Desmond Tutu

Life and work

Tutu was born in Klerksdorp, South Africa, and trained initially as a teacher before turning to theological study and ordination as an Anglican priest, later studying theology in London, an experience that also exposed him directly to a society without legal racial segregation, sharpening his opposition to South African apartheid upon his return.

As Bishop of Lesotho, General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches, and later Bishop of Johannesburg and Archbishop of Cape Town (the first Black person to hold that office), Tutu became one of the most prominent domestic voices against apartheid, consistently advocating nonviolent resistance and international economic pressure (including sanctions and disinvestment) at a time when many anti-apartheid leaders, including Nelson Mandela, were imprisoned or exiled.

Tutu received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 in recognition of his role, using the platform to continue pressing internationally for an end to apartheid, which formally began to dismantle in the early 1990s under President F. W. de Klerk, leading to Mandela's release and 1994 election.

After apartheid's end, Tutu chaired South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (1996–1998), an institution that took public testimony from victims and perpetrators of apartheid-era violence in an effort to acknowledge past wrongs and enable national healing rather than pursuing purely retributive justice — a model since studied and partially emulated by other post-conflict societies.

In later years Tutu remained an outspoken moral voice on issues including LGBT rights within the Anglican Communion, climate change, and criticism of subsequent South African leaders when he felt they fell short of the values of the anti-apartheid movement, until his death in 2021.

In their own words

"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor."attributed

"Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world."attributed

Further reading

• Nobel Prize official biography: Desmond Tutu
• Encyclopedia Britannica: Desmond Tutu