Steve Biko
Politician
1946 – 1977
Who was Steve Biko?
Stephen Bantu Biko was an anti-apartheid activist in South Africa in the 1960s and 1970s.
A student leader, he later founded the Black Consciousness Movement which would empower and mobilize much of the urban black population. Since his death in police custody, he has been called a martyr of the anti-apartheid movement. While living, his writings and activism attempted to empower black people, and he was famous for his slogan "black is beautiful", which he described as meaning: "man, you are okay as you are, begin to look upon yourself as a human being".
Even though Biko was never a member of African National Congress, ANC has included him in the pantheon of struggle heroes, going as far as using his image for campaign posters in South Africa's first non-racial elections in 1994. Nelson Mandela said of Biko: "They had to kill him to prolong the life of apartheid."
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- Born
- Dec 18, 1946
King William's Town, Eastern Cape - Also known as
- Stephen Biko
- Spouses
- Ntsiki Mashalaba
(1970/12 - 1977/09/12)
- Ntsiki Mashalaba
- Children
- Ethnicity
- Xhosa people
- Nationality
- South Africa
- Profession
- Education
- University of Natal
- St. Francis College, Natal
( - 1966)
- Died
- Sep 12, 1977
Pretoria
Submitted
on July 23, 2013
Citation
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"Steve Biko." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Apr. 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/steve_biko>.
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