Not Iwe Irohin but Umshumayeli: A revisit of the historiography of the early African language press

Iwe Irohin Yoruba Fun Awon Ara Egba ati Yoruba, founded in 1859, is generally known in Nigerian media studies as not just the first newspaper (in any language) in Nigeria but also the first African language newspaper [Coker, I. (1968). Landmarks of the Nigerian Press. Lagos: Nigerian National Press Ltd.; Omu, F. I. A. (1978). Press and politics in Nigeria, 1880–1937. London: Longman; Akinfeleye, R. A. (1985). Religious publications: Pioneers of Nigerian Journalism. In O. Nwuneli, (Ed.), Mass communication in Nigeria: A book of readings (pp. 34–37). Enugu: Fourth Dimension Publishing Co. Ltd.; Duyile, D. (1987). Makers of Nigerian Press. Lagos: Gong Publications]. Meanwhile, the claim of Iwe Irohin being the first African language newspaper has been refuted with the discovery of the fact that there was one isiXhosa newspaper, Umshumayeli Wendaba, which started in 1837. This paper thus argues that Umshumayeli rather than Iwe Irohin was the first African language newspaper. Apart from Umshumayeli, there were two other Xhosa language newspapers that predated Iwe Irohin. They were Ikwezi (1844) and Isitunywa sennyanga (1850). This paper concludes with a call for the need to reconstruct African media/press history so that facts are straightened out and disseminated for the knowledge of all. A reason the paper adduced for the hidden history of South African media, and particularly its local language press, is that Media History is not widely and specially taught in the nation's media schools.