1977 — The Death of Steve Biko

On September 12, 1977, anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko died in a Pretoria prison hospital at age 30, after weeks in police custody. Biko, founder of the Black Consciousness Movement, had been arrested on August 18 at a roadblock and interrogated and beaten in Port Elizabeth's notorious Room 619. Police drove his naked, shackled, unconscious body 1,200 kilometers to Pretoria in the back of a Land Rover; he died of extensive brain injuries.

The apartheid government claimed he died of a hunger strike, but in 1997 officers confessed to the killing before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. His death inspired Peter Gabriel's anthem "Biko" and led the United Nations to impose a mandatory arms embargo on South Africa.