Pixley ka Isaka Seme

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pixley ka Isaka Seme (before 1918)
Pixley ka Isaka Seme (1906)

Pixley ka Isaka Seme (born October 1, 1881 in Inanda , † June 7, 1951 in Johannesburg ; born Isaka Seme ) was a South African politician and lawyer. He was co-founder and President of the African National Congress (ANC).

Life

Seme was born in the Zulu missionary station Inanda in what was then the colony of Natal . His mother was descended from a chief . At the age of 16 he took the first name Pixley. At the age of 17, Seme was one of the first black South Africans to move to the USA at the instigation of the head of the mission station, Reverend SC Pixley. He attended Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts and then Columbia University in New York . In his senior year of university in 1906, he received the George William Curtis Medal for his public speaking skills. He decided to become a lawyer and began studying at Oxford University in the UK , graduating with a bachelor's degree in civil law . He opened a law firm with his compatriot Alfred Mangena and, as a member of the South African Native Convention , advised the British government on the future of what was then still British colonial territories in what is now South Africa.

In 1910 or 1911, Seme returned to South Africa. Because of the founding of the South African Union in 1910 , which was led by the white minority, he organized with other blacks, including Mangena, the founding of the South African Native National Congress (SANNC) on January 8, 1912. He gave the main speech and came first Treasurer of the SANNC, which was renamed ANC in 1923, and founded the newspaper Abantu Batho ("People, People" or "Bantu People"). As a lawyer, he represented the King of Swaziland , Sobhuza II , in London . Within the ANC, he represented a rather traditional line that was skeptical of cooperation with the Communist Party of South Africa . In 1930, thanks to this stance, he succeeded in defeating the former President Josiah Tshangana Gumede in a battle vote. He remained President of the ANC until 1936, but was criticized for his poor effectiveness and was eventually replaced by Zaccheus Richard Mahabane . He remained connected to the ANC, however, and was employed as a liaison with the chiefs under Alfred Bitini Xuma . In 1943 he accepted the future first chairman of the ANC Youth League , Anton Muziwakhe Lembede , as a junior partner in his office.

Seme was married to Harriet Seme, a daughter of the Zulu king Dinuzulu , and had five children with her.

Honors

literature

  • Richard Rive, Tim Couzens : Seme: the founder of the ANC. Skotaville Publishers, Johannesburg 1991.
  • Bongani Ngqulunga : The man who founded the ANC: A biography of Pixley ka Isaka Seme . Penguin Books, Cape Town 2017, ISBN 9781770229266

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e biography at sahistory.org.za (English), accessed on February 3, 2012
  2. ^ LCCN entry , accessed on February 1, 2012
  3. ↑ a b Information about Seme on the ANC website ( memento of October 26, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ JISC: bibliographical evidence of the journal .
personal data
SURNAME Seme, Pixley ka Isaka
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Isaka Seme (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African politician and lawyer
DATE OF BIRTH October 1, 1881
PLACE OF BIRTH Inanda
DATE OF DEATH June 7, 1951
Place of death Johannesburg