Steven Biko
| Steve Biko | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Bantu Stephen Biko 18 December 1946 Ginsberg, Union of South Africa |
| Died | 12 September 1977 (aged 30) Pretoria, Republic of South Africa |
| Occupation | Anti-apartheid activist |
| Organization |
South African Students' Organisation; Black People's Convention |
| Spouse(s) | Ntsiki Mashalaba |
| Partner(s) | Mamphela Ramphele |
| Children | 5, including Hlumelo Biko |
Bantu Stephen Biko (18 December 1946 – 12 September 1977) was a South African anti-apartheid activist. Ideologically an African nationalist and African socialist, he was at the forefront of a grassroots anti-apartheid campaign known as the Black Consciousness Movement during the late 1960s and 1970s. His ideas were articulated in a series of articles published under the pseudonym Frank Talk.
Raised in a poor Xhosa family, Biko grew up in Ginsberg township in the Eastern Cape. In 1966, he began studying medicine at the University of Natal, where he joined the National Union of South African Students (NUSAS). Strongly opposed to the apartheid system of racial segregation and white-minority rule in South Africa, Biko was frustrated that NUSAS and other anti-apartheid groups were dominated by white liberals, rather than by the blacks who were most affected by apartheid. He believed that even when well-intentioned, white liberals failed to comprehend the black experience and often acted in a paternalistic manner. He developed the view that to avoid white domination, black people had to organise independently, and to this end he became a leading figure in the creation of the South African Students' Organisation (SASO) in 1968. Membership was open only to "blacks", a term that Biko used in reference not just to Bantu-speaking Africans but also to Coloureds and Indians. He was careful to keep his movement independent of white liberals, but opposed anti-white racism and had various white friends and lovers. The National Party government were initially supportive, seeing SASO's creation as a victory for apartheid's ethos of racial separatism.
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