"His widely reviewed 1836 memoir, " Travels and Adventures in Eastern Africa," offers an eyewitness account of the Zulu under the indomitable King Shaka, who reigned from the 1810s to 1828. As I learned while researching my 2025 book, " The Jew Who Would Be King," Isaacs' writing shaped the mythology around Shaka Zulu, who endures as a Black nationalist icon."
"He has been name-checked in hip-hop culture for decades, including by Nicki Minaj and Travis Scott. An enormous sculpture of Shaka marks the now defunct Shaka Zulu nightclub in London, while a bar keeps his name alive in Germany. In the U.S. he lends his name to a streetwear brand, and his fearsome scowl adorns stickers and T-shirts. Recently, a South African miniseries, well-received by scholars, has revived his legacy for a new generation."
Nathaniel Isaacs survived an 1825 shipwreck near Natal Bay and landed at the Zulu kingdom as a 17-year-old English Jewish apprentice merchant. His 1836 memoir, Travels and Adventures in Eastern Africa, provides an eyewitness account of the Zulu under King Shaka (reigned 1810s–1828). Isaacs' writing influenced the mythology of Shaka Zulu and helped cement Shaka's status as a Black nationalist icon. Shaka's name and image appear across contemporary culture and institutions: an airport, Heritage Day observance, hip-hop references, sculptures, nightclubs, bars, streetwear, stickers, and a recent South African miniseries. 19th-century British racial pseudoscience linked Jews and Africans, shaping perceptions.
Read at The Conversation
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