PHOTOS: Desmond Tutu through the years

South African Bishop Desmond Tutu receives the Martin Luther King Jr. Peace Prize from Coretta Scott King (left) and Christine King Farris, King’s sister (center), during an ecumenical service at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church on Jan. 20, 1986.

South African Bishop Desmond Tutu waves during a 1986 speech against apartheid outside the South African Embassy in Washington. An uncompromising foe of apartheid, South Africa’s brutal regime of oppression again the Black majority, Tutu worked tirelessly and peacefully against it.

In this 1989 photo, then-Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town Desmond Tutu (center) jogs along a whites-only beach with a crowd of supporters near Cape Town, South Africa, as church organizations continued their campaign of defiance against apartheid laws.

Tutu (left) and South Africa’s then-president-elect, Nelson Mandela, talk during celebrations in Soweto, South Africa, in this 1994 file photo.

Desmond Tutu speaks during a Geneva press conference in this 2006 file photo.

In this 2010 file photo, Desmond Tutu gestures during the opening concert for the World Cup at Orlando stadium in Soweto, South Africa.

President Barack Obama presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Desmond Tutu in the White House East Room in 2009.

Britain’s Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (shown holding their son, Archie) met Desmond Tutu and his wife Leah in Cape Town in 2019.

Desmond Tutu and wife Leah attended a church service in Cape Town on Oct. 7 as he celebrated his 90th birthday.

Julie Gallagher

Julie Gallagher is a freelance digital writer and editor for WTOP.com. She previously covered the 2020 election with CNN and has bylines in The Lily, WIRED, NBC Washington, The Baltimore Sun, Washington City Paper and more.

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