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HSTORY T2 Gr. 12 Black Consciousness Essay

Grade 12: The Challenge of Black Consciousness to the Apartheid State (Essay) PPT

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History Grade 12 Revision Notes booklet and Essay Topics Guide for 2021-2023

History Grade 12 Revision Notes booklet and Guide for 2021-2023

On this page, you will find History Grade 12 Revision Notes booklet and Guide for 2021-2023, Paper 1 and paper 2.

Table of Contents

Paper 1 History Grade 12 Essay Topics for Exams

Topic 1: The Cold War

  • Origins of the Cold War (Source-Based)
  • Extension of the Cold War : Case Study: Vietnam ( Essay )

Topic 2: Civil Society Protests from the 1950s to the 1970s

  • The US Civil Rights Movement (Source-Based) o The Black Power Movement (Essay)

Topic 2: Independent Africa

  • Case study: The Congo

What is included in the guide:

  • Cognitive Levels of questions
  • How to prepare for source-based questions
  • Skills in answering source-based questions
  • Essay writing skills
  • Examination Guidelines (2021 – 2023)
  • A mind map to give you the summary of the topic
  • A timeline and a list of concepts you must know
  • Sources with different levels of questions and answers
  • Essays questions and how you should approach it

Paper 2 History Grade 12 Essay Topics for Exams

Topic 1: Civil Resistance in South Africa 1970s to 1980s:

  • Internal Resistance (Source-Based Question)
  • Challenges to apartheid – BCM (Essay) Topic 2: The end of the Cold War and a new world order
  • Globalisation (Source-Based Question)
  • the impact of Gorbachev’s reforms on the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the impact on South Africa (Essay) Topic 3: Broad overview of the Coming of Democracy in South Africa and Coming to terms with the past

History Grade 12 Revision Notes booklet and Guide for 2021-2023

View all # History-Grade 12 Study Resources

We have compiled great resources for History Grade 12 students in one place. Find all Question Papers, Notes, Previous Tests, Annual Teaching Plans, and CAPS Documents.

More Questions and Answers from Previous Question Papers

What is more useful for a grade 12 learner than actual exam questions and answers from previous question papers? We have collected 100s of grade 12 questions and answers for Grade 12 subjects from all South African Provinces: Limpopo, Gauteng, Free State, North West, Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, KZN, Western Cape, and Mpumalanga. The questions and answers are for Term 1, Term 2, Term 3, and Term 4, for the following years: 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, and 2018. Take a look at the links below , or search for more.

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History Grade 12

Black consciousness movement grade 12 essay guide (question and answers).

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Black Consciousness Movement Grade 12 Essay Guide (Question and Answers): The Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) was a grassroots anti-Apartheid activist movement that emerged in South Africa in the mid-1960s out of the political vacuum created by the jailing and banning of the African National Congress and Pan Africanist Congress leadership after the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960.

  • 1 How Essays are Assessed in Grade 12
  • 2.1 Question 1: How did the ideas of the black consciousness movement challenge the apartheid regime in the 1970?
  • 2.2 Question 2: How did the truth and reconciliation commision assist South Africa to come in terms with the past?
  • 3 More relevant sources
  • 4 Questions and Answers

How Essays are Assessed in Grade 12

The essay will be assessed holistically (globally). This approach requires the teacher to score the overall product as a whole, without scoring the component parts separately. This approach encourages the learner to offer an individual opinion by using selected factual evidence to support an argument. The learner will not be required to simply regurgitate ‘facts’ in order to achieve a high mark. This approach discourages learners from preparing ‘model’ answers and reproducing them without taking into account the specific requirements of the question. Holistic marking of the essay credits learners’ opinions supported by evidence. Holistic assessment, unlike content-based marking, does not penalise language inadequacies as the emphasis is on the following:

  • The construction of an argument
  • The appropriate selection of factual evidence to support such an argument
  • The learner’s interpretation of the question.

Black Consciousness Movement Grade 12 Questions

Question 1: how did the ideas of the black consciousness movement challenge the apartheid regime in the 1970.

How to answer and get good marks?

