In 2017, Nokutela Dube was posthumously awarded South Africa's highest honour — the Order of the Golden Baobab — 100 years after her death.

Nokutela Mdima was born in 1873 to Christian converts at a missionary station at Inanda, near Durban, South Africa.

Nokutela was a star pupil and an essay she wrote was published in Ida's home town in Minnesota as part of a regular report she made to the press.

[4][8] The newspapers introduced them as Mr and Mrs John Lindley Dube, and described their pleasing appearance, her ankle-length dress and her husband's double-breasted suit.

The change in presentation was presumably made to assist American readers who might find John's middle name difficult to pronounce.

[1] Nokutela Dube taught music, cooking, housekeeping and tailoring, and also sang and played traditional instruments on fundraising tours.

[14] The couple separated in about 1914, and Nokutela moved to the Transvaal, where she preached in rural communities before becoming ill with kidney disease.

Her funeral was attended by Pixley ka Isaka Seme and other prominent members of what was to become the African National Congress (ANC).

[15] The school that she co-founded with her husband was chosen by Nelson Mandela as the place where he wanted to cast his first vote in the first democratic elections in South Africa.

[3] More recent research has identified that her failure to have children with John Dube contributed to not only the breakup of their marriage but it also meant her story was only known via stepchildren, nieces and nephews.

[1][19][20][13] in August 2016, she was inducted into Freedom Park, the national shrine for heroes and heroines in Pretoria, South Africa.

[8] In 2017, following Professor Keita's campaign for her recognition, Nokutela Dube was posthumously awarded South Africa's highest honour — the Order of the Golden Baobab — 100 years after her death.