John Langalibalele Dube born on 11 February 1871 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 they founded SANNC along. 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 1903 he and his first wife, Nokutela Dube, founded a newspaper, what is now Ilanga lase Natal.
In 1901 he founded the Ohlange High School based on the Tuskegee Institue founded by Booker T Washington. He also wanted black people to go into business, so in 1903 he founded the isiZulu newspaper Ilanga. In 1930, John Dube published “Shaka’s Body Servant.” He also wrote about the lives of Zulu rulers, including King Dinizulu.
He was a conservative politician. His ANC was not a militant party of the 1960s, but he never lost sight of two things: human rights, and the need for Africans to stand together. That was the message John Langalibalele Dube was preaching until he died in 1946.
