Toronto Star

A LIFE DEDICATED TO EQUALITY

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1931 — Desmond Mpilo Tutu is born on Oct. 7, in Klerksdorp, near Johannesbu­rg.

1947 — Contracts tuberculos­is, as he recuperate­s he is visited by Trevor Huddleston, a British pastor working in South Africa.

1955 — Marries Nomalizo Leah Shenxane and begins teaching at a secondary school.

1961 — Is ordained as a minister in the Anglican church, after quitting teaching in disgust at apartheid’s inferior education for Black people.

1962 — Studies theology at King’s College London.

1966 — Returns to South Africa to teach at a seminary in the Eastern Cape.

1975 — Becomes the Anglican church’s first Black dean of Johannesbu­rg.

1976 — Serves as Bishop of Lesotho and voices criticism of apartheid in South Africa.

1978 — Becomes generalsec­retary of the South African Council of Churches and achieves prominence as a leading opponent of apartheid.

1984 — Wins Nobel Peace Prize. “There is no peace in southern Africa. There is no peace because there is no justice. There can be no real peace and security until there be first justice enjoyed by all the inhabitant­s of that beautiful land,” Tutu says in his acceptance speech.

1985 — Becomes the first Black bishop of Johannesbu­rg.

1986 — Is ordained the first Black Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town.

1989 — Leads anti-apartheid march of 30,000 people through Cape Town.

1990 — Hosts Nelson Mandela for his first night of freedom after Mandela is released from prison after being held for 27 years for his opposition to apartheid. Mandela calls Tutu “the peoples’ archbishop.”

1994 — Votes in South Africa’s first democratic election in which all races can cast ballots.

1995 — President Nelson Mandela appoints Tutu to be chairman of the country’s Truth and Reconcilia­tion Commission.

1996 — Tutu retires as prelate, the Anglican church gives him the title of Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town.

1997 — Is diagnosed with prostate cancer and announces it to help with public awareness of the disease.

1998 — Truth and Reconcilia­tion Commission publishes its report, putting most of the blame for abuses on the forces of apartheid, but also finds the African National Congress guilty of rights violations.

2009 — Receives the Presidenti­al Medal of Freedom on Aug. 12 from U.S. President Barack Obama.

2010 — Retires from public life on July 22, tells press: “Don’t call me, I’ll call you.”

2013 — Launches internatio­nal campaign for LGBTQ rights. “I would not worship a God who is homophobic.”

2014 — Urges the British parliament on July 12 to allow assisted dying, saying “Nelson Mandela’s prolonged death was an affront.”

2021 — Tutu attends his 90th birthday party in Cape Town.

2021 — Tutu dies in Cape Town on Dec. 26.

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