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Wangari Maathai

1940 – 2011 · died at about 71^[1][2]

Activism & Social Change

Fun Facts About Wangari Maathai

• Wangari Maathai's ex-husband, Mwangi Mathai, demanded through his lawyer that she drop his surname. Instead she added an extra "a" to it.^[1]
• Maathai went to college in the US as one of some 300 Kenyans in the Kennedy Airlift, a program funded through John F. Kennedy while he was a senator.^[1][3][4]
• Barack Obama's father studied in America through the same program as Maathai. In 2006 she and then-Senator Obama planted a tree together in Nairobi's Uhuru Park.^[1][5][6]
• Maathai was the first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate, receiving her Ph.D. from the University of Nairobi.^[1]
• Maathai fought a 60-story tower planned for Nairobi's Uhuru Park. President Moi said opponents had "insects in their heads", but foreign investors canceled the project.^[1]
• Maathai was one of the eight flag-bearers at the opening ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics.^[1]
• Wangari Maathai was alive at the same time as Franklin D. Roosevelt — their lives overlapped for 5 years (1940–1945).^[1][2][7][8]
• Wangari Maathai shares a birthday with Otto von Bismarck: both were born on April 1.^{[1][2][9][10]}

Wangarĩ Maathai was a Kenyan social, environmental, and political activist who founded the Green Belt Movement, an environmental non-governmental organization focused on planting trees, environmental conservation, and women's rights. In 2004 she became the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.^[1]

Contemporaries

Nelson Mandela

71 yr overlap

Stan Lee

71 yr overlap

Margaret Thatcher

71 yr overlap

B.B. King

71 yr overlap

Fidel Castro

71 yr overlap

Gabriel García Márquez

71 yr overlap

James Watson

71 yr overlap

Maya Angelou

71 yr overlap

Chinua Achebe

71 yr overlap

Vera Rubin

71 yr overlap

Noam Chomsky

71 yr overlap

Neil Armstrong

71 yr overlap

Their World

Questions About Wangari Maathai

When was Wangari Maathai born?

Wangari Maathai was born on April 1, 1940, and died on September 25, 2011.

How old was Wangari Maathai at death?

Wangari Maathai was born on April 1, 1940, and died on September 25, 2011, at age 71.

What was Wangari Maathai known for?

Wangari Maathai was known for: Kenyan environmentalist, first African woman Nobel laureate. Wangarĩ Maathai was a Kenyan social, environmental, and political activist who founded the Green Belt Movement, an environmental non-governmental organization focused on planting trees, environmental conservation, and women's rights. In 2004 she became the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Who was alive at the same time as Wangari Maathai?

Wangari Maathai's closest contemporary was Nelson Mandela. Their lives overlapped for 71 years.