John Dube
| John Langalibalele Dube | |
|---|---|
John L. Dube c. 1910
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| Born |
11 February 1871 Inanda, Natal |
| Died | 11 February 1946 (aged 75) |
| Nationality | South African |
| Occupation | |
| Known for | Founding president of the South African Native National Congress |
| Notable work | uShembe (Zulu) (1936) A Biography of Isaiah Shembe, Shuter & Shooter Publishers Pty Ltd, Pietermaritzburg |
John Langalibalele Dube (11 February 1871 – 11 February 1946) was a South African essayist, philosopher, educator, politician, publisher, editor, novelist and poet. He was the founding president of the South African Native National Congress (SANNC), which became the African National Congress in 1923. Dube served as SANNC president between 1912 and 1917. Dube was brought to America by returning missionaries and attended Oberlin College. He returned to South Africa where he and his first wife, Nokutela Dube, founded a newspaper and what is now Ilanga lase Natal Newspaper
Dube was born in Natal at the Inanda mission station of the American Zulu Mission (AZM), a branch of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. His father, the Rev. James Dube, was one of the first ordained African pastors of the AZM. Dube began his formal education in Inanda and Adams College, Amanzimtoti.
The Reverend William Cullen Wilcox was called in to talk to Dube who was misbehaving at the Adams School. His father James Dube was then the Congregational minister at Inanda.
In 1887 the Wilcox family were returning to the United States and John Dube and his mother persuaded the missionary couple to take Dube to America where he could further his education. The Cullens agreed on the condition that Dube was to maintain himself financially, however they advised him and William found him his first work on the road gang when he arrived in America.
Dube studied at Oberlin College and, although he studied printing and self-help, he did not graduate.
Dube was born of royal lineage and was, by right, a chief of the Qadi tribe. Because of his father's conversion to Christianity by early missionaries in pre-republic South Africa, he did not rule over the Qadi people. Dube's name was actually Ngcobo, who had the chieftaincy of the Qadi people of the Zulu.
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