Albert Lutuli

Chief Albert John Lutuli was born circa 1898 near Bulawayo and(c. 1898 – 21 July 1967) was a South African teacher and politician. Lutuli was elected president of the African National Congress (ANC), at the time an organisation that led opposition to the white minority government in South Africa. He was awarded the 1960 Nobel Prize for Peace for his role in the non-violent struggle against apartheid. He died 21 July 1967, allegedly after by run over by a train.

On completing a teaching course at Edendale, near Pietermaritzburg, Lutuli took up the running of a small primary school in the Natal uplands. He was confirmed in the Methodist church and became a lay preacher. In 1920 he received a government bursary to attend a higher teachers' training course at Adams College.
His Christian beliefs acted as a foundation for his approach to political life in South Africa at a time when many of his contemporaries were calling for a more militant response to Apartheid.

In 1935 Luthuli accepted the chieftaincy of the Groutville reserve (this was not an hereditary position, but awarded as the result of an election) and was suddenly immersed in the realities of South Africa's racial politics.
Chief Albert Luthuli joined the ANC in 1945 and was elected to the Committee of the KwaZulu Province Provincial Division of ANC and in 1951 to the presidency of the Division. The next year he joined with other ANC leaders in organizing non-violent campaigns to defy discriminatory laws.

The government, charging Lutuli with a conflict of interest, demanded that he withdraw his membership in ANC or forfeit his office as tribal chief. Refusing to do either voluntarily, he was dismissed from his chieftainship.
A month later Lutuli was elected president-general of ANC. Responding immediately, the government imposed a succession of bans on his movement, the first for two years, the second also for two years. When this second ban expired, he attended an ANC conference in 1956, only to be arrested and charged with treason a few months later, along with 155 others. After being held in custody for about a year during the preliminary hearings, he was released in December, 1957, and the charges against him were dropped.

In 1960, following the Sharpville Massacre, Luthuli led the call for protest. Once again summoned to a governmental hearing (this time in Johannesburg) Luthuli was horrified when a supporting demonstration turned violent and 72 Black Africans were shot (and another 200 injured). Luthuli responded by publicly burning his pass book. He was detained on 30 March under the 'State of Emergency' declared by the South African government - one of 18,000 arrested in a series of police raids. On release he was confined to his home in Stanger, Natal.

In 1961 Chief Albert Luthuli was awarded the 1960 Nobel Prize for Peace (it had been held over that year) for his part in the anti-Apartheid struggle. In 1962 he was elected Rector of Glasgow University (an honorary position), and the following year published his autobiography, 'Let My People Go'. Although suffering from ill health and failing eyesight, and still restricted to his home in Stranger, Albert Luthuli remained president-general of the ANC. On 21 July 1967, whilst out walking near his home, Luthuli was hit by a train and died. He was supposedly crossing the line at the time - an explanation dismissed by many of his followers who believed more sinister forces were at work.