Remembered for his leadership of the African National Congress during the organization's struggle to end apartheid in South Africa, Tambo served first as Secretary General and later as President of the organization.
His student political activism led to his being expelled from the University of Fort Hare.
He was involved in the orchestration of the bloody Church Street Bombing of 1983.
He was married to fellow anti-apartheid Activist Adelaide Tambo.
In the early 1940s, Tambo, Walter Sisulu, and Nelson Mandela founded the African National Congress Youth League.
