AFRICAN LEADER OF THE WEEK

Stephen Biko
Born	Stephen Bantu Biko 18 December 1946 Ginsberg Township, South Africa
Died	12 September 1977 (aged 30) Pretoria, South Africa
Occupation	Anti-apartheid activist
Spouse(s)	Ntsiki Mashalaba
Children	Nkosinathi Biko, Samora Biko, Lerato Biko, Motlatsi Biko andHlumelo Biko

Stephen Bantu Biko (18 December 1946 – 12 September 1977) was an anti-apartheid activist in South Africa in the 1960s and 1970s.

A student leader, he later founded theBlack Consciousness Movement which would empower and mobilize much of the urban black population. Since his death in police custody, he has been called amartyr 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 the African National Congress (ANC), the 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."

HIS EARLY LIFE

Biko was born to parents Mzingayi Mathew and Alice 'Mamcete' Biko in Ginsberg Township, in the present-day Eastern Cape province of South Africa. His father was a government clerk, while his mother did domestic work in surrounding white homes.The third of four children, Biko grew up with his older sister Bukelwa; his older brother Khaya; and his younger sister Nobandile. In 1950, at the age of four, Biko suffered the loss of his father who was studying law.

Biko was a Xhosa. In addition to Xhosa, he spoke fluent English and fairly fluentAfrikaans. As a child, he attended Brownlee Primary School and Charles Morgan Higher Primary School. He was sent to Lovedale High School in 1964, a prestigious boarding school in Alice, Eastern Cape, where his older brother Khaya had previously been studying. During the apartheid era, with no freedom of association protection for non-white South Africans, Biko was expelled from Lovedale for his political views, and his brother arrested for his alleged association with Poqo (now known as the Azanian People's Liberation Army). After being expelled, he then attended and later graduated from St. Francis College, a Roman Catholic institution in Mariannhill, Natal.

He studied to be a doctor at the University of Natal Medical School.

More On Steve Biko As the week progresses...