Stephen Biko and The Black Consciousness Movement

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Stephen Biko and The Black Consciousness Movement

• Jordan Post, Austin Holman and Kelsey Smith

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Early Life

• Born in King Williams Town December 18, 1946
• Attends the Charles Morgan Primary School and the
  Forbes Grant secondary school
• Attends Lovedale Institution and is expelled for
  anti-Apartheid actions
• strong resentment toward white authority.
• Older brother Khaya was arrested and jailed for 9
  months during a government crackdown for being a
  suspected member of the military wing of the
  Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC)

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Timeline

• 1966 (age 19) Attends the University of Natal
  (Non-European section) at Wentworth as a medical
  student.1969 (age 22) forms the South Africa
  Student's Organisation (SASO) and is elected as
  its first president. Also forms the Black
  People's Convention (BPC).1972 (age 25) helps
  form and works for Black Community Programmes
  (BCP) and the university discontinues his medical
  studies.1973 (age 26) banned and restricted
  to King William's Town for five years. Not
  allowed to work for any political organizations,
  not allowed to be published or quoted.1974 (age
  27) Arrested and discharged a number of times.
  On occasions charged and acquitted.1975 (age
  28) Founds Zimele Trust Fund and Ginsberg
  Educational Trust. Is detained and held for 137
  days without charge or trial.1976 (age 29)
  Elected as Honorary President of BPC. Subpoenaed
  to give testimony in the SASO-BPC trial. Detained
  in solitary confinement for 101 days.1977 (age
  30) Arrested in March, detained and then
  released. Arrested again in July, charged,
  acquitted. Arrested again on the 18 August.

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SASO

• Primary aim of the organization was to raise
  black consciousness in South Africa through
  lectures and community activities
• Apartheid system had a psychological effect on
  the Black population
• Blacks had been convinced that they were inferior
  to Whites
• Biko preached Black solidarity to break the
  chains of oppression.

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Banned

• In 1973 Biko was banned' by the Apartheid
  government
• Restricted to his home town of Kings William's
  Town in the Eastern Cape
• The banning entailed prohibiting him from
  teaching or making public addresses, preventing
  him from entering educational institutions and
  reporting to the local police station once every
  week
• Could no longer support the BCP in Durban, but
  was able to continue working for the BPC
• While banned Biko helped set up the Zimele Trust
  Fund which assisted political prisoners and their
  families

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Death

• On 21 August 1977 Biko was detained by the
  Eastern Cape security police and held in Port
  Elizabeth
• On 7 September "Biko sustained a head injury
  during interrogation, after which he acted
  strangely and was uncooperative. The doctors who
  examined him (naked, lying on a mat and manacled
  to a metal grille) initially disregarded overt
  signs of neurological injury."
• By 11 September Biko had slipped into a
  continual, semi-conscious state
• 12 September naked, lying on the floor of a cell
  in the Pretoria Central Prison, Biko died from
  brain damage

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Black Consciousness Movement (BCM)

• Uniting Black people to oppose apartheid and
  white supremacy

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BCM as Defined By Stephen Biko

• the realization by the Black man of the need to
  rally together with his brothers around the cause
  of their oppression-
• "seeks to show the black people the value of
  their own standards and outlook.

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Shaping The Movement

• Apartheid Government Banned Black resistance
  groups including ANC and PAC.
• An increase of strict legislation effectively
  silenced Black opposition (bannings, arrests,
  and imprisonment of leaders)
• This lull in black resistance only strengthened
  the force in the 1970s
• Steve Biko filled the leadership roll

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Biko leads the BCM

• Outspoken Voice
• Articulate educated
• He spoke truth into the people
• Martyr- Increased influence

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Under the BCM

• SRC- Students Representative Council
• UCM- University Christian Movement 1968
• SASO- South African Student Organization
• BPC- Black People Convention
• NUSAS- National Union of South African Students

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BCM Weakness

• It promoted a policy that required condemnation
  of the Apartheid
• Confrontation leading to outburst
• June 1976 Soweto Riot begins the widespread of
  spontaneous violence.
• Steve Bikos death in 77 was one of the most
  shocking and prominent of the casualties.

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The Civil Rights Movement

• Segregation of blacks and whites in the United
  States
• Considered equal under law but social equality
  was not gained
• Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
• Peaceful Revolution
• Similar to the ANC

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Black Panther Movement

• Black Panther Party started in 1966
• Originally named the Black Panther Party for Self
  Defense
• Militant political organization
• Huey Newton and Bobby Seale
• Similar to the Black Consciousness Movement

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Black Power Movement

• Black Nationalism
• Cultural, political, and economic separation
• Strives for unity amongst race rather than
  ethnicity
• Radical extension of the Civil Rights Movement

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• People are people! So Black Consciousness
  says forget about the color!

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Bibliography

• "Stephen Bantu Biko." South African History
  Online. Sept. 2007. 16 Apr. 2008
  lthttp//www.sahistory.org.za/pages/people/bios/bik
  o-s.htmgt.
• "Short Biography Stephen Bantu (Steve) Biko."
  About.Com. Mar. 1999. Macmillan. 16 Apr. 2008
  lthttp//africanhistory.about.com/library/biographi
  es/blbio-stevebiko.htmgt.
• "Biography." Steve Biko Foundation. 2006. 14 Apr.
  2008 lthttp//www.sbf.org.za/gt.
• "Steve Biko Biography." BookRags. 2006. Thomson
  Gale. 16 Apr. 2008 lthttp//www.bookrags.com/biogra
  phy/steve-biko/gt.
• "Biko Stephen Bantu Biko." South African
  History. 15 Apr. 2008 lthttp//www.sahistory.org.za
  /pages/governence-projects/black-consciousness/bik
  o/bc.htmgt.
• "Black Consciousness." Social Justice Movements.
  13 Jan. 2006. 14 Apr. 2008 lthttp//socialjustice.c
  cnmtl.columbia.edu/index.php/Black_Consciousnessgt.
  
• "What Was the Black Panther Party?" The Black
  Panther Party. 15 Apr. 2008 lthttp//www.blackpanth
  er.org/legacynew.htmgt.
• Sellman, James C. "The Black Nationalist - Black
  History, Pride, and Power." The Black
  Nationalist. 16 Apr. 2008 lthttp//www.theblacknati
  onalist.com/gt.
• Woods, Donald. Biko. New York Henry Holt and
  Company, 1987. 33-126.
• Davis, Stephen M. Apartheid's Rebels. New Haven
  and London Yale Universtiy P, 1987. 24-26.