Remembering a Nobel Prize Winner

Though it has been almost a month since her passing, it is still appropriate to remember the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Wangari Maathai.

Dr. Maathai was a professor of veterinary anatomy, an environmental activist, and a human rights activist. In 2004, she was awarded the Nobel Peace prize for her efforts to improve the lives of women and the land by planting trees in her native Kenya.

The Sullivan University Library has three books which hightlight Dr. Maathai's life and her work, and any student is welcome to borrow these titles from the library.

Mama Miti: Wangari Maathai and the Trees of Kenya; JF N (Lexington campus)

Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai; JF N (Lexington campus)

Unbowed: A Memoir; 333.72 M111u (Louisville campus)

To learn even more about Dr. Maathai, visit the Nobel Prize website, which has a biography of Dr. Maathai.

Here are two obituaries for Dr. Maathai that contain photographs and further information about her extraordinary life.

New York Times obituary

The Guardian obituary

Please let us know if you have any questions about how Dr. Maathai or how to locate the featured library books. One of the librarians will be glad to help you.

Source: N.A. (2011, October 20). Wangari Maathai-Biography. Retrieved from http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2004/maathai-bio.html

Who Was...

Dr. Wangari Maathai?

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Dr. Maathai was the first woman from a Central African country to earn her Ph.D., she was the first woman be a professor in Kenya, and she was the first woman from an African country to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Perhaps her greatest legacy was the Green Belt Movement that she began in 1977. Dr. Maathai gave women trees to plant because, “she saw tree-planting in a broader perspective which included democracy, women’s rights, and international solidarity.” The Nobel committee said of Maathai that, “She thinks globally and acts locally.”

Check out our blog post from a few years ago: 

Source: Nobelprize.org. (2018). Wangari Maathai-Facts. Retrieved from: http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2004/maathai-facts.html

A Noble Lady

Mama Miti: Wangari Maathai and the Trees of Kenya by Donna Jo Napoli

As a proponent of education, empowering women, and conservation, Dr. Maathai worked to plant trees in her native Kenya to give people sustainable jobs there and to preserve the landscape. Her efforts were noticed when she received the Nobel Peace Prize.

This book and a companion to it, Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai by Claire Nivola, are now available in the Sullivan Lexington Library. They both have the call #: JF N.