Nelson Mandela did what he could to help along his fellow black South Africans to end apartheid, and where his powers fell short Desmond Tutu picked up. Long before he would be elected Archbishop of Cape Town, he used his influential post in the Anglican Church of South Africa to argue that Apartheid was simply against God’s will. Seizing on the Soweto riots of 1976, he unceasingly called for reform and reconciliation, couching political messages in religious terms.

On this day, October 16, in 1984, for his work in bringing about the end of the Apartheid system in South Africa, Desmond Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

In his acceptance speech, Tutu noted the prize does not symbolize the end of his work to help improve the plight of marginalized people not only in his native land, but also around much of the world. Where there is injustice, he said “invariably peace becomes a casualty.” While the the West was spending billions on developing ever more powerful weapons, countless people live in dire poverty. He eloquently asks “When will we learn, when will the people of the world get up and say, Enough is enough.” Humans have to work together to prosper, he said: “God created us for fellowship. God created us so that we should form the human family, existing together because we were made for one another.”