John Langalibalele Dube

John Langalibalele Mafukuzela Dube ( born February 11, 1871 the mission station Inanda, Natal, † February 11, 1946 in Durban ) was a South African philosopher, writer, theologian and politician.

Life

Dube was born the son of a pastor and sub- chief of the Ngcoto strain of the Zulu. He was a Christian education in Inanda and went to the American Board Mission Theological School in Amanzimtoti. In 1887 he accompanied a missionary on a trip to the U.S., where he attended college and held various jobs. After he had been offered a post as a teacher, he returned to Natal and married in 1894. Together with his brother he founded two churches and three preaching stations. In 1897 he was ordained as a priest. At the same time he began to collect money for a school on the model of Booker T. Washington, 1901 Ohlange School was opened. In 1904 he founded a bilingual newspaper called Ilanga lase Natal, which was regarded as a radical, so he briefly came under arrest in 1906.

The arrest politicized Dube on. In the following years, he participated in various meetings, including the discussion of the Constitution of the Union of South Africa. In 1912 he co-founded the Natal Native Congress and was the same year alongside Walter Benson Rubusana, Pixley ka Isaka Seme and Sol Plaatje of the founding members of the South African Native National Congress ( SANNC ), which later became the African National Congress. He was elected as its first president. In his role as church officials, he held the position of a pastor of the Congregational Church.

Awards

• 2005 was awarded to him posthumously the Order of Luthuli in Gold.