On This Day In TCXPI History – We Must Never Forget! Wangari Muta Maathai, the First African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, was born April 1, 1940 in Nyeri District, Kenya. Wangari Muta Maathai earned her Bachelor of Science degree with a major in biology and minors in chemistry and German from Mount St. Scholastica College (now Benedictine College) in 1964 and her Master of Science degree in biological sciences from the University of Pittsburgh in 1966. In 1971, Wangari Muta Maathai became the First East African woman to receive a Ph. D. when she was granted her Doctorate of Anatomy degree from the University College of Nairobi. She also taught at the university where she campaigned for equal benefits for women on the staff. Wangari Muta Maathai also worked with the Kenya Red Cross Society and the Environment Liaison Centre where she came to believe that the root of most of Kenya’s problems was environmental degradation. In 1977, she led the planting of the first trees to conserve the environment in what became the Green Belt Movement. She encouraged, and paid a small stipend to, women to plant tree nurseries throughout Kenya. Wangari Muta Maathai was also a leader of the pro-democracy movement in Kenya. In 2002, she was elected to parliament and appointed assistant minister in the Ministry for Environment and Natural Resources, a position she held until 2005. On October 8, 2004, it was announced that Wangari Muta Maathai had won the Nobel Peace Prize for her “contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace,” the first African woman and environmentalist to win the prize. In 2005, Maathai was elected the first president of the African Union’s Economic, Social and Cultural Council. Wangari Muta Maathai published two autobiographies, “The Canopy of Hope: My Life Campaigning for Africa, Women and the Environment” (2002) and “Unbowed” (2006). She died September 25, 2011. Sources: thewright.org/explore/blog/entry/today-in-black-history-412012 greenbeltmovement.org/wangari-maathai
Posted on: Tue, 01 Apr 2014 17:03:18 +0000
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