  • Learners must use relevant evidence e.g. Uses relevant evidence that shows a thorough understanding of how the ideas of Black Consciousness challenged the apartheid regime in the 1970s .
  • Learners must also use evidence very effectively in an organised paragraph that shows an understanding of the topic

When you answer, you should not ignore the following key facts where applicable:

  • Black Consciousness wanted black South Africans to do things for themselves
  • Black Consciousness wanted black South Africans to act independently of other races x Self-reliance promoted self-pride among black South Africans

SASO references can also be applicable (if sources are presented)

  • SASO was formed to propagate the ideas of Black Consciousness
  • To safeguard and promote the interests of black South Africans students
  • SASO was based on the philosophy of Black Consciousness
  • SASO was associated with Steve Biko
  • SASO encouraged black South Africans students to be self-assertive

Question 2: How did the truth and reconciliation commision assist South Africa to come in terms with the past?

  • To ensure healing and reconciliation among victims and perpetrators of political violence through confession
  • The TRC encouraged the truth to be told
  • Hoped to bring about forgiveness through healing
  • To bring about ‘Reconciliation and National Unity’ among all South Africans
  • Any other relevant response.

Download Black Consciousness Movement Grade 12 Essay Guide (Question and Answers) on pdf format

More relevant sources

https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/steve-biko-the-black-consciousness-movement-steve-biko-foundation/AQp2i2l5?hl=en

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Black-Consciousness-movement

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Grade 10 history, questions and answers based on bantu education act for revision.

Questions and Answers based on Bantu Education Act for Revision:

  • 1 Why do you think Bantu Education Act or Law is interesting or important to know
  • 2 What are the main disadvantages of Bantu Education Act
  • 3 What were the long-lasting consequences of Bantu Education

Why do you think Bantu Education Act or Law is interesting or important to know

The Bantu Education Act, 1953 (Act No. 47 of 1953; later renamed the Black Education Act, 1953) was a South African segregation law that legislated for several aspects of the apartheid system. Its major provision enforced racially separated educational facilities.

What are the main disadvantages of Bantu Education Act

Below are the main disadvantages of the Bantu Education Act

  • low funding and expenditures to black schools,
  • a lack of numbers and training of black school teachers,
  • impoverished black school conditions and resources,
  • a poor education curriculum.

What were the long-lasting consequences of Bantu Education

Long-lasting consequences of the Bantu Education Act include unequal access to educational and professional opportunities

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Home

1970s: Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa

Teachers and learners should note that there are many links on this site which deal with the depth and breadth of the Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa. This Grade 12 classroom section gives a broad outline of the content required for the school curriculum. For more detail, and for research sites for your Continuous Assessment Tasks, you should refer to the links suggested in this section, particularly SAHO's Black Consciousness Movement feature.

This background section is a short summary of events in South Africa in the decades preceding the 1970s. It is not part of your Grade 12 curriculum, but simply serves to refresh your memory about what you learnt in Grade 9.

Apartheid in South Africa

The National Party come to power in 1948 and governed the country according to apartheid laws. Apartheid literally means 'apartness'. It was a policy designed to keep white South Africans separate and to oppress black South Africans.

People can be divided into many different kinds of groups, for example, males and females, rich and poor, young and old, and so on. Apartheid divided South Africans into groups according to skin colour. Apartheid was based on racism and built on the prejudice that white people were superior to everyone else.

According to the Population Registration Act of 1950 , every person had to be classified and registered as White, Coloured, Indian/Asiatic or 'Native'. 'Native' was later labelled 'Bantu' and still later 'Black' by the apartheid government.

The use of capital letters for each group reinforced the government's ideology - that 'race groups' are rigid and fixed.

The whites-only government made the laws and held all the positions of power. Apartheid laws affected every detail of the lives of all South Africans. Laws controlled who had power, who could vote, where people lived, worked and were educated. The best land, resources, facilities and amenities were reserved for whites and laws were brutally implemented.

White people's lives became better, while black people experienced more and more hardship. The state empowered whites economically, while black people were deliberately denied access to wealth creation.

Not all whites supported apartheid, and not all black people actively resisted it. Some white people participated actively in the struggle against apartheid, while some black people co-operated with the apartheid state, usually in exchange for financial reward.

Apartheid government Prime Ministers were:

The government changed in constitution from 1979 under the next Prime Minister, P.W. Botha. The head of government was now called the President:

State repression always went hand in hand with resistance. As early as 1902, a political organization called the APO was founded and demanded rights for 'coloured' people. The ANC or African National Congress was formed in 1912. The South African Indian Congress was formed in 1923 to struggle for Indian rights.

These organisations peacefully resisted the laws that discriminated against all black people. Resistance took the form of peaceful protests like boycotts, petitions and strikes. The nature of resistance was passive and non-violent up until the early 1960s.

