Timeline

October 7, 1931: Desmond Mpilo Tutu is born at Klerksdorp, 120 miles (193 km) from Johannesburg

1954: Receives his teacher’s diploma

July 2, 1955: Marries Leah Nomalizo Shenxane

1958: Resigns from teaching, to begin ordination training at St Peters Theological College, in Johannesburg

1960: Becomes an Anglican priest

1962: Travels to England to further pursue theological study

1967: Returns to South Africa to teach at the Federal Theological Seminary at Alice on the Eastern Cape

1970: Lectures in theology at the University of Botswana in Roma, Lesotho

1975: Becomes first black Anglican Dean of Johannesburg

1978: Appointed as the first black General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches

1984: Gets Nobel Peace Prize for speaking out against apartheid

1985: Elected as Johannesburg’s first black Anglican bishop

1986: Elected as first black Archbishop of Cape Town

1995: Leads Truth and Reconciliation Commission, to gather evidence of apartheid-era crimes

September 2006: Artist for a New South Africa celebrates his 75th birthday at the Regent Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills

October 2006: Celebrates his 75th birthday in Johannesburg with Nelson Mandela

July 2007: Featured in Vanity Fair’s Africa issue, profiled by Brad Pitt

2007: Presented with the International Gandhi Peace Prize

2008: Travels to Gaza on a UN mission, to investigate the killing of 21 Palestinian civilians, by Israeli shelling, in November 2006.

April 2009: Received Spiritual Leadership award from Humanity’s Team at Freedom Park in Pretoria, South Africa

May 8 2009: Featured speaker at MSU’s spring undergraduate convocation.