Black Consciousness Movement & the death of Steven Biko “The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppresed.” Steve Bantu Biko 1946 – 1977.

Beginnings After the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960, the National Party (NP) government passed harsher laws. By the late 1960s, the government had jailed, banned or exiled the majority of the Liberation Movement’s leaders. A new set of organisations emerged.

New Organisations United loosley around a set of ideas described as “Black Consciousness”, these organisations helped to educate and organise Black people, particularly the youth. The BCM urged a defiant rejection of apartheid. SASO – South African Students Organisation – founded by black students who refused to join NUSAS. Black workers began to organise trade unions. Victories in Mozambique & Angola stimulated further activity against apartheid.

Soweto Uprising - 1976 Student protests against Bantu education in Soweto, the Johannesburg informal settlement reserved for Africans, led to a 2 year uprising that spread to Black townships across the country. The protests were against all aspects of the apartheid system on Blacks. Police reportedly killed many protesters, including school children. Workers then protested against these killings.

Steve Biko Founder and leader of SASO, died in a Pretoria detention cell. He had been tortured and killed by police. From the beginning of his political life until his death, he remains one of the indisputable icons of the Black struggle against apartheid. He instilled courage among the masses to fight an unjust system.

Steve Biko