What is racism?

South Africa's population was divided up in 1948 as follows:

69% African 21% White 8 % Coloured 2 % Indian

Total population: 11,415,945

The apartheid system and the division of the population were built on racism. Racism is the false idea that certain groups of people are better than others. Racists divide the human race into different 'race groups' and believe that it is acceptable to exclude or dominate 'inferior groups' on the grounds of their 'race'.

Most people take it for granted that all humankind can be divided into 'races', but the concept of 'human races' is not scientific. Physical features like skin colour, hair type and facial shape do not relate to how people think or behave.

Clearly, not all people look the same. Some are tall and others are short. Our skin colours and hair textures are different, and we have different facial features. Scientists say these differences developed through evolutionary changes about 150 000 years ago. People developed differently according to the environments they lived in.

For example, people living in parts of the world where it is hot developed darker skins to protect them from the rays of the sun. People living in colder climates have short, stout bodies to keep in heat and pale skins, as there is less sunlight.

The genes or chemical codes in the nucleus of all living things determine the colour of our skin. The genes that determine skin colour are as important as the genes that determine the size of our toes.

Many people argue that the word 'race' should no longer be used for the following reasons:

Most scientists today would say that there is no such thing as race.

The misuse of the term 'race' to classify people has gone hand in hand with disregard for human rights. This has resulted in cruel behaviour towards those regarded as 'inferior'.

These racial categories that were used to label us in the apartheid era have in many ways become part of our identities and how we think about ourselves. As the laws that existed were applied according to these categories, it is impossible to write a history of South Africa without using racial labels.

The United Nations Organisation was formed at the end of the Second World War. The United Nations Declaration of Human Rights confirms:

The inherent dignity and worth of the human person

The equal rights all members of the human family

That we should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

The National Party apartheid government came to power in the same year that the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Apartheid laws ignored every one of the rights recognised in this Declaration, and the South African government did not sign the UDHR. The United Nations declared apartheid a 'crime against humanity'.

In 1957, a Declaration of Conscience was issued by more than 100 leaders from every continent. The Declaration was an appeal to South Africa to bring its policies into line with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations.

The Declaration began the slow process of mobilising world sentiment against apartheid. South African democrats, of all colours, felt supported and many white racists learned for the first time how isolated they were.

You can read more about the international struggle against apartheid in the Grade 12 section on South Africa the 1980s.

Resistance to apartheid in the 1950's

The majority of South Africans experienced apartheid as a negative, harsh, unjust system. The National Party government forbade resistance to its laws.

Many people have used non-violence in South Africa and in other countries to demonstrate their demand for change. The life and work of M.K Gandhi , who lived in South Africa between 1893 and 1914, has inspired many non-violent movements, including the Civil Rights Movement in the United States .

In the 1950s, people continued to resist without violence. Protests were met with state repression, such as banning, arrests, stricter laws and police violence.

In 1955, an important document called The Freedom Charter was agreed upon at the Congress of the People in Kliptown, Soweto. The Congress of the People was a joint anti-apartheid movement including; the African National Congress, the (white) Congress of Democrats, the Coloured People's Congress, and the South African Indian Congress. In the following year many members of the Alliance were arrested and charged with treason.

The policies set out in the Charter included a demand for a multi-racial, democratically elected government. Africanist members of the ANC rejected the Freedom Charter and broke away to form the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) in 1959.

Resistance in the 1960s

a. The Sharpeville Massacre

By 1958, nearly one and a half million Africans were being convicted under the pass laws every year. By 1960, two of the political organisations resisting apartheid, the ANC and the PAC, organised anti-pass campaigns. The PAC organised a demonstration on 21 March 1960.

On 21 March 1960, thousands of people gathered outside the police station in Sharpeville (near Vereeniging), offering themselves up for arrest for not carrying their pass books. The police opened fire on the crowd, and at the end of the day, 69 people were dead and nearly 200 wounded.  Most of those killed had been shot in the back as they tried to flee. The massacre made international headlines.

b. Philip Kgosana and the march to Cape Town

After the Sharpeville massacre, tensions began mounting in the Cape Town African townships of Nyanga and Langa.

