Steve Biko (18 December 1946 – 12 September 1977) was a South African Xhosa anti-apartheid activist. Fighting racial segregation and white- minority rule in South Africa, Biko was at the forefront of the grassroots Black Consciousness Movement during the late 1960s and 1970s. Frustrated by the domination of white liberals in the anti-apartheid movement, he became a leading figure in the creation of the South African Students' Organisation in 1968. An African nationalist and African socialist, he was influenced by Frantz Fanon and the African- American Black Power movement. He promoted its slogan "black is beautiful", believing that black people needed to rid themselves of any sense of racial inferiority. In 1972, he helped found the Black People's Convention to spread these ideas among the wider population. Though the government banned Biko in 1973, he remained politically active. He was arrested in August 1977 and severely beaten by State security officers, resulting in his death. One of the earliest icons of the movement against apartheid, Biko is regarded as a political martyr.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Biko

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

490 BC:

Greco-Persian Wars: Athenians and their Plataean allies turned back the first Persian invasion of Greece in the Battle of Marathon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Marathon

1848:

Switzerland became a federal state with the adoption of a new constitution. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland

1910:

Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 8, one of the largest-scale choral works in the classical concert repertoire, was first performed in Munich. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._8_(Mahler)

1942:

World War II: The Imperial Japanese Army began the Battle of Edson's Ridge in an effort to retake Henderson Field on Guadalcanal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Edson%27s_Ridge

1992:

Aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour, American Mae Jemison became the first black woman in space. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mae_Jemison

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

overstuffed: Filled beyond capacity. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/overstuffed

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.   --H. L. Mencken https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/H._L._Mencken