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Desmond Tutu is one of the most influential and prominent figures in South African history. Starting as a poor schoolboy in Soweto, he found a path to become a clergyman and rose up the ranks, preaching his anti-apartheid ideas of change and justice, until he became the Archbishop of Cape Town. He used his position of power to advocate for struggling South African people, and call for anti-aprtheid ideas, changes and laws. His work gained international recognition from the U.N. and other countries, which resulted in the economic and social pressuring of those countries to cut ties with South Africa and advocate for a societal change. His work gained so much recognition that he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984. After Apartheid fell, he facilitated the Truth and Reconciliation Commison, a series of hearings that acknowledged the atrocities of Apartheid and foster the change that could bring South Africa into the 21st century. His faith and bravery led him and South Africa towards peace and reconciliation in the modern world.

Image from Desmond Tutu's Wikipedia page:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmond_Tutu

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Desmond Mpilo Tutu was born on October 7, 1931 in Klerksdorp, Transvaal, South Africa. He was raised in a poor mining town, and grew up Anglican. His father was Xhosa and his mother was Tswana. He grew up poor, meaning he knew firsthand the struggles of the South African people and understood the adversity they faced in Apartheid South Africa. While in highschool, he met Father Trevor Huddleston, someone who would make a significant impact on his life, and led him down a path to a vocation. Father Huddleston taught Tutu how to pray and made sure he was keeping up with studies, even tutoring him and buying him books. Tutu ended up going to the teacher's college, graduating in 1954 and getting his first job at a high school, teaching english. However, when Bantu education was instituted in 1955, he refused to teach it to his pupils and quit in 1958. He joined St. Peter's Theological College shortly after. The transition from teacher to clergyman was a pivotal point in his life and showed how much he cared about truth and justice in South Africa. This first incident of justice brought him to find his calling, and gave him an opportunity to discover his faith, a tool that would lead him to do great things for the Church and the people of South Africa.

Tutu is pictured here on the far right with the members of the staff of his college's publication: Normalife.  Link:https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/04/africa/gallery/desmond-tutu/index.html

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Tutu continued his theological education and was ordained in 1960. 1960 was the same year as the infamous Sharpeville Massacre, which left 69 dead and 180 wounded, including women and children. This deeply troubled Tutu, and he used it as fuel for calls of justice and hope in his sermons. In 1962, he and his wife, Leah Normalizo Shenxane moved to England so that Desmond could receive his masters degree from King’s College, in order for him to educate new black clergymen. While in Europe, he expereinced a society without Apartheid, a society without discrimination and hate for blacks. This free and just society sparked new ideas in young Tutu’s mind, visions of what South Africa could be. He left England in 1967 and upon his return to South Africa, became a teacher at Fort Hare University, where he tried to spark new ideas of freedom and Black Consciousness into his students' minds, and supported their activism. When the bishop of Johannesburg retired, Tutu was called upon to be the dean of Johannesburg and in this role, he strove to diversify his congregation, and succeeded in bringing blacks into the Church. He served until the Soweto school uprisings, and left for Lesotho for two years, only returning when Steve Biko died. This led to his activism work, where he went around the world advocating for change in his native country.

Image is also from the CNN page about Tutu's life. He is pictured here at his house with his wife, around 1970. Link: https://www.cnn.com/2013/01/25/world/africa/desmond-tutu-fast-facts/index.html

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Undertaking his new role as an activist, he became extremely vocal on the international scale. He became a very prominent political figure, although he was a clergyman, and it was against societal norms for clergymen to push their politics. In 1978, he became the general secretary of the SACC (South African COuncil of Churches). He used his platform to spread his political views, and his work garnered immense attention. He even earned an honorary degree from Columbia University, and had the President of the university present it to him personally. The South African government tried and failed to persecute him for preaching his politics and spreading ideas of change but nothing came of it and he won the Nobel peace prize in 1984. This gave him international stardom, and he was revered on a global scale. In 1985, he was appointed bishop of Johannesburg and in 1986, he became the archbishop of Cape Town, which meant he was also bishop of the Anglican Church in Namibia, Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana, and of course, South Africa. This position put Tutu in authority of 2 million Anglican Africans. In 1989, F.W. de Klerk was elected and soon a democratic election was promised for 1994. Nelson Mandela won, and Tutu’s visions were nearly fulfilled. Mandela created the Truth and Reconciliation Commision to try and heal a recovering country. Tutu was selected as the chairman, and heard over 21,000 cases of racism and injustice in 2 years. In his first address to the Commision, he said, “We are meant to be a part of the process of the healing of our nation, of our people, all of us, since every South African has to some extent or other been traumatised. We are a wounded people because of the conflict of the past, no matter on which side we stood. We all stand in need of healing. We on the Commission are no superhuman exceptions. We too need forgiving and to forgive. I hope that our churches, mosques, synagogues and temples will be able to provide liturgies for corporate confession and absolution”. These strong and compelling words reflect the intention Tutu had for this Commission. He wanted an inclusive, “restorative justice” system to heal and forgive the atrocities of Apartheid. His involvement in the Church and strong faith aided him in taking this approach to reconciliation. He successfully completed the TRC hearings and retired in 1998.

Pictured here is Tutu having an emotional moment during a hearing in 1997. The picture is from a Sunday Times article on the 20 year anniversary of the TRC. Link:https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times/opinion-and-analysis/2016-04-10-20-years-after-the-trc-hearings-south-africas-pain-persists/

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All in all, Desmond Mpilo Tutu’s life is filled with endless generosity, truth, and a constant need to do what is just. Starting as a teacher, Tutu instilled ideas of freedom and justice into their young minds, and helped cultivate a newer, progressive generation of black South Africans.  Tutu used his international platform to advocate for change and urge other countries to do the same through sanctions and through the U.N.  A man of faith, he used his strong beliefs to guide the handling of the TRC and usher in a new, better and brighter South Africa. Desmond continues to be an advocate for peace and change and is still living healthily at the age of 89.

This image is of Tutu and Mandela at a rally in 1994. This picture is featured in an article about Mandela's death in 2013. Link: https://mg.co.za/article/2013-12-06-00-tutu-we-thank-god-for-madiba/