Philip Kgosana , a leader of the PAC in Cape Town, was 23 years old when he lead a march of 30 000 people from Langa to the city centre of Cape Town on 30 March, 1960 (9 days after the Sharpeville massacre). In Cape Town, he met with the police chief on behalf of the marchers. The police chief promised to set up a meeting between Kgosana and the Minister of Justice, on condition that the marchers returned home.

Philip Kgosana convinced the crowd to walk back home. When he arrived for the promised meeting with the Minister of Justice the following day, he was arrested. At the end of 1960, he was allowed out on temporary bail to visit his family in the Transvaal for Christmas. He used this opportunity to flee the country and began a life in exile.

c. The banning of the ANC and PAC and the formation of Umkhonto weSizwe and Poqo

The government responded to the 1960 anti-pass protests by banning the ANC and PAC .

Many people began to feel it was useless for the ANC and PAC to continue using non-violence against a government that responded with violent attacks on unarmed people.

The ANC established an underground armed movement known as Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) or the Spear of the Nation, which was led by Nelson Mandela. Between 1961 and 1963, MK attacked over 200 non-civilian targets throughout South Africa. The targets included government buildings and other property, like electricity pylons. People were not initially attacked.

In August 1962, Nelson Mandela was captured by the police. In June 1963, other leaders of Umkhonto weSizwe, including Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Raymond Mhlaba and Ahmed Kathrada were arrested in Rivonia, Johannesburg. They were charged and tried in the famous Rivonia Trial . They were sentenced to life imprisonment in June 1964.

The PAC formed an armed wing called Poqo . They are less well-known today but also played an important role in SA history.

Robert Sobukwe was the founding president of the Pan Africanist Congress. Some of his ideas later inspired Steve Biko and the Black Consciousness Movement .

Sobukwe was put on trial for his role in the anti-pass campaign and sentenced to three years in prison in Pretoria. After completing his three-year sentence, Sobukwe was detained by a special Act of Parliament called the 'Sobukwe Clause', and transferred to Robben Island.

The 'Sobukwe Clause' was approved annually. On the Island, he was completely isolated from the other political prisoners. After Sobukwe's release from the Island, he was sent to Kimberley, a place where he had never lived before, and kept under house arrest until his death in 1978.

In the 1960s, after the Rivonia Trial and Sobukwe's arrest, organised resistance to apartheid within South Africa slowed down. Many anti-apartheid leaders and supporters were in jail or had gone into exile. However, in the 1970s, a new movement called Black Consciousness or BC led to renewed resistance.

The movement was led by a man called Steve Biko . BC encouraged all black South Africans to recognize their inherent dignity and self-worth. In the 1970s, the Black Consciousness Movement spread from university campuses into urban black communities throughout South Africa.

Biko was banned in 1973. This meant that he was not allowed to speak to more than one person at a time, was restricted to certain areas, and could not make speeches in public. It was also forbidden to quote anything he said, including speeches or simple conversations, or to otherwise mention him.

In spite of the repression of the apartheid government, Biko and the BCM played a large role in inspiring protests, which led to the Soweto Uprising on 16 June 1976 .

What is Black Consciousness?

In 1959, when Robert Sobukwe and others broke away from the African National Congress to form the Pan African Congress, they argued against the non-racial stance of the Freedom Charter, and for the African leadership of the freedom struggle. Many of Sobukwe's ideas influenced the Black Consciousness Movement which developed in South Africa in the 1970s.

Black Consciousness is a global movement which aimed to restore black consciousness and African consciousness, which had been suppressed by slavery, colonialism and racism.

The Black Consciousness Movement was an understanding that black liberation would not only come from structural political changes, but also from psychological transformation in the minds of black people. It was not enough to just believe in and fight for freedom. To take real power, black people had to believe in themselves and the value of their blackness.

The term Black Consciousness was originally used by an American educator and Civil Rights activist named W. E. B. Du Bois . He said that people of African origin should take pride in their blackness. Du Bois explained that African Americans had a 'double consciousness' which corrodes their sense of identity. Black identity had been influenced by:

The stereotypes and misrepresentations of black Americans as weak, stupid and cowardly, by dominant white American culture.

Racism experienced by black Americans excluded them from mainstream society.

The internal conflict experienced by African Americans between being African and American simultaneously.

Double consciousness is an awareness of one's self, and an awareness of how others perceive you and expect you to behave. The danger of double consciousness for Blacks was in changing their identities according to how whites perceived them.

After the Second World War, Pan Africanism swept through colonized Africa. The Uhuru Movement called for "Africa for the Africans" and independence from colonial rule.

