Albert Lutuli accepted the Nobel Peace Prize for 1960 on this day 61 years ago. Lutuli was born in 1898 in South Africa, a descendant of Zulu chiefs. He attended an American mission school and then worked for 17 years as a teacher. In 1935 he was appointed tribal chief, a role which he held for another 17 years before being removed by the government.
In 1944, Lutuli became a member of the African National Congress, and in 1952 he became president of that organisation, remaining president until the ANC was banned in 1960. The ANC had been established in 1912 by non-white Africans who had obtained a higher education, and its members attempted to influence political development by means of petitions and deputations to the authorities, and then, under Lutuli’s leadership, by means of boycotts, defiance campaigns and strikes.
When the government deposed him as chief because of his political activities, Lutuli, a Christian, said: “The road to freedom is via the Cross.” His approach to apartheid was to protest “openly and boldly against injustice” in a “determined and nonviolent manner”. In 1956 he was arrested and charged with treason, a charge which was eventually dropped. For the rest of his life he was subjected to travel sanctions, and he died in 1967, but the anti-apartheid struggle continued for more than two more decades before achieving success.