Sol Plaatje as a young man South African History Online[1]

Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje (1876-1932) was an accomplished South African intellectual, journalist, linguist, politician, translator, and writer. Image File history File links Plaatje-s. ... Image File history File links Plaatje-s. ...

Life

Born 9 October near Boshof, Free State he received a mission-education at Pniel. When he outpaced fellow learners he was given additional private tuition by the missionary, Ernest Westphal and his wife. In February 1892, aged 15, he became a pupil-teacher, a post he held for two years. Capital Bloemfontein Largest city Bloemfontein Area  - Total Ranked 3rd 129,480 km² Premier Beatrice Marshoff (ANC) Population   - 2001   - 1996   - Density Ranked 8th 2,706,776 2,633,504 21/km² (2001) Languages Sotho (62%) Afrikaans (14%) isiXhosa (9. ...

As an activist and politician he spent much of his life in the struggle for the enfranchisement and liberation of African people. He was a founder member and first General Secretary of the South African Native National Congress (SANNC), which would later become the African National Congress (ANC). As a member of an SANNC deputation he would travel to England to protest the 1913 Native Land Act, and later to Canada and the United States where he met Marcus Garvey and W.E.B. DuBois. The African National Congress (ANC) is a centre-left political party, and has been South Africas governing party supported by a tripartite alliance between itself, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the South African Communist Party (SACP) since the establishment of majority rule in May 1994. ... Marcus Garvey (far right) in parade The Right Excellent Marcus Mosiah Garvey National Hero of Jamaica (August 17, 1887 – June 10, 1940) was a publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, crusader for black nationalism, and founder of the UNIA-ACL. He was born in Jamaica. ... W. E. B. Du Bois William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an African American civil rights activist, sociologist, historian, writer, editor, poet, freemason, and scholar. ...

While he grew up speaking Tswana, Plaatje would become a polyglot. Fluent in at least seven languages, he worked as a court interpreter during the Siege of Mafikeng, and translated works of William Shakespeare into Tswana. His talent for language would lead to a career in journalism and writing. He was editor and part-owner of Koranta ea Becoana (Bechuana Gazette) in Mafikeng, and in Kimberley Tsala ea Becoana (Bechuana Friend) and Tsala ea Batho (The Friend of the People). As a writer Plaatje was the first black South African to publish a novel in English - Mhudi. He also wrote [2] Native Life in South Africa, which Neil Parsons describes as "one of the most remarkable books on Africa by one of the continent's most remarkable writers"[3]; and Boer War Diary that was first published 40 years after his death. Tswana (Motswana, plural Batswana) is the name of a Southern African people. ... Polyglot has several meanings: Look up Polyglot on Wiktionary, the free dictionary The property of speaking multiple languages A polyglot is a person that can speak many languages A polyglot is a book that contains the same text in more than one language, usually a bible such as the first... The Siege of Mafeking was the most famous British action in the second Anglo-Boer War. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Mafikeng is the capital of the North West Province, South Africa, 870 miles NE of Cape Town and 492 miles SSW of Bulawayo by rail, and 162 miles in a direct line W by N of Johannesburg. ... Kimberley is a town in South Africa, and the capital of the Northern Cape. ...

Plaatje was a committed Christian[4], and organised a fellowship group called the Christian Brotherhood at Kimberley. He was married to Elizabeth Lilith M’belle, a union that would produce five children: Frederick, Halley, Richard, Violet and Olive. He died of pneumonia at Pimville, Johannesburg on 19 June 1932 and was buried in Kimberley. The Sol Plaatje Municipality in South Africa's Northern Cape Province is named in his honour[5]. In 1998, with several of his descendants present, an honorary doctorate was posthumously conferred on Plaatje by the University of the North West[6]. City motto: Unity in Development Province Gauteng Mayor Amos Masondo Area  - % water 1,644 km² 0. ... Northern Cape is a province of South Africa, created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. ...

Original writing

• Boer War Diary, (circa 1889)
• The Essential Interpreter, an essay (circa 1909)
• Mhudi, historical novel (1913)
• *Native Life in South Africa, a protest against African dispossession (1914)
• Sechuana Proverbs with Literal Translations and their European Equivalents (1916)
• A Sechuana Reader in International Phonetic Orthography (1916)
• Bantu Folk-Tales and Poems

1889 (MDCCCLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 1909 (MCMIX) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... 1913 (MCMXIII) is a common year starting on Wednesday. ... 1914 (MCMXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday. ... 1916 (MCMXVI) is a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January-February January 1 - The Royal Army Medical Corps first successful blood transfusion using blood that had been stored and cooled. ... 1916 (MCMXVI) is a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January-February January 1 - The Royal Army Medical Corps first successful blood transfusion using blood that had been stored and cooled. ...

Translations of Shakespeare

• Dikhontsho tsa bo-Juliuse Kesara - Julius Caesar
• Diphosho-phosho - Comedy of Errors

Selected bibliography

• Chrisman, L. (2002). British Imperialism and South African Resistance in Haggard, Schreiner and Plaatje. Oxford: Clarendon.
• De Villiers, GE. (2000). Servant of Africa. The life and times of Sol T Plaatje. Pretoria: Stimela.
• Midgley, P. (1997). Sol Plaatje, An Introduction. Grahamstown: NELM.
• Pampallis, J. (1992). Sol Plaatje. Cape Town: Maskew Miller Longman.
• Willan, B. (Ed).(1996): Sol Plaatje: Selected Writings. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press.

External links

• A detailed biography and chronology of his life
• Works by Sol Plaatje at Project Gutenberg