José Ramos-Horta, Freedom Fighter and Democracy Builder, 1996 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

Sep 18, 2017

In 1975 Indonesia invaded East Timor, rounded up their political leaders and executed them on the docks of the capital. They then began a systematic extermination of the Timorese people. East Timor, known today as Timor Leste, a small island at the bottom of the...

Nelson Mandela, Defeated Hatred in South Africa, 1993 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

Sep 18, 2017

The son of a tribal chief, Nelson Mandela began his opposition to South Africa’s government policies, which relegated blacks to non-voting, second-class citizens in a segregated society, while attending college. He went on to become a lawyer and joined the outlawed...

Rigoberta Menchu Tum, Indigenous Rights Leader, 1992 Nobel Peace Prize Laueate

Sep 18, 2017

After losing her mother and brother to Guatemalan death squads in the late 1970s, Rigoberta Menchu Tum followed in her father’s footsteps to become a human rights activist and leader in her country. A Mayan Indian, she publicly protested human rights abuses against...

His Holiness the Dalai Lama, 1989 Nobel Peace Prize Laueate

Sep 18, 2017

Tenzin Gyatso is the 14th Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism. As a young boy he was formally recognized by Tibetan Buddhist elders as the reincarnated Dalai Lama, in Tibet, which would make him political leader of Tibet as well. Enthroned at age 15, he...

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Anti-Apartheid Hero, Voice of Conscience, 1984 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

Sep 18, 2017

Archbishop Tutu was one of the two South African figures widely credited with bringing about the fall of South Africa’s oppressive Apartheid regime. The first Archbishop in South Africa’s Episcopalian Church, “the Arch” as he has been lovingly...