COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (Feb. 7, 2008) — An appearance by Naomi Tutu, daughter of renowned South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, will provide a personal perspective to Tennessee Tech University’s events in observance of February as Black History Month.

Tutu’s presentation, which will be about “Truth and Reconciliation: Healing the Wounds,” is set for 4 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 18, in Derryberry Hall Auditorium.

Her father was an activist against the policy of apartheid and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984. Growing up “the daughter of” has offered Tutu both opportunities and challenges, she says.

Both because of her father’s influence and because she grew up black and female under the apartheid policy in South Africa, Tutu chose to become a public speaker and activist for human rights.

She began her public speaking in the 1970s, when she was a student at Berea College in Kentucky.

Her professional experience ranges from being a development consultant in West Africa to being a coordinator of programs on race and gender and gender-based violence at the African Gender Institute at the University of Cape Town.

She has taught at the Universities of Hartford and Connecticut and Brevard College in North Carolina.

In addition, she is a human rights activist and consultant to two organizations that reflect the breadth of her involvement in issues of human rights. Those organizations are the Spiritual Alliance to Stop Intimate Violence and the Foundation for Hospices in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The Tennessee Consortium for International Studies; TTU Diversity, Equity and Access Council; and TTU International Student Affairs Office are sponsoring Tutu’s presentation.

Her appearance is co-hosted by the university’s Minority Affairs Office, Commission on the Status of Blacks, Women’s Center and Diversity, Equity and Access Council.

--Tracey Hackett
This information posted 13 February 2008