Stephen Bantu Biko (18 December 1946 – 12 September 1977) was a note anti-apartheid activist in South Africa in the 1960s and early 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". The ANC was very hostile to Biko and to Black Consciousness through the 70s to the mid 90s[Quotation needed from source] but has now included Biko in the pantheon of struggle heroes, going so far to use his image for campaign posters in South Africa's first non-racial elections, in 1994.