Steve Biko 1960's/70's

In 1973, angered by low wages, inflation, and unrest from black workers, there were a series of illegal strikes. During the first few months of 1973, there were more than six hundred illegal strikes held in Duban, a city in South Africa. Soon, work stopages and unrest eventually spread all over the country. The govermnent eventually responded after four years  establishing the Wiehahn Commision of Inquiry to investigate the horrors of black labour. In 1979, the state took action and offered legal recgnition to black labor workers.

            In the late 1960's the founding of the Black Consciousness movement helped to fuel the rebellion of the black citizens of South Africa.

Steve Biko followed Nelson Mendela in his courageous fight of Africans against apartheid in South Africa. While studying at the University of Natal, Biko helped found the South African Students Organization (SASO). In the early 1960s the National Union of South African Students (NUSAS) was based around white campuses. The Organization included the unification of university students in a “black consciousness,” awareness of one’s identity as a black person. Biko was elected the first president in 1968, and the SASO slowly evolved into the Black Consciousness Movement. The BCM was an active anti-Apartheid movement emerged out of the political turmoil created by the jailing and banning of the African National Congress. The BCM represented a social movement for a political consciousness. The BCM attacked traditional white values and refused to engage in white liberal opinion.