Albert Nobel Medallion

Date: 10 December, 2011

Chief Albert John Mvumbi Luthuli was the first Black African to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on 10 December 1961. Luthuli, president of the then banned African National Congress (ANC), was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1960 for advocating non-violent resistance to racial discrimination in South Africa. Though the apartheid government restricted his movements, Luthuli was granted special permission in 1961 to attend the award ceremony in Oslo, Norway.

Click here to read more about the Nobel Peace Prize.

Bishop Desmond Tutu, noted bishop of the Anglican Church and former general secretary of the South African Council of Churches, received the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on 10 December 1984 in recognition of "the courage and heroism shown by black South Africans in their use of peaceful methods in the struggle against apartheid." The ceremony was delayed for twenty minutes because of a bomb threat.

Click here to read Tutu's speech on receiving his award. 

President F.W. de Klerk and Nelson Mandela, leader of the ANC, were joint recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize on 10 December 1993. They were honoured for their great enterprise of bringing peace and non-racial democracy within reach of South Africa.

References

• Wallis, F. (2000). Nuusdagboek: feite en fratse oor 1000 jaar, Kaapstad: Human & Rousseau.
• Watson, W. (2007). Brick by brick: an informal guide to the history of South Africa, Claremont: New Africa Books, pp. 83, 102 and 129.
• 1961: Apartheid attacked at Nobel ceremony, website: news.bbc.co.uk
• 2 South Africans Peer Into Future, website:query.nytimes.com
• Mather, Smoot share 2006 Nobel Prize in physics, website: aps.org.