One of the most influential black South African leaders of his generation, Alfred Bitini Xuma has been praised, criticized, obscured, and now partly forgotten.
After receiving a missionary education in the Transkeian territories, Xuma traveled to the United States in 1913 to continue his studies, returning to South Africa fourteen years later to enter the cultural and political world of the educated African elite. In December 1940 he became president of the African National Congress. Xuma's leadership revived the ANC and helped bring about a dramatic resurgence in African protest politics. In 1949, however, a new generation dedicated to mass action gained control of Congress and swept Xuma from power.
In this political biography, Steven Gish situates Alfred B. Xuma's life within the context of black South African nationalism, and explores the impact of African-American ideas on Xuma's political thought, as well as the degree to which Xuma reshaped these ideas to fit the South African political climate of the 1930s and 1940s. By tracing Xuma's reaction to white paternalism and "trusteeship," Steven Gish demonstrates that the philosophy of "Africanism" had earlier roots than previously thought.