Pixley ka Isaka Seme
| Pixley ka Isaka Seme | |
|---|---|
|
In office 1930–1936 |
|
| Preceded by | J. T. Gumede |
| Succeeded by | Z. R. Mahabane |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
October 1, 1881 Daggakraal, Colony of Natal |
| Died | June 7, 1951 |
| Nationality | South Africa |
| Political party | African National Congress |
| Alma mater | Jesus College, Oxford |
| Occupation | Attorney |
Pixley ka Isaka Seme (c. 1881 – June 1951) was a founder and President of the African National Congress. He was the first black South African lawyer.
He was born in Daggakraal, then in the Colony of Natal, at the Inanda mission station of the American Zulu Mission of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. He graduated from Mount Hermon School, MA, in 1902 (now the Northfield Mount Hermon School). He attended Adams College which was part of the mission.
His mother was a sister of John Langalibalele Dube, and descended from a local chief. At 17 years of age Seme left to study in the U.S., first at the Mount Hermon School and then Columbia University. In 1906, his senior year at University, he was awarded the Curtis Medal, Columbia's highest oratorical honor. He subsequently decided to become an attorney. In October 1906 he was admitted to Oxford University to read for the degree of Bachelor of Civil Law; while at Oxford he was a member of Jesus College.
Seme returned to South Africa in 1911. In response to the formation of the Union of South Africa, he worked with several other young African leaders recently returned from university studies in England, Richard Msimang, George Montsioa and Alfred Mangena, and with established leaders of the South African Native Convention in Johannesburg to promote the formation of a national organization that would unify various African groups from the former separate colonies, now provinces. In January 1912 these efforts bore fruit with the founding meeting of the South African Native National Congress, later renamed the African National Congress (Walshe 1970, Odendaal 1984). Seme was also the lawyer of Queen Regent Labotsibeni of Swaziland, through who the first ANC newspaper Abantu-Batho was financed. Later on in 1922 Seme accompanied King Sobhuza II as part of a delegation to london to meet British authorities and the King regarding the land proclamation in Swaziland.
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