Stephen Biko

Stephen Biko (1946-1977), South African political leader of the late 1960s, who became known as a martyr for black nationalism upon his death in prison. Biko was born in King William’s Town, in what is now the province of Eastern Cape. He entered the University of Natal in 1966 to study medicine. In 1972 Biko was expelled for his political activities, which were directed at the white-minority government of South Africa and its restrictive racial policies, known as apartheid.

Biko sought to liberate the minds of Africans, arguing that liberation grows out of “the realization by the Blacks that the most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.” He was one of the founders of the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) in the late 1960s. Students were in the forefront of the BCM and in 1968 they also founded the South African Students' Organization, which operated as a black group separate from the white-run National Union of South African Students. Biko served as the black organizations's first president. He also was instrumental in starting other black groups. In 1972 a coalition of more than 70 black organizations established the Black People's Convention, and Biko was named the honorary president.

The South African government initially tolerated the BCM and some of the other black organizations, but it began cracking down on them in the early 1970s. Biko was banned from many activities in 1973 and arrested several times. In August 1977 Biko was arrested again and was severely beaten by the police while in custody. He lapsed into a coma and died within a month of his arrest.