William Wellington Gqoba (1840-1888) was prominent among the African intellectuals emerging in the Eastern Cape region of South Africa towards the end of the 19th century. By trade, he was a wagon maker, licensed preacher of the Free Church of Scotland, teacher, historian, poet, folklorist, and editor. For much of his brief life, he served at mission stations as a catechist, and he ended his career as editor of the Lovedale newspaper Isigidimi sama-Xosa, to which he contrived to contribute subversive poetry that was outspokenly critical of Western education, the European administration of...