This much-awaited volume uncovers the long-lost pages of the major African multilingual newspaper, Abantu-Batho.

Founded in 1912 by African National Congress (ANC) convenor Pixley Seme, with assistance from the Swazi Queen, it was published up until 1931, attracting the cream of African politicians, journalists and poets Mqhayi, Nontsisi Mgqweth, and Grendon. In its pages burning issues of the day were articulated alongside cultural by-ways. The People's Paper - comprising both essays and an anthology - explores the complex movements and individuals that emerged in the almost twenty years of its publication. The essays contribute rich, new material to provide clearer insights into South African politics and intellectual life. The anthology unveils a judicious selection of never-before published columns from the paper spanning every year of its life and drawn from repositories on three continents. Abantu-Batho had a regional and international focus, and by examining all these dynamics across boundaries and disciplines, The People's Paper transcends established historiographical frontiers to fill a lacuna that scholars have long lamented.

Grant Christison is an English Language Instructor at the Bay Language Institute at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

Introduction: A Centenary History of Abantu-Batho, the People's Paper Peter Limb Chapter 1 'Only the Bolder Spirits': Politics, Racism, Solidarity and War in Abantu-Batho Peter Limb Chapter 2 'They Must Go to the Bantu Batho': Economics and Education, Religion and Gender, Love and Leisure in the People's Paper Peter Limb Chapter 3 Pixley Seme and Abantu-Batho Chris Saunders Chapter 4 Queen Labotsibeni and Abantu-Batho Sarah Mkhonza Chapter 5 'We of Abantu Batho': Robert Grendon's Brief and Controversial Editorship Grant Christison Chapter 6 The Swazi Royalty and the Founding of Abantu-Batho in a Regional Context 174 Chris Lowe Chapter 7 Abantu-Batho and the Xhosa Poets 201 Jeff Opland Chapter 8 African Royalty, Popular History and Abantu-Batho Sifiso Mxolisi Ndlovu and Peter Limb Chapter 9 'Johannesburg in Flames': The 1918 Shilling Campaign, Abantu-Batho and Early African Nationalism in South Africa Paul Landau Chapter 10 Garveyism, Abantu-Batho and the Radicalisation of the African National Congress during the 1920s Robert Trent Vinson Chapter 11 An African Newspaper in Central Johannesburg: The Journalistic and Associational Context of Abantu-Batho Peter Limb Conclusion Assessing the Decline and Legacy of Abantu-Batho Peter Limb