Desmond Tutu

Desmond Tutu married Nomalizo Leah Shenxane, a teacher, in 1955. They have four children and have been happily married for six decades.

He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1997 and underwent successful treatment in the U.S.

Desmond Mpilo Tutu was born on October 7, 1931, in Transvaal, South Africa, to Zacheriah Zililo Tutu and his wife, Aletta Tutu, as one of their four children. His father was an elementary school principal and his mother cooked and cleaned at a school for the blind.

He grew up watching how the blacks were discriminated against and deprived of the basic rights that whites enjoyed. When he was a child, black South Africans were not allowed to vote and the society was rigidly segregated.

Even though his family was poor, Tutu and his siblings made the most of what was available and had a fairly happy childhood.

He went to the Johannesburg Bantu High School where he received a good education and graduated in 1950. His childhood dream was to be a doctor and he was accepted into medical school. However, he could not study medicine as his parents could not afford the expensive fees.

He then received a scholarship to study education at Pretoria Bantu Normal College which he accepted. He earned his teacher's certificate in 1953. He furthered his education from the University of South Africa and graduated in 1954.

He returned to his alma mater, Johannesburg Bantu High School, as a teacher. He also taught for sometime at Munsienville High School in Mogale City. The government passed the Bantu Education Act in 1953. The law lowered the standards of education for black South Africans and greatly limited their chances of receiving good quality higher education.

For a few years he tried his best to provide good education to his students in spite of the legal limitations, but grew increasingly frustrated at this Act which explicitly promoted inequality. Unwilling to be a part of the corrupt education system anymore, he resigned from his teaching job in 1957.

He then continued his education, this time studying theology at St Peter's Theological College in Rosettenville, Johannesburg. He was ordained as an Anglican deacon in 1960 and as a priest in 1961.

He went to England in 1962 to pursue further theological studies at the King's College London and received his master's degree in theology in 1966. He returned to South Africa in 1967.

He began teaching at the Federal Theological Seminary at Alice in the Eastern Cape and also became the chaplain at the University of Fort Hare in 1967. He lectured at the National University of Lesotho from 1970 to 1972.

Desmond Tutu became a prominent spokesperson for the rights for blacks as the Dean of St. Mary's Cathedral. He realized that he had been given a platform that had never before been offered to a black, and resolved to use his position to fight against the injustices meted out to blacks in his country.

He was appointed Bishop of Lesotho in 1976 and two years later, he was selected as the General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches in 1978. As he rose up through the South African religious hierarchy, he increased his involvement in the anti-apartheid stance.

He was an outspoken activist and wrote extensively against apartheid. He often compared apartheid to Nazism, incurring the wrath of the government which revoked his passport twice. He was also very active in the protest marches which led to his arrest and imprisonment in 1980. Despite his staunch disapproval of apartheid, he advocated non-violent means of protest.

In 1983, a new constitution was proposed for South Africa to defend against the growing anti-apartheid movement. Tutu played a pivotal role in the formation of the National Forum Committee to fight the constitutional changes.

His emergence as an outspoken leader in the anti-apartheid movement and his growing international stature culminated in his being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984. Following this, South Africa’s anti-apartheid movement gained international support and Tutu was elevated to the status of a much respected world leader.