"But what is relevant here is to understand why a Shaka was possible in Africa in the nineteenth century, before the coming of colonial rule. Had Shaka been a slave to some cotton planter in Mississippi or some sugar planter in Jamaica, he might have had an ear or a hand chopped off for being a “recalcitrant nigger,” or at best he might have distinguished himself in leading a slave revolt. For the only great men among the unfree and the oppressed are those who struggle to destroy the oppressor. On a slave plantation, Shaka would not have built a Zulu army and a Zulu state—that much is certain. Nor could any African build anything during the colonial period, however much a genius he may have been. As it was, Shaka was a herdsman and a warrior. As a youth, he tended cattle on the open plains—free to develop his own potential and apply it to his environment."
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Walter Rodney, |date=1972 |publisher=Howard University Press |isbn=978-0-9501546-4-0 |page=144}}
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Shaka
Shaka kaSenzangakhona (c. 1787 – c. 22 September 1828), also known as Shaka Zulu [also spelled Tshaka, Tchaka or Chaka], was the most influential leader of the Zulu Kingdom.
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