What comes first to mind when one thinks of political trials in South Africa are the Rivonia Trial of 1956–61 and the Treason Trial of 1963–64. Rarely, if ever, is the 1976 SASO/BPC trial mentioned in the same breath and yet it was perhaps the most political trial of all. The defendants, all members of the South African Students Organisation, or the Black People’s Convention, were in the dock for having the temerity to think; to have opinions; to envisage a more just and humane society. It was a trial about ideas, but as it unfolded it became a trial of the entire philosophy of Black Consciousness and those who championed its cause. On 2 May 1976, senior counsel for the defence in the trial of nine black activists in Pretoria called to the witness stand Stephen Bantu Biko. Although Biko was known to the authorities, and indeed was serving a banning order, not much about the man was known by anyone outside of his colleagues and the Black Consciousness Movement. That was about to change with his appearance as a witness in the SASO/BPC case. He entered the courtroom known to some, but after his four-day testimony he left as a celebrity known to all.

Court transcripts of South African activist Steve Biko; includes background information.

During the mid-1960s to the late 1970s, black college students in South Africa became frustrated with apartheid, Bantu education policy, Bantustans, white liberal organizations, and European-branded Christianity. Their anger with white nationalism under apartheid caused them to mobilize, rise up, and fight against systemic oppression for their liberation. The timing was pregnant with purpose for the new generation of leaders to rise since the ANC and PAC were banned, creating an aboveground silence amongst black anti-apartheid revolutionaries. The reader will be lured into the struggle, blood, loss, tears, and victories of blacks fighting against apartheid in South Africa. Readers will learn about the ideology and way of life adopted by black youth known as black consciousness. The book analyzes how students became so devoted in their beliefs and application of the tenets of black consciousness that it was likened to the gospel message. It describes how the teachings of black consciousness were used as psychological weapons of war to liberate the minds of blacks, white liberals, and the white apartheid regime. The primary focus of this book is on the life, message, and journey of BC’s preeminent leader, Steve Biko, who led the radical movement along with his colleagues to empower his people and encourage the nation to seek and possess truer humanity. His message takes center stage while his life takes several unexpected turns as the system hunts him down. However, the most controversial yet surprising component of this work would be the comparison of Biko’s life and death with Jesus’s life and death at Calvary—from the cradle to the grave. Though Biko was not necessarily a professed Christian, his life’s work and message make chilling parallels to the life of Jesus Christ, which are captured here. This book is bound to awaken the soul and mind of the reader as they become raptured in the intersectionality of race, justice, and faith.

First published in 1987, No Fears Expressed is a compilation of quotes taken from the words of the activist and Black Consciousness leader, Steve Biko. Sourced from the iconic I Write What I Like, including the collection of Biko’s columns published in the journal of the South Africa Student Organisation under the pseudonym of ‘Frank Talk’, as well as from The Testimony of Steve Biko (edited by Millard W. Arnold), this book contains many inspirational quotes and thoughts that are still relevant in South African society today. Biko’s words fall under a wide range of topics including racism, black-white relations, remedies for apartheid, colonialism, black rage and township life. All are topics that reflect the ever-present divide that exists between black and white South Africans. Steve Biko would have been 70 years old in 2017. His place in history is firmly cemented and the struggle that he gave his life for continues. He left a legacy of thoughts and words, and these words pay tribute to the courage and power of the young leader who was to become one of Africa’s heroes.

On 12th September 1977, Steve Biko was murdered in his prison cell. He was only 31, but his vision and charisma - captured in this collection of his work - had already transformed the agenda of South African politics. This book covers the basic philosophy of black consciousness, Bantustans, African culture, the institutional church and Western involvement in apartheid.

"The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed." Like all of Steve Biko's writings, those words testify to the passion, courage, and keen insight that made him one of the most powerful figures in South Africa's struggle against apartheid. They also reflect his conviction that black people in South Africa could not be liberated until they united to break their chains of servitude, a key tenet of the Black Consciousness movement that he helped found. I Write What I Like contains a selection of Biko's writings from 1969, when he became the president of the South African Students' Organization, to 1972, when he was prohibited from publishing. The collection also includes a preface by Archbishop Desmond Tutu; an introduction by Malusi and Thoko Mpumlwana, who were both involved with Biko in the Black Consciousness movement; a memoir of Biko by Father Aelred Stubbs, his longtime pastor and friend; and a new foreword by Professor Lewis Gordon. Biko's writings will inspire and educate anyone concerned with issues of racism, postcolonialism, and black nationalism.

It is now almost forty years since Steve Biko died in detention and the major Black Consciousness organizations were banned. Now forty years later, the face of black politics and indeed the whole balance of power in South Africa, has changed almost beyond recognition - and yet the memory of Biko and the imprint of Black Consciousness remain indelibly with us. In this book a number of Biko’s colleagues and friends have come together to reassess the achievements of Biko and Black Consciousness, and to examine the rich legacy they have left us. In their chapters they reflect on the many ways in which the Black Consciousness Movement succeeded in transforming black minds and politics by freeing people to take their destiny into their own hands - encouraging them to press the very limits and redefine what had been accepted as the bounds of possibility. Black Consciousness left a legacy of defiance in action and inspired a culture of fearlessness which was carried forward by the township youth in 1976 and sustained throughout the 1980s. For it is in South Africa’s township that there has been an awakening of the people, people who finally made the politicians move.

Subjected to 22 hours of interrogation, torture and beating by South African police on September 6, 1977, Steve Biko died six days later. Donald Woods, Biko's close friend and a leading white South African newspaper editor, exposed the murder helping to ignite the black revolution.