Nelson Mandela was born in South Africa, a country that practiced a system of government called apartheid. Apartheid was a legal system of discrimination against blacks in South Africa, which also prohibited blacks from participating in politics. Mandela often used violence and sabotage to attack the apartheid system, and in 1962, Mandela was arrested and sentenced to life in prison for conspiracy against the country.

From 1964 to 1982, he was confined to the notorious prison island Robben Island, together with several other resistance leaders. During his imprisonment, Mandela became an icon to people who were oppressed in South Africa, and the world's most famous political prisoner. From his jail cell, he continued to speak out against racial discrimination in apartheid-era South Africa.

Nelson Mandela shared his Peace Prize with the man who released him from prison, President Frederik Willem de Klerk, because they had agreed on a peaceful transition from apartheid rule by the white minority, to democratic majority rule and people power for everyone. Mandela later became the first democratically elected black president in South Africa, and is still seen as an icon of democracy and social justice.

Wangari Maathai achieved many goals in her country Kenya. She was the first female scholar from East and Central Africa to take a doctorate (in biology), and the first female professor ever in her home country of Kenya. Maathai also fought to make Kenya more democratic during Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi's regime.

​In 1977, she started a grass-roots movement aimed at fighting the deforestation that was threatening the subsistence agricultural population (farmers who grow just enough food to feed their families). The organization, called the Green Belt Movement, encouraged women to plant trees in their towns and to think more environmentally. The movement spread to other African countries, and led to the planting of over thirty million trees.

In 2004, Maathai became the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize for her Green Belt Movement, which encouraged women to take a role in protecting the environment. Maathai's mobilization of African women was part of her bigger goals of democracy, women's rights, and international solidarity. In the words of the Nobel Committee: "She thinks globally and acts locally."

Women often suffer most when wars and conflicts erupt. At the same time, their opportunity to influence events during conflicts is often severely limited. Women's rights and full participation in democratic processes - voting in fair elections and equal freedom of speech - are important to ensure lasting peace. Liberia experienced decades of bloody civil wars between 1989 and 2003. In 2005, two years after the civil war ended, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was elected as the nation's president.

As the first female head of state ever to be democratically elected in Africa, she has worked to promote peace, reconciliation and social and economic development. One of her early achievements was making education free for all children in Liberia. In 2011, she was jointly awarded the ​Nobel Peace Prize, along with Leymah Gbowee of Liberia and Tawakkol Karman of Yemen, to recognize their non-violent work to encourage women to participate in politics and peace-building movements.

The Anglican bishop Desmond Tutu was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize for his opposition to South Africa's brutal apartheid regime. Tutu was saluted by the Nobel Committee for his clear views and his fearless stance, characteristics which had made him a symbol for all African freedom fighters. Unlike other South Africans, like Mandela, who used violence against apartheid, Tutu maintained his belief in nonviolence, and yet never blamed others for their different methods of fighting apartheid rule.

The Peace Prize award made a big difference to Tutu's international standing, and was a helpful contribution to the struggle against apartheid. Media coverage made him a living symbol in the struggle for liberation (freedom), someone who could clearly explain the suffering and expectations of South Africa's oppressed masses. There are many indications that Tutu's Peace Prize helped direct international attention to the suffering of black South Africans during the 1980s. Archbishop Tutu also used his fame to campaign for gay rights, speak out against the Iraq War, and to criticize corrupt leaders of government.