John Langalibalele Dube

Life & Legacy

John Langalibalele Dube OLG (22 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. He was an uncle to Dr Pixley ka Isaka Seme, with whom he founded SANNC. Dube served as the president of SANNC between 1912 and 1917. He was brought to America by returning missionaries and attended Oberlin Preparatory Academy.
He returned to South Africa, where in 1901 he and his first wife, Nokutela Dube, founded the Ohlange High School based on the Tuskegee Institute founded by Booker T. Washington. In 1903, the Dubes founded the isiZulu newspaper Ilanga (now Ilanga lase Natal). In 1930, John Dube published Shaka's Body Servant. He died in 1946.