During the 1960s and 1970s most of Africa's colonies became politically independent, but South Africa remained under the firm grip of apartheid.

The Black Consciousness Movement began to develop in South Africa during the late 1960s. The ANC was committed to an armed struggle, but Umkhonto we Sizwe was not able to seize and hold territory in South Africa, nor to win significant concessions from the apartheid regime.

The ANC had been banned, and although the Freedom Charter remained in circulation in spite of attempts to censor it, for many South Africans, the ANC had disappeared. As black people continued to struggle against apartheid, Biko and other Black Consciousness theorists began to engage with the meaning of blackness itself.

BC also drew on the rhetoric and ideology of black power and black theology coming out of the United States in the 1960s.

Biko was inspired by some of Robert Sobukwe's ideas. He was also influenced by the ideas of Du Bois and Marcus Garvey, as well as thinkers such as Frantz Fanon, Léopold Senghor,Aimé Césaire, Amilcar Cabral, and the American Black Panther Party .

Biko's ideology reflects the concern for the existential struggle of a black person as a proud and dignified human being, in spite of the oppression of colonialism and apartheid. Biko saw the struggle to restore African consciousness as having two stages:

Psychological liberation

Physical liberation

An important part of psychological liberation was to insist that black people lead black liberation movements. This meant rejecting the non-racialism of the ANC. Whites could offer understanding and support, but could not lead or belong to the Black Consciousness Movement. It was argued that even well-intentioned white people, often unwittingly, re-enacted the paternalism of the society in which they lived. Biko stressed that in a racist society, black people had to first liberate themselves and gain psychological, physical and political power for themselves before non-racial organizations could truly be non-racial.

A parallel can be seen in the United States, where Malcolm X, the American Black Power leader, also rejected white participation.

As Steve Biko said:

'We are aware that the white man is sitting at our table. We know he has no right there, we want to remove him from our table ... decorate it in true African style, settle down and ask him to join us on our terms if he wishes'.

With regard to physical liberation, at times Biko agreed with the non-violent tactics of M.K Gandhi and Martin Luther King. However, Biko understood the political control and formidable military might of the apartheid regime, so non-violence was a strategic move, rather than a personal conviction.

For Biko, Black South-Africans included those classified as Indians and Coloureds. Biko advocated the eradication of the stereotypes and inter-group suspicions amongst all oppressed South Africans. Oppression existed in varying degrees against those who were classified 'non-white' as a deliberate means by which the apartheid government divided the oppressed among themselves. Biko stated that:

"Being black is not a matter of pigmentation - being black is a reflection of a mental attitude. Merely by describing yourself as black you have started on a road towards emancipation, you have committed yourself to fight against all forces that seek to use your blackness as a stamp that marks you out as a subservient being.ÁƒÂ¢Á¢Â‚¬ Source: www.azapo.org.za

Steve Biko observed that Black Africans seemed to be defeated and had been "reduced to an obliging shell". Black Consciousness was not black racism, and did not call for vengeance on white society. BC aimed to cultivate a sense of solidarity and pride in black South Africans.

Along with political action, a major component of the Black Consciousness Movement was its Black Community Programs, which included the organization of community medical clinics, aiding entrepreneurs, and holding "consciousness" classes and adult education literacy classes.

Dr Mamphela Ramphele started her career as a student activist in the Black Consciousness Movement. She was especially involved in organizing and working with community development programmes. She and Biko had a long romantic relationship, although Biko was married at the time. He and Ramphele had two children, the first, a girl, Lerato (1974), died at two months. Their son, Hlumelo Biko, was born in 1978, after Biko's death.

From 1977 to 1984 Dr Ramphele was banished by the apartheid government to Lenyenye near Tzaneen where she continued doing community work with the rural poor and established the Ithuseng Community Health Programme.

The state suppression of the BCM after the Soweto Uprising in 1976 , and Biko's death while in police custody in 1977, weakened the organizational base of the movement. Many of its supporters went into exile and the majority joined the African National Congress (ANC), the largest movement fighting for majority rule in South Africa.

The PAC's Azanian People's Liberation Army (APLA), the successor to Poqo , was also active in exile. However, the ANC's MK grew over the years in international and national stature and became the more powerful liberation movement.

1976 Soweto Uprising

This is a very brief summary of the Soweto Uprising. There are many articles and photographs on this site which you should refer to.

