3.3
Why is Amy Beihl’s
death regarded as extremely tragic?

Biehl was on a Fulbright scholarship at the time of her death, researching women's participation in the development of a new constitution for post-apartheid South Africa. While completing her honors thesis on Namibian independence discussions, she became interested in the study of African democratic movements.

While taking black friends home from a celebration in her honor in Gugulethu, Cape Town, Biehl was attacked and murdered by a group of youngsters.

At a church ceremony in Cape Town, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who had worked with Biehl at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, remembered her: "Amy's life had particular value because of the way she lived it as well as the way she died. She thought that everyone has worth, that the less fortunate had a special claim on the lives of the affluent, and that racial fairness and racial peace were principles worth fighting for, living for, and, if necessary, dying for."

The country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission freed the four men convicted of her murder. Her family supported their release in a stunning show of forgiveness.

The Amy Biehl Foundation was established by Biehl's parents to develop and empower kids in the townships and to prevent further bloodshed. Two of the individuals convicted of her murder worked for the Biehl's at the foundation.