Martian Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Rosa Parks, and Harriet Tubman were all social activist leaders. However one may have forgotten or may have not acknowledged what Desmond Tutu contributed. He played a key role in the abolishment of apartheid in South Africa and in race relations worldwide. The famous Desmond Tutu attests, “When the white missionaries came to Africa, they had the Bible and we had the land. They said, ‘Let us pray.’ We closed our eyes. When we opened them, we had the Bible and they had the land.” The term “missionaries” means a person sent by a church into an area to carry on evangelism or other activities, as educational or hospital work (“Missionary”). In the 1930s missionaries came to South Africa to gain trust from the Africans. They gave the blacks hope for the future. The missionaries came with good intentions to help the Africans; however they ended up distracting the blacks from the problem that was developing (“The Missionaries”). Desmond Tutu was born in South Africa among rigorously segregated children in 1931. As a child he grew up knowing that he was treated harshly because of the color of his skin (“Desmond Tutu Biography”). …show more content…
Apartheid was several laws that intensely segregated every race within South Africa (“Apartheid”). Over the years tension began growing because of racism under the apartheid. Tutu was tired of the racism that had grown. He decided to take a stand peacefully against the government. He led peaceful marches and let other countries around the world know what was occurring in South Africa. In 1984 Desmond Tutu was awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize for his actions towards ending the apartheid with nonviolent actions. With blacks and others around the world protesting, the apartheid was finally abolished (“Desmond