Nelson Mandela
South Africa, 1993
The most recognizable name in South Africa, Nelson Mandela won a joint Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 with Frederik De Klerk for their roles in ending the discriminatory and violent apartheid regime in South Africa. Mandela was instrumental in leading the anti-apartheid movement and eventually was elected as the African National Congress candidate to lead the country as the first black and majority-elected president.

Frederik De Klerk

South Africa, 1993
While Mandela rightly served as the face and leader of the anti-apartheid movement, he would not have been successful in his efforts had it not been for then-South African President De Klerk. In his very first speech after being elected the leader of his party and the country, De Klerk called for a non-racist South Africa. More than rhetoric, he lifted the ban on the ANC, released Mandela from prison on Robben Island, and allowed for a new constitution to be drafted to ensure equality. His efforts were integral to the end of apartheid.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
Liberia, 2011
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is the first elected female head of state in Africa, serving as the President of Liberia since 2006. While still in office, she was awarded the prize in 2011 along with two other women – Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman – for their “non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work.”

Leymah Gbowee
Liberia, 2011
Leymah Gbowee is a peace activist who was instrumental in helping bring about an end to the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003. As the leader of a women’s peace movement, she brought attention to the deep economic inequality rooted in the country, helped navigate tense ethnic rivalries, and fought to end the practice of using child soldiers in war.

Anwar El Sadat
Egypt, 1978
Anwar El Sadat served as the third president of Egypt from 1970 until his assassination by fundamentalist army officers in 1981. He was part of the Egyptian Revolution in 1952 that overthrew King Farouk, and helped change the path of Egypt’s government from a closed and repressive monarchy to a more open multi-party system. He was also one of the first leaders in the Arab world to negotiate with Israel, following Egypt’s successful reclaiming of the Sinai Peninsula in the October War of 1973, winning him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1978 with then-Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.

Kofi Annan
Ghana, 2001
Ghanian diplomat Kofi Annan served as the seventh Secretary General of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006, and the second from the African continent (after Boutros Boutros-Ghali from Egypt). In 2001, he and the United Nations were co-recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize “for their work for a better organized and more peaceful world.” Annan was especially noted for his commitment to human rights, and to helping guide the U.N. to lead in fighting HIV/AIDS, international terrorism, and peace-keeping worldwide.

Desmond Tutu
South Africa, 1984
Desmond Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, well before some of his South African counterparts. The then-bishop was noted for his “role as a unifying leader figure in the campaign to resolve the problem of apartheid in South Africa.” Although the apartheid regime wouldn’t actually fall until the 1990s, Tutu’s early actions in helping to encourage non-violent protest and equality across the country were recognized internationally from the beginning.

Wangari Maathai
Kenya, 2004
Environmental and political activist Wangari Maathai became the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, awarded in 2004. Noted for her part in founding the Green Belt Movement – an environmental non-governmental organization that focused on planting trees, environmental conservation, and women’s rights – she later went on to serve as assistant minister for Environment and Natural Resources and an honorary counselor of the World Future Council. She was awarded the prize for her “contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace.”

Mohamed El Baradei
Egypt, 2005
Scholar, diplomat, and former vice president of Egypt Mohamed El Baradei was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005 along with the International Atomic Energy Agency, of which he was director general. He was noted for his “efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes.” More recently, he has been known for his role in the Egyptian Revolution that ousted President Mubarak. El Baradei served as acting vice president of the new Egyptian government.

Albert Lutuli
South Africa, 1960
Albert Lutuli represents not only the first South African to win the Nobel Peace Prize, but also the first person outside Europe and the Americas to do so. Awarded in 1960, he received the prize for his role in leading the nonviolent movement against apartheid as the elected president of the African National Congress. In order for him to receive the prize, the apartheid government had to lift a ban on his movement that had been in place for years in order for him to travel to Oslo.