B. W. Vilakazi

Benedict Wallet Bambatha Vilakazi was born on January 6, 1906, in Groutville, Natal. Educated at St. Francis College, Marianhill, he taught while completing degrees through the University of South Africa.

In 1935, Vilakazi made history as the first Black African appointed to lecture at the University of the Witwatersrand. In 1946, he became the first Black South African to earn a PhD in literature with his dissertation on Nguni oral traditions. Collaborating with C.M. Doke, he compiled the monumental Zulu-English Dictionary. His poetry collections, Inkondlo kaZulu and Amal'ezulu, broke with oral forms to create modern Zulu written lyric poetry capturing the alienation of gold mine compound workers.