Nelson Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom: visual lesson, CBSE Class 10 English Language and Literature

Lesson

Nelson Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

First Flight, prose · autobiography (extract) · Class 10 CBSE English.

Read the chapter itself in your textbook, First Flight (NCERT). This lesson is SOYL's explanation and analysis; it does not reproduce the text.

In this lesson you will

Retell the events of the inauguration day and the reflections that follow, in your own words
Explain the significance of the inauguration and the end of apartheid
Explain Mandela's ideas of freedom, courage and the two obligations of a person
Describe Mandela's character with evidence from the chapter
Answer extract-based, short and long questions within the word limits

CBSE 2026-27, Section C (literature).
In the board paper	Question form	Marks
Reference to context	an extract with short questions (answer A or B)	5
Short answer (First Flight)	40–50 words, any 4 of 5	3 each
Long answer	100–120 words: character, theme, diary, letter or opinion	6

Concept

Read the chapter once in First Flight, straight through.
Then use these slides for the events, ideas, themes and Mandela's character.
In answers, explain events and ideas in your own words; do not memorise lines.
Practise the extract questions, which use SOYL commentary on the chapter.

Concept

Table of facts: the author is Nelson Mandela, 1918 to 2013, lawyer, ANC leader and President from 1994 to 1999; the extract comes from his 1994 autobiography; he was imprisoned for about 27 years, mostly on Robben Island; he shared the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize with F. W. de Klerk; the extract is set at his inauguration on 10 May 1994 in Pretoria.
About the text
Author	Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (1918–2013), lawyer, leader of the African National Congress, President of South Africa 1994–1999
Source	his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom (1994)
Imprisonment	about 27 years (1962–1990), most of them on Robben Island
Honours	Nobel Peace Prize 1993, shared with F. W. de Klerk
Genre	autobiography: first person, reflective, non-fiction
Setting of the extract	the inauguration, 10 May 1994, Union Buildings, Pretoria; then Mandela's reflections on his life