Albert John Luthuli

In 1927, Albert Luthuli married Nokukhanya Bhengu, a fellow teacher. The couple had seven children and had their permanent home in Groutville.

Luthuli spent his last years in enforced isolation while African National Congress abandoned the policy of nonviolence. He also suffered from high blood pressure, once having a slight stroke. As he grew older, his hearing and eyesight also became impaired.

On July 21, 1967, as he was walking across a trestle bridge over the Umvuti River near his farm, he was hit by a freight train and died from it.

Albert John Mvumbi Luthuli was born in Solusi Mission Station near Bulawayo, in southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. While his date of birth remains unknown, he later calculated his year of birth to be 1898.

His father, John Bunyan Lutuli, was the younger son of a tribal chief at Groutville in the Umvoti Mission Reserve near Stanger, Natal. He became a Christian missionary at the Seventh-Day Adventist Church and at the time of Albert’s birth, was working as an interpreter among the Matabele of Rhodesia.

His mother, Mtonya Gumede, spent part of her childhood in the household of Cetewayo kaMpande, the king of the Zulu Kingdom, but was mostly raised in Groutville. Albert was the couple’s third child. Since no information is available about his siblings, it is assumed he was the only surviving child.

Albert lost his father at the age of eight. Sometime between 1906 and 1908, he accompanied his mother to his ancestral home in Groutville. There he lived in the household of his uncle, Martin Lutuli, who had succeeded his grandfather as the tribal chief.

In 1911, supported by his mother, who now worked as a washerwoman, Albert entered the local Congregationalist mission school. Here he studied until standard four. Living with his uncle, he also imbibed tribal traditions and values.

In 1917, Albert John Mvumbi Luthuli began his career as the Principal at a primary school in rural Blaauwbosch in Newcastle, Natal. However, he was the only employee at the school and therefore was required to undertake all kinds of duties.

Luthuli taught at this school for around two years. Sometime during this period, he confirmed to the Methodist Church and along with teaching, he also became a lay preacher.

In 1920, he received a government bursary, with which he enrolled at Adams College, located south of Durbar, for a higher teachers' training course. At that time, it was one the best schools in southern Africa and he reveled in the atmosphere there.

On graduating from Adams, he received a scholarship to study at University of Fort Hare; but declined it because he felt that it was time he relieved his mother. He therefore joined Adams College as a teacher at a monthly salary of £10.

Albert Luthuli enjoyed his life at Adams. Apart from teaching, he undertook missionary work and became the secretary of the college football association. Moreover, he started attending meetings of the Durban Joint Council.

The time was very bad for the inhabitants of Groutville. Production of sugarcane, the chief crop of the area, had failed, causing great hardship to the people. He now devoted himself to the service of his five thousand tribal brethren, plagued by poverty, landlessness and lack of political voice.

As a tribal chief, he had many duties. Other than working for the betterment of his people, he was also required to represent both the government and his people, performing magisterial duties, mediating in case of trouble. During traditional festivities he acted as the presiding dignitary.

During that early period, the overall improvement of his people was possibly his only goal and until 1945, he remained mostly apolitical. However, he did not limit himself only to Groutville, and founded the Zulu Language and Cultural Society during this period.

He was also the secretary of the Natal African Teachers’ Association and of the South African Football Association. Moreover, he was a member of the Christian Council Executive, of the Joint Council of Europeans and Africans, and of the Institute of Race Relations in Durban.

In 1938, he visited India to attend the International Missionary Conference in Tambaram, Madras. It was his first trip outside his country and it might have widened his perception.