Paper short abstract:

This is the story of a virtually unknown South African educationalist who played a key role in the struggle for equal education in South Africa. He was a member of the emergent African intellectual elite of South African society in the 1930s who played a significant role as an educator and policy activist throughout his career in South Africa.

Paper long abstract:

This is the story of a virtually unknown South African educationalist who played a key role in the struggle for equal education in South Africa. He was a member of the emergent African intellectual elite of South African society in the 1930s who played a significant role as an educator and policy activist throughout his career in South Africa. He was also a prominent member of African teacher organisations and a member of the ANC and AAC. As headmaster of Adams College (1938-1947) and Ohlange Institute (1947-1955) and a member of the Education Department of the South African Native College (SANC) (Fort Hare) until the time of his departure into voluntary exile in 1959 he was associated with systematic opposition to segregated education and was prominent in protest against the introduction of Bantu Education. This work is an attempt to see his career in the context of wider policy debate over African education at a time of rapid change and it represents an attempt to explore the role of an African educational professional within the framework of an emergent culture of international educational policy development and resistance to segregation and apartheid education.