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May 13, 2008 10:57 pm US/Central
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Archbishop Desmond Tutu Honored In Chicago
South African Activist Leader Presented Leadership Award By Oprah Winfrey
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
Human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu added another award to his list.
CBS 2's Dorothy Tucker reports Tutu received the Leadership Prize, presented by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation.
Hundreds turned out Tuesday night to attend the dinner at the Ritz Carlton Hotel to honor Tutu.
The 76-year-old received the award for his years of fighting injustice of his homeland of South Africa.
Foundation President and former Gov. Jim Edgar said Tutu lives up to Lincoln's legacy.
Talk show host Oprah Winfrey presented the award, calling Tutu a great man.
"His accomplishments in South Africa and impact on the world are similar to the impact Abraham Lincoln had, so we think it's very appropriate that he's the honoree," Edgar said.
"His watchwords have been justice, peace, reconciliation," Winfrey said. "And his very public fight to convince his nation that apartheid is evil, immoral and therefore unchristian, gave a voice to the cause."
Tutu, in accepting the award, said, "Your museum and library are popular attractions to thousands visiting them annually. It all testifies to the fact that… we are made for goodness, even in injustice and oppression."
Earlier Tuesday Tutu was at the Lincoln Museum in Springfield, Ill., where he was honored with a portrait that will hang next to President Lincoln's.
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