Desmond Mpilo Tutu , CH born 7 October is a South African social rights activist and retired Anglican bishop who rose to worldwide fame during the s as an opponent of apartheid. Tutu's admirers see him as a great man who, since the demise of apartheid, has been active in the defence of human rights and uses his high profile to campaign for the oppressed.
He has also compiled several books of his speeches and sayings. Tutu's family moved to Johannesburg when he was twelve. His father was a teacher and his mother was a cleaner and cook at a school for the blind. Here he met Trevor Huddleston, who was a parish priest in the black slum of Sophiatown.
As he passed us he took off his hat to my mother. I couldn't believe my eyesβa white man who greeted a black working class woman! Although Tutu wanted to become a doctor, his family could not afford the training, and he followed his father's footsteps into teaching. However, he resigned following the passage of the Bantu Education Act, in protest of the poor educational prospects for black South Africans.
He continued his studies, this time in theology, at St Peter's Theological College in Rosettenville, Johannesburg, and in December was ordained as an Anglican priest following in the footsteps of his mentor and fellow activist, Trevor Huddleston. Tutu then travelled to King's College London, β , where he received his bachelor's and master's degrees in theology.
From to , Tutu lectured at the National University of Lesotho. In he moved into what is now known as Tutu House on Soweto's well known Vilakazi Street which is also the location of the late Nelson Mandela's previous house. He and his family were still living there in It is said to be one of the few streets in the world where two Nobel Prize winners have lived. He was convicted in of contravening the Civil Aviation Act.
