Bishop Desmond Mpilo Tutu was born October 7, 1931 in Klerksdorp in the Western Transvaal. He obtained his high school education in Johannesburg and achieved a teacher’s diploma at the Pretoria Bantu Normal College (1951-1953). He then earned his BA degree at the University of South Africa in 1954. After teaching in a high school in Krugersdorp until 1958, Bishop Tutu attended the St. Peter’s Theological College and was ordained as deacon in 1960. He taught in various locales over the next decade or so, and then in 1975 was appointed as the first Black Dean of the Anglican Church.

After that point, Bishop Tutu earned many honorary doctorates, published several articles, and published a book of articles and reviews called Crying in the Wilderness. In 1981 and 1982, Bishop Tutu was nominated for, and in 1984 won the Nobel Peace Prize. From the time he was in school, Tutu was deeply concerned with the problems of racial equality in South Africa. His religious beliefs poured over into his speeches and writings. Bishop Tutu believed "that, in society, Love itself is expressed in Justice and is meaningless without it." Bishop Tutu saw the conditions in South Africa as inhumane and unjust.   The implementation of Apartheid was the culmination of years of inequality, and created an unacceptable state.

Throughout the last three decades, Bishop Tutu has contributed the majority of his life to ending such conditions and achieving equality for all South Africans. He proposed economic sanctions against South Africa, a move that brought criticism from both opponents and supporters. Though he sees himself as a pastor not a politician, his impact on the politics and lives of all South Africans has been phenomenal. If he had not become such a strong force in South Africa, who knows where the people of South Africa would be right now. But his religious and moral views led him to become one of the most influential people in the world. Bishop Tutu shows the difference one man can make, and how religion plays a part in politics.