Luthuli, Albert John
[key], 1898?–1967, African political leader in the Republic of
South Africa. Descended from a line of Christian Zulu chiefs, he was
educated at Adams College, a mission school near Durban, and taught there
for 15 years. He was appointed chief (1935) and, remaining active in church
affairs, preached non-violence in the Africans' campaign against racial
discrimination. Although devoutly religious, he grew disillusioned with the
church's racial position and became active politically. In 1946 he joined
the African National Congress (ANC). When he refused to resign (1952) from
the presidency of the ANC, the South African government deposed him as chief
and applied severe restrictions on his activities. Nevertheless, he led a
campaign of passive resistance against the apartheid laws. In 1956, with
some 150 other critics of the government, he was arrested on charges of
treason; after a prolonged mass trial he was acquitted. In 1959 the
government banished him to his village and outlawed (1960) the ANC, which
continued to operate underground. A government law in 1962 banned
publication of his statements in the media. A firm believer in the political
and spiritual force of passive resistance and leading proponent of the
nonviolent civil disobedience techniques of Mahatma Gandhi, he was awarded the 1960 Nobel
Peace Prize, becoming Africa's first Nobel Peace Prize winner. Despite some
criticism of his passive philosophy, he was highly regarded by most black
South Africans. He is the author of an autobiography, Let My People
Go (1962).
See biography by M. Benson (1963); studies by E. Callan (rev. ed. 1965), S. Couper (2010), and R.
T. Vinson (2018).
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