s involvement with the ANC eventually led him to senior leadership positions and to the creation of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the organization’s armed wing, in 1961. His political work brought repeated arrests and ultimately a life sentence.

The ANC had been founded much earlier, in 1912, so Mandela did not create the organization itself. He joined during a period when younger activists were reshaping its methods and public demands.