FIRST PRESIDENT, the life of John L. Dude, founding president of the ANC

312pp., illus., paperback, Reprint, Johannesburg, (2011) 2022

South African essayist, philosopher, educator, politician, publisher, editor, novelist and poet John Langalibalele Dube (1871-1946) was the founding president of the South African Native National Congress, which became the African National Congress in 1923. In 1896 he and his wife travelled to the USA and began raising funds to build a secondary school at Inanda. The Ohlange Institute, the first school in the country established by black teachers, was founded in 1900. In 1903 they established the first English-Zulu newspaper, Ilanga Lase Natal (The Sun of Natal). His publications include the historical novella, Insila kaShaka (Shaka's Body Servant) (1930) and biographies of the Zulu royal family.