Remembering Wangari Maathai, First African Woman Nobel Peace Laureate

IN MEMORIAM -- September 26, 2011 at 3:56 PM EDT

Remembering Wangari Maathai, First African Woman Nobel Peace Laureate

Wangari Maathai, the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to save Kenya's forests, died Sunday after a long battle with ovarian cancer.

In 1977, Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement to plant trees in hopes of helping poor, rural Kenyans, especially women, by preventing environmental and social conditions from further deteriorating.

Maathai won the Peace Prize in 2004 after enduring death threats, whippings and being tear-gassed at a protest because of her devotion to forest preservation and her anti-corruption work.

She spoke with the NewsHour's Jeffrey Brown about her ecology work and social activism in 2005.

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