Dube, John Langalibalele, << DYOO bay, jahn `LAHN` guh lee bah LAY lay >> (1871-1946), was a South African political activist. He helped found the African National Congress (ANC), a political party that played a major role in gaining rights for Black South Africans. Dube also was the first author of note to write in Zulu (isiZulu), the language of the Zulu people.
Dube was born on Feb. 22, 1871, in the British colony of Natal (now the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal). In 1887, he traveled to the United States with a Christian missionary. Dube attended preparatory school at Oberlin College in Ohio. In 1899, he became an ordained Congregational minister.
After returning to Natal in 1901, Dube established the Zulu Christian Industrial School (later the Ohlange Institute). This school was inspired by the ideas of the African American leader and educator Booker T. Washington. In 1903, Dube founded the Zulu newspaper Ilanga lase Natal (Natal Sun).
In 1910, the British government merged its South African colonies to form a new country, the Union of South Africa. The new country did not allow Black citizens to serve in its central Parliament. In 1912, Dube—along with the lawyer and writer Pixley Seme and other Black South African leaders—helped establish the South African Native National Congress. The organization, later renamed the African National Congress, worked to win greater rights for Black people in South Africa.
Dube was elected to serve as the first president of the Congress. He stepped down in 1917 because of disagreements within the organization. He continued to serve as head of the Natal branch of the Congress until the end of his life.
In 1930, Dube wrote the first Zulu novel, Insila KaShaka (Shaka’s Bodyguard). He later wrote a biography of the Zulu prophet Isaiah Shembe. Dube died on Feb. 11, 1946.
