Ohlange High School is a secondary school in
Inanda, KwaZulu-Natal
Inanda or eNanda ( isiZulu: ''pleasant place'', also possibly, ''level-topped hill'') is a township in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa that is situated 30 km north-west of the Durban CBD; it forms part of eThekwini, the Greater Durban Metropolita ...
, South Africa. It was founded by
John Dube
John Langalibalele Dube (22 February 1871 – 11 February 1946) was a South African essayist, philosopher, educator, politician, publisher, editor, novelist and poet. He was the founding president of the South African Native National Congress ...
and
Nokuthela Dube née Mdima.
[The pioneering woman the world forgot]
Martin Vennard, BBC, retrieved 16 June 2014 It was the first school in South Africa started by a black person.
John Dube
John Langalibalele Dube (22 February 1871 – 11 February 1946) was a South African essayist, philosopher, educator, politician, publisher, editor, novelist and poet. He was the founding president of the South African Native National Congress ...
was also the first President of what became the
ANC
The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...
. The school was chosen by President
Nelson Mandela as the place where he would cast his vote in the first racially inclusive election in South Africa in 1994.
History
The school was founded in 1900
as the "Zulu Christian Industrial School" by
John Langalibalele Dube
John Langalibalele Dube (22 February 1871 – 11 February 1946) was a South African essayist, philosopher, educator, politician, publisher, editor, novelist and poet. He was the founding president of the South African Native National Congress ...
and his first wife,
Nokutela.
[John Dube](_blank)
Oberlin. Retrieved 31 July 3013 The school, also known as the ''Ohlange Native Industrial Institute,'' was the first educational institution in South Africa to be founded by a black person. The land for the school was donated by Chief Mqhawe of the AmaQadi.
John had been in contact with
Booker T. Washington
Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, orator, and adviser to several presidents of the United States. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the dominant leader in the African-American c ...
and modeled the school after the
Tuskegee University
Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU), formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute, is a private, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama. It was founded on Independence Day in 1881 by the state legislature.
The campus was de ...
in America. As a result, the ''Zulu Christian Industrial Institute'' laid emphasis on developing self-reliance in its students. In 1901 the school was renamed ''the Ohlange Institute.'' The school was called "Ohlange" by Dube based on the word "uhlanga" which means the point of new growth in a plant or an ancestor for a descended family.
[
]
The school was so popular initially that students were sleeping without beds. The finances were difficult in the first few years. A solution to this came from an American committee that supported Dube's belief that Christian conversion could be achieved via industrial education. A leading member of the committee was the Illinois pastor Sidney Dix Strong who had visited South Africa and had included the Ohlange Institute to his itinerary. Strong's wife died on the journey back to Chicago and Strong decided to use the Ohlange cause to distract himself from his loss.[
Strong was able to arrange for the Dube's to meet Douglas and Emaroy June Smith who became rich due to patent medicines and in time from the ]Pepsodent
Pepsodent is an American brand of toothpaste with the minty flavor derived from sassafras. The brand was purchased by Unilever in 1942 and is still owned by the company outside of the United States and Canada. In 2003, Unilever sold the rights t ...
toothpaste brand. They donated thousands of dollars to the school which enabled for more teachers to be employed. This was in addition to the money that Dube obtained from the family of Anson Phelps Stokes
Anson Phelps Stokes (February 22, 1838 – June 28, 1913) was a wealthy American merchant, property developer, banker, genealogist and philanthropist. Born in New York City, he was the son of James Boulter and Caroline Stokes. His paternal gran ...
.
By 1904 the finances needed further attention and Dube was unable to find any help in Natal. He had to return to America and he left John Mdima in charge of both the school and the newspaper. In Brooklyn he met the new chair of the committee S. Parkes Cadman who was pastor of the Central Congregational church in Brooklyn. Cadman reorganised the funding arranging for benefactors to sponsor students for £30 a year and arranging for Dube's helpers and family including John Mdima to go to college. The Dubes spent fifteen months in the states with John speaking and his wife singing. June Emaroy Smith was particularly generous and funded the 1907 construction of a boy's building. Dube noted in his talks that the Afro American was largely Christian whereas the native African had only limited access to the Christian message.[
In its early years the school taught not only basic education but also vocational skills such as journalism, shoe and dressmaking, carpentry, motor mechanics and agriculture. Dube contributed to the administration as well as teaching journalism. The academic side was not ignored and in 1915 the first Ohlange students went to study at the University College of the Cape of Good Hope.] 1917 saw the construction of a girls dormitory. The purpose here was to establish a teacher training centre which was seen as a female career.
