Order of Luthuli
South African award
The Order of Luthuli is a South African honour. It was instituted on 30 November 2003 and is awarded by the President of South Africa for contributions to the struggle for democracy, human rights, nation-building, justice, or peace and conflict resolution.
The order is named after former African National Congress leader Chief Albert Luthuli, who was South Africa's first Nobel Peace Prize winner.
Classes
The Order of Luthuli has three classes:
Gold (OLG), for exceptional contributions,
Silver (OLS), for excellent contributions,
Bronze (OLB), for outstanding contributions.
Symbols
The badge of the order is an equilateral triangle representing a flintstone above a clay pot. The flintstone depicts the sun rising above Isandhlwana, and the national flag, and it is flanked by two animal horns rising out of the clay pot, which bears the initials AL. Isandhlwana symbolises peace and tranquillity, and the leopardskin bands around the bases of the horns represent Chief Luthuli's headdress. The South African coat of arms is displayed on the reverse.
The ribbon is gold with a stripe of cream-coloured AL monograms down each edge, and recurring cream-coloured outlines of the flintstone, depicting the national flag, down the centre. All three classes are worn around the neck.
The public source identifies “Order of Luthuli” as south African award. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Order, Luthuli and South.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Order of Luthuli”, the useful work is to connect “south African award” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 23, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q383529. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2003.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Order of Luthuli”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Order of Luthuli primary sources, Order of Luthuli archive and Order research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Order of Luthuli”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Order of Luthuli” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.