The 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate visits campus for enlightening and timely lecture.

The Brooklyn College family was gifted an intimate look into the life journey of one of the greatest human rights activists of our time when 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Leymah Roberta Gbowee joined President Michelle J. Anderson for a special lecture in front of students, staff, and faculty in the Woody Tanger Auditorium on Apr. 8.

In a powerful, intimate, and honest discussion led by Anderson, Gbowee—who helped lead the Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace that worked to end the 14-year civil war in Liberia—shared memories from various stages of her life that propelled her to become a global force who has worked for peace, human rights, and gender equality throughout her life.

Starting with her childhood, she emphasized the loving hometown she grew up in.

She provided an example of the strong community bond and dedication to learning by telling a story about how she walked from house to house with other children, forced to show their report cards to each neighbor. This dedication to learning was also instilled by her grandmother, a teacher, who Gbowee called her earliest feminist role model.

“I consider myself a daughter of the community, a daughter of the generosity of many people, and a daughter of many tribes,” Gbowee said. “But there was also a lot of love.”

As an older student, Gbowee said it was receiving an F on a paper written for a class in which she never spoke up that helped light a fire in her. After confronting the teacher, who had not read her paper due to her non-participation, the teacher took it home, read it, and gave her an A.

That life lesson taught Gbowee that no one would ever judge her on the basis of her silence.

“That was the beginning of finding my voice,” Gbowee explained.

When the discussion turned to the Liberian Civil War, Gbowee said the powerful forces that pulled apart the fabric of her once harmonious homeland, coupled with the violence against her fellow Liberians at the hands of the warlord Charles Taylor, spurred her to become an outspoken advocate for peace and human rights. This dedication to bringing harmony and security to troubled areas of the world has never been better illustrated than by her work in her home country, where she led a movement of Liberian women, both Muslim and Christian. Starting with seven and ending with thousands, and marching mostly dressed in white, they eventually ended a war.

Gbowee said the movement started with a dream for peace and was grounded by many philosophical principles she carries to this day, the most important of which was: “You can’t be a peace activist if you don’t know peace.”

Gbowee is also the founding head of the Liberian Reconciliation Initiative, a forum for the victims and perpetrators of human rights violations to bring about healing and produce a more accurate accounting of the country’s devastating civil war. Today, she is the executive director of Women Peace and Security Network Africa, established in Ghana in 2006 as a nongovernmental organization to advance women’s leadership in the governance of the continent’s peace and security.

During a Q&A session, acting student Nathaelle Denis asked Gbowee how she persevered through so many obstacles to find her own voice. Gbowee’s response was simple but strong: “I was down, down, down,” she said about earlier points in her life. “But you need to celebrate small victories. You need to appreciate the process, the journey, and yourself.”

When asked about being a leader, her response was equally thoughtful: “You need to be the first to arrive and the last to leave. You need to serve first and be the last to be served.”

When the questions turned to the current war raging in Ukraine, Gbowee shared one of her most poignant observations. Stating that peace is not solely about ending war, she added: “Peace is the presence of conditions that dignify all of us…You can have no war, but you can also not have peace… Work for peace in your own way.”

This event was co-sponsored by the Women’s Center, the Women’s and Gender Studies Program, the Department of Africana Studies, and the Department of History.