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Chief Luthuli
Inkosi Albert John Luthuli, also known by his Zulu name Mvumbi, was a South African teacher, activist, Nobel Peace Prize winner, and politician. Albert John Mvumbi Luthuli was born in Solusi Mission Station near Bulawayo, in Southern Rhodesia, which is modern-day Zimbabwe. While his date of birth remains unknown, he later calculated his year of birth to be 1898. In
1952, Luthuli was elected president of the African National Congress (ANC), at the time an umbrella organisation leading opposition to the white minority government in South Africa. Luthuli ended up serving until his accidental death. He was awarded the 1960 Nobel Peace Prize for his role in the non-violent struggle against apartheid. He was the first person of African heritage to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Luthuli was a lay preacher of the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa (UCCSA) based at its Groutville Congregational Church in Stanger, KwaZulu-Natal, where Luthuli was laid to rest upon his death in 1967.
In 1927, he married Nokukhanya Bhengu, the granddaughter of the Zulu chief, Dhlokolo of the Ngcolosi. The couple had seven children. Luthuli spent his last years in enforced isolation while the African National Congress abandoned the policy of non-violence. He also suffered from high blood pressure, once having a slight stroke. As he grew older, his hearing and eyesight also became impaired.
On 21 July 1967, Luthuli was fatally injured when he was struck by a freight train while walking across a trestle bridge over the Umvoti River near his home in Stanger (now KwaDukuza).
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