President's message Life and times Media statements Tributes Funeral Memorial services
Childhood
- Date of birth: October 7, 1931
- Parents:
- Mother: Aletta Dorothea "Matse" Matlhare, a domestic worker
- Father: Zachariah Zelilo Tutu, the principal of a church-run primary school.
- Siblings: Older sister, Sylvia (died 2020). Younger sister, Gloria.
- As an infant he survived polio living him with a weakened right hand – this was before there was a vaccine
- As a teenager, 15 years, he suffered tuberculosis, which left adhesions on his lungs
Adulthood
- 1955 - married Nomalizo Leah Shenxane. Married for 66 years.
- Admitted to University of Witwatersrand medical school but due to lack of financial resources he went into teaching instead
- Left the teaching profession in protest against what he called the "thin gruel" of apartheid education.
- Admitted into Theology College in Johannesburg
- 1962 - King's College, Britain London. Completed Honours and Master's degrees in theology.
- Children 4 – Trevor, Thandi, Nontombi Naomi and Mpho Andrea
- Prostate Cancer survivor – first diagnosed in 1997 (cancer recurred in 1999 and 2006)
Work life and Clerical life
- Around 1966, when he came back from London - Taught at his alma mater, St. Peter's College in Alice in the Eastern Cape Taught at University of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland in Roma, Lesotho
- Africa secretary to a theological education fund of the World Council of Churches. Based in London, he paid 48 visits to 25 African countries over a three-year period, learning of successes achieved and pitfalls encountered by newly-independent nations across the continent.
- 1975 - First black Anglican dean of Johannesburg
- Around 1977/78 - Elected bishop of Lesotho
- Early 80’s - General secretary of the South African Council of Churches (SACC).
- 1988 - Desmond Tutu was elected president of the All Africa Conference of Churches. He travelled to countries governed by oppressive rulers
- 1998 - Chairman of Truth Reconciliation Commission (TRC)
Protests and Sanctions
- Fort Hare in 1968 - Desmond Tutu broke police cordon and went among students who were protesting against the expulsion of the whole student body after protests
- 1976 - From the pulpit of St Mary's Cathedral, Johannesburg, he began to speak out against apartheid,
- Also penned a 2,600-word letter to apartheid Prime Minister B.J. Vorster warning him about imminent turmoil due to the desperate conditions South Africans were facing. A few weeks later the Soweto uprisings occurred
- In the first of a series of letters to P.W. Botha in 1988, he angrily denounced the forced removals as "utterly diabolical and unacceptable to the Christian conscience”
- 1980’s - began lobbying for sanctions overseas and was instrumental in persuading the Canadian and French prime ministers, and the United States Congress, to impose sanctions
- On Christmas Day in the 1980s - Desmond Tutu led packed church services in Soweto in protest against white racist rule in South Africa
- 1989, the "Purple March" emerged from initiated defiance campaign - Desmond Tutu led an anti-apartheid march with thirty thousand estimated participants in Cape Town. He was arrested during the protest. It was dubbed the purple march because the police sprayed purple dye over the protestors
Campaigns, Advocacy and Causes
- Archbishop Tutu's advocacy ranged widely, beginning with appeals for sanctions against apartheid and continuing with campaigns against homophobia, for gender equality, against child marriage
- Was HIV/AIDS activist – Co-chaired UNAIDS Commission in 2011
- Campaigned publicly for democracy and human rights
- Supported the ordination of women as priests, the ordination of gay and lesbian priests and the blessing of same-sex unions
- The Archbishop was a LBGTQIA+ ally; he campaigned for equal rights for the community and the community being recognized in the Anglican church
- The Archbishop supported Palestinians in Palestine- Israel conflict
- The Archbishop publicly opposed the war in Iraq – he joined the unprecedented international protests against the war, a month before the United States and its allies invaded Iraq in March 2003
Accolades and Awards
- Received Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism - 1986
- Awarded Nobel Peace Prize – 1984 (previously nominated in 1981, 1982 & 1983). Second African to be awarded Nobel Peace Prize after Albert Luthuli in 1960
- Awarded Sydney Peace Prize for promotion of peace with justice and the practice of non-violence in 1999
- Awarded Gandhi Peace Prize in 2007
- Received Fullbright Prize for extraordinary contributions toward bringing people, cultures or nations to greater understanding of others in 2008
- Received US Presidential Medal of Freedom 2009
- Received Templeton Prize for outstanding contributions toward progress in spiritual and religious work in 2013
- Received numerous academic honors from several international institutions.
