Remembering Tutu: Retired archbishop called visit to Lincoln Presidential Library 'moving'

When Nobel laureate and retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa visited the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library here in 2008, then-Lincoln curator James Cornelius recalled he wanted to see some of the great Lincoln documents and personal family items.

"I brought in the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the copy signed by Lincoln," Cornelius said. "We talked about that for quite a bit.

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"The 13th Amendment (ending slavery) perhaps is analogous in our history to the end of apartheid in his country."

Tutu was quoted in The State Journal-Register as saying that it was "a very moving encounter.”

Cornelius called Tutu, who died in Cape Town at age 90 Sunday, "an extremely gracious and grateful man." Tutu helped unveil a portrait of himself, painted by Marla Friedman of Wilmette, at the library.

A day after visiting the library, Tutu received the Lincoln Leadership Prize from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation. The prize was presented by television personality Oprah Winfrey at a fundraiser for the foundation at the Ritz-Carlton Chicago.

Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court, received the inaugural Lincoln Leadership Prize in 2006.

Oscar-nominated actor and humanitarian Gary Sinise was the recipient of the prize last spring.

The prize was established by the foundation to honor men and women for a lifetime of service in the tradition of Lincoln, based on "great strength of character, individual conscience and an unwavering commitment to the defining principles of democracy."

Among those who helped establish the prize was the late Susan Mogerman of Springfield, who was the chief operating officer for the foundation.

Cornelius, who attended the dinner in Chicago, said Tutu told a story about a farmer who was raising chickens. A passerby told the farmer that an "odd-looking chicken" wasn't a chicken at all, but an eagle.

The next day, the man released the eagle on a mountain top and it spread its wings and soared away.

"That was his message to everybody leaving, you can do what you want and achieve what you want despite what others around you say," Cornelius said.

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"I was at the library for 11 years and I got to meet a lot of wonderful, fascinating and amazing people, but I knew that (meeting Tutu) was the biggest thrill of my time there," Cornelius added. "I wasn't around when (Mahatma) Gandhi or Rev. (Martin Luther) King (Jr.) were really doing their thing in a big way, but I guess Archbishop Tutu is the rightful successor to those two people. So, I'm moved and saddened to see him go."

Former State Journal-Register publisher Patrick Coburn said Tutu was "a giant in the pantheon of all those world leaders."

Coburn, who was on the foundation board at the time and now lives in Chicago, described Tutu's sense of humor as "legendary."

"He was fun to be around, I'll say that," Coburn said. "I never thought I would describe somebody of his stature in that way.

"We decided he was impish. I said to him, 'I understood that you spent the night at the governor's mansion in Springfield and he said, 'Oh yes, I'm such a snob.'"

Ken Page was president of the Springfield NAACP when he met Tutu during his visit here.

"It was a great honor meeting a humble brother fighting for social justice," recalled Page.

The foundation had been the ALPLM's independent fundraising arm since 2001. A bill before the Illinois House in January would sever all ties between the ALPLM and the foundation.

Other past recipients of the Lincoln Leadership Prize have included President Bill Clinton, President George W. Bush, former U.K. prime minister Tony Blair, Oscar-winning filmmaker Steven Spielberg, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Doris Kearns Goodwin, astronaut James A. Lovell Jr., former Polish President Lech Wałęsa, The Little Rock Nine, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, The Carlyle Group's co-founder/co-executive chairman David M. Rubenstein and the late television journalist Tim Russert.

Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788, sspearie@sj-r.com, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Remembering Desmond Tutu's visit to Lincoln Presidential Library in 2008