Steve Biko

Bantu Stephen Biko (1946 – 1977) was a founder and martyr of the South African Black Consciousness Movement. Emersed in political activity since birth, he gave his life fighting for a South Africa where Blacks could be free in their own homeland. 

Biko believed that black people needed to rid themselves of any sense of racial inferiority, an idea he expressed by popularizing the slogan “Black is Beautiful”. In 1972, he helped found the Black People’s Convention to promote Black Consciousness ideas. The government came to see Biko as a threat and placed him under a banning order in 1973, severely restricting his activities. Although banned, Biko remained politically active, which led to him being detained and interrogated four times between 1975 and 1977. The last of which, “Biko sustained a head injury during interrogation, after which he acted strangely and was uncooperative. The doctors who examined him (naked, lying on a mat and manacled to a metal grille) initially disregarded overt signs of neurological injury.” The South African authorities overlooked the apparent signs of brain damage, and Biko eventually died lying on the floor of a prison cell. 

Steve Biko’s death caused an international outcry and instantly lifted him to martyrdom. He became a symbol of Black resistance to the oppressive apartheid regime.