Hall of Fame · Prophets
Witnesses whose lives proclaimed a truth larger than themselves.
6 inductees honoured under Prophets.
South Africa
Non-violent Resistance
Albert Luthuli
1898 – 1967
President-General of the African National Congress (1952–67). Led the Defiance Campaign against apartheid laws, was banned and confined to his rural home for much of his presidency, and in 1960 became the first African to win the Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent resistance to white minority rule.
South Africa
Reconciliation & Justice
Desmond Tutu
1931 – 2021
Anglican archbishop and anti-apartheid campaigner. Won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his non-violent opposition to apartheid, chaired South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and spent his later years campaigning for HIV/AIDS treatment, climate justice and LGBTQ+ dignity across the world.
Ghana
Global Peace & Reform
Kofi Annan
1938 – 2018
Seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations (1997–2006). The first black African to hold the post, he reformed UN peacekeeping operations, established the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001 jointly with the UN for their work for a better organised and more peaceful world.
South Africa
Black Consciousness
Steve Biko
1946 – 1977
Anti-apartheid activist and founder of the Black Consciousness Movement. Co-founded the South African Students' Organisation in 1968, taught a generation of young South Africans that the most potent weapon in the hand of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed, and was murdered in police custody at 30 — his death galvanising international opposition to apartheid.
Burkina Faso
Public Witness
Thomas Sankara
1949 – 1987
President of Burkina Faso (1983–87). Renamed Upper Volta to Burkina Faso ("Land of Upright People"), vaccinated 2.5 million children against measles, yellow fever and meningitis in a single week, made Burkina Faso food-self-sufficient through land reform, banned forced marriage and female genital cutting, and refused all foreign aid that compromised the country's sovereignty.
Kenya
Earth & Peace
Wangari Maathai
1940 – 2011
Founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977, which has planted more than 51 million trees across Kenya and trained over 30,000 women in forestry and beekeeping. First African woman — and first environmentalist — to win the Nobel Peace Prize, 2004.