By any standards Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje (1876–1932) lived a remarkable life. From humble beginnings he rose to become one of the most important political and literary figures of his generation. He was inspired by a vision of a common society in which race and colour were no bar to full participation in the life of the country. He was a prolific journalist, a founder and first General Secretary of the ‘South African Native National Congress’, and author of several books – Native Life in South Africa, a hard-hitting statement on the rights of the black South African people, and Mhudi, the first full- length novel in English by a black South African, being the best known.