Striving for Justice: Searching for Common Ground

Keynote event featuring Rev. Nontombi Naomi Tutu

Rev. Nontombi Naomi Tutu is a renowned race and gender justice activist whose work is shaped by her experiences growing up in apartheid South Africa. The daughter of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, she has forged her own path as a global human rights advocate, educator, and Episcopal priest. Her career has spanned roles as an economist, consultant, university lecturer, and program coordinator for initiatives focused on race and gender-based violence. Her life’s work centers on healing division and promoting shared humanity.

Rev. Tutu has taught at the University of Hartford, the University of Connecticut and Brevard College in North Carolina. She served as program coordinator for the historic Race Relations Institute at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, and was a part of the Institute’s delegation to the World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa. Additionally, Rev. Tutu has established Nozizwe Consulting. Its mission is to bring different groups together to learn from and celebrate their differences and acknowledge their shared humanity. As part of this work, she has led Truth and Reconciliation Workshops for groups dealing with different types of conflict.

She is the recipient of four honorary doctorates from universities and colleges in the U.S. and Nigeria. She has served as a curate at Christ Church Cathedral as a Canon Missioner for Racial and Economic Equity, and as a Canon Missioner for Kairos West Community Center for the Cathedral of All Souls in Asheville, North Carolina.