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eventREF E-0012658Revised

Event record

Cleric and anti-apartheid activist, Mpilo Desmond Tutu is ordained as Archbishop of Cape Town

Cleric and anti-apartheid activist, Mpilo Desmond Tutu is ordained as Archbishop of Cape Town

Date
7 Sep 1986
Updated
30 Sep 2019
Cleric and anti-apartheid activist, Mpilo Desmond Tutu is ordained as Archbishop of Cape Town

On 7 September 1986, former Secretary-General of the South African Council of Churches and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Desmond Tutu, was ordained as an Archbishop of Cape Town. The former teacher, whose decision to leave the profession was prompted by the implementation of the Bantu Education Act of 1953 which he saw as devaluing Black education,became the first Black head of the Anglican Church in South Africa. Tutu was ordained as a deacon in 1960, and became a priest in 1961. He moved to London in 1962, where he completed his Honours and Masters Degree in the Arts in 1966. On his return to South Africa he taught at the Federal Theological Seminary at Alice. Prior to his appointment as Archbishop, Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on 16 October 1984 for his untiring efforts in calling for an end to minority rule in South Africa, the unbanning of liberation organisations and the release of political prisoners.

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How we know this

  1. 01South African History Online, 2011 ‘Archbishop Emeritus Mpilo Desmond Tutu’[online] Available at www.sahistory.org.za [Accessed 21 July 2011]
  2. 02Nobelprize.org, 2011. ‘The Nobel Peace Prize 1984: Desmond Tutu’[online] Available at www.nobelprize.org [Accessed 21 July 2011]

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2011, March 16). Cleric and anti-apartheid activist, Mpilo Desmond Tutu is ordained as Archbishop of Cape Town . South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012658

South African History Online (2011) 'Cleric and anti-apartheid activist, Mpilo Desmond Tutu is ordained as Archbishop of Cape Town ', South African History Online, 16 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012658 (Accessed: 8 August 2026).

South African History Online, Cleric and anti-apartheid activist, Mpilo Desmond Tutu is ordained as Archbishop of Cape Town [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012658, (accessed 8 August 2026).

"Cleric and anti-apartheid activist, Mpilo Desmond Tutu is ordained as Archbishop of Cape Town ." South African History Online, 16 Mar. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012658. Accessed 8 Aug. 2026.

South African History Online. "Cleric and anti-apartheid activist, Mpilo Desmond Tutu is ordained as Archbishop of Cape Town ." South African History Online. March 16, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012658.

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