Enoch Sontonga
Enoch Mankayi Sontonga ( – 18 April 1905) was a South African composer, who is best known for writing the Xhosa hymn "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika" (), which, in abbreviated version, has been sung as the first half of the national anthem of South ...
song which later became a South African national anthem became better known after Ohlange Institute's choir used it. They played it at the South African Native National Congress meeting in 1912. It was sung after the closing prayer and the ANC adopted it as its official closing anthem in 1925.[Enoch Mankayti Sontonga](_blank)
SAHistory.org.za. Retrieved July 2013
Nelson Mandela's vote
On 27 April 1994, Nelson Mandela cast his vote in his country's first all-race elections at a polling booth in the school.[Mandela:The Authorised Biography – by Anthony Sampson](_blank)
Africa Confidential. Retrieved 31 July 2013 Mandela chose the area because he wanted to give the native black population the confidence to vote. He chose Ohlange school in particular because this is where John Dube the first President of what was to become the ANC was buried. and he wanted to lay a wreath. Mandela stood by the grave and said
"Mr President, I have come to report to you that South Africa is free today"
Today
Enrollment in 2012 was 865 with nearly 100 boarding at the school. There were just over 60 staff with 34 being teachers in 2012.
The school had a laboratory and a technical drawing room, a computer and cooking room, a library and 23 other classrooms in 2012. The admin block is in addition and the school had plans in 2012 to add six more classrooms and increase the computing facilities.[
In 2007 Ohlange was amongst several schools recognised as "historic schools". Funding of six million rand a year was earmarked for Ohlange, ]Adams College
Adams College is a historic Christian mission school in South Africa, associated with the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa (UCCSA). It was founded in 1853 at Amanzimtoti a settlement just over south of Durban by an American missio ...
, Inkamana High School
Inkamana High School is in Vryheid, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa. It was started in 1923 and had 200 boarding students in 2009.
History
Inkamana is recognised as a historic school. It is situated in the heart of the Zululand. Inkamana High Scho ...
, Inanda Seminary and Vryheid Comprehensive High School to make them academies focusing on Maths, Science and Technology. Anglican Archbishop Emeritus Njongonkulu Ndungane
Njongonkulu Winston Hugh Ndungane (born 2 April 1941) is a retired South African Anglican bishop and a former prisoner on Robben Island. He was the Bishop of Kimberley and Kuruman and Archbishop of Cape Town.
Early life
Ndungane was born in ...
said that they still needed funds and "little has been achieved since democracy".
Alumni
Prominent former pupils include the Nobel Laureate Albert Luthuli[Anne Yates, ‘Luthuli, Albert John (1898?–1967)’, rev. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200]
accessed 11 Aug 2013
/ref> and the Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka (; born 3 November 1955), South African Government Information. is a South African politician and former United Nations official, who served as the Executive Director of UN Women with the rank of Under-Secretary-General ...
, who went back to her former school in May 2006 as part of the Global Campaign for Education
Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003
* ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007
* ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989
* ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015
* Bruno ...
.[Parents, teachers welcome searching of pupils](_blank)
16 May 2006, IOL News. Retrieved 31 July 2013 Musical alumni include Reuben Caluza, the singer Busi Mhlongo and the jazz musician Victor Ntoni. Sportsman Stephen Mokone also studied here.[ Judge President John Hlophe matriculated at Ohlange in 1978.
]
References
External links
{{KZNSchools
Schools in KwaZulu-Natal
Educational institutions established in 1901
1901 establishments in the Colony of Natal
1901 in South Africa
High schools in South Africa