Soweto stands for South-West Townships, and lies to the south west of Johannesburg. It was a township set up by the government for black Africans to live in. Today, the events in Soweto and around the country in 1976 are remembered in a public holiday called Youth Day every year on June 16 in South Africa.

Although he did not directly take part in the Soweto riots, Steve Biko's BC ideas motivated students. On the morning of 16 June 1976 twenty thousand school children in Soweto went on a protest march. They were protesting against having to use Afrikaans as one of the languages of instruction at school. One young student said at the time:

"In 1973 I was doing Form One (Grade 8). We were taught Maths in Afrikaans - not all subjects were taught in Afrikaans. We had difficulties; even Mr Ntshalintshali, who taught us Rekeningkunde, struggled with Afrikaans. Both teachers and learners battled with Afrikaans." - Phydian Matsepe - quoted in Soweto 16 June 1976, Elsabe Brink et al, Kwela Books, 2001

The issue of Afrikaans was just the spark that started the Uprising - the real issue was the oppressive apartheid laws.

The march started off peacefully, but later the police opened fire on the protesting students.

The media often name Hector Petersen as the first child to be shot by police. However, another boy, Hastings Ndlovu, was in fact the first child to be shot, but there were no photographers on the scene, and his name never became famous.

Activity: The poster above depicts an iconic South African image. What is an iconic image and what scene does this image represent?

The iconic image of the dying Hector Petersen, a thirteen year old boy from Orlando High, taken by press photographer Sam Nzima, was published around the world.

Chaos then broke loose throughout the whole of Soweto. Within the following week, at least 176 had died. Within the next few months, the protests and clashes with the police had spread to 160 black townships all over South Africa. 1976 was a turning point in South African history. The campaign against apartheid increased in intensity, and so did the government's repression.

Over 14,000 students left the country and went into exile. They joined Umkontho we Sizwe and APLA for military training in other countries. The liberation struggle against apartheid had new life. Resistance against apartheid increased both inside and outside South Africa.

Biko's death

The government detained Steve Biko without trial for a few months in 1976. In 1977, Biko was arrested again. Within eighteen days of his arrest, he was dead. According to the officer in charge, "there was a scuffle...Mr Biko hit his head against a wall." (It was later shown that he was brutally tortured).

News of his terrible death spread quickly across the world. It caused an international outcry and Biko became a martyr and symbol of resistance against apartheid, and a universal symbol of resistance against oppression.

A British songwriter, Peter Gabriel wrote a song called Biko, with the words:

You can blow out a candle But you can't blow out a fire Once the flames begin to catch The wind will blow it higher.

In 2007, thirty years after his death, Biko's son Nkosinathi, who manages the Steve Biko Foundation, said:

"In popular culture, he [remains] a very powerful symbol of hope ... an icon of change. He helped to articulate our understanding, our own identity that continues to resonate in young South Africans to this day. His ideas have a real influence well beyond the political field, in cultural organisations, in research organisations and in churches".

Biko's funeral was attended by diplomats from 13 Western countries, and over 10 000 South Africans from all over the country. Apartheid police roadblocks prevented thousands more from attending.

The funeral was not only a commemoration of Biko's life, but also a protest rally against apartheid.

In 1997, Biko's killers appeared before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to request amnesty for the death of the student leader. However, they only claimed responsibility for assaulting him and maintained that his death was accidental. They also testified that they lied about his date of death. Biko's family opposed the TRC hearings on the grounds that they would rob them of justice.

Shifting political alliances in the late 1970s

In the 1960s, the apartheid government decided to take away the South African citizenship of Africans by creating 'homelands'. Africans were divided into 'ethnic groups' such as Zulu, Xhosa, Tswana or Sesotho. The already existing 'native reserves' were to be turned into 'independent states' for each 'ethnic group'.

The word 'Bantustan' was a negative word used to describe these 'native reserves'. Bantustan is used in a mocking way because people who lived in the Bantustans did not have real power and few supported the leaders. None of these Bantustans were recognised by the outside world.

The government's aim was the total removal of the African population from South Africa. Connie Mulder, Minister of Plural Relations and Development said:

There will be not one black man with South African citizenship ... Every black man in South Africa will eventually live in some independent new state. There will no longer be an obligation on this Parliament to accommodate these people politically.

People were forced to move to the Bantustans, and dumped in the middle of nowhere with inadequate facilities. Millions of people were moved by the police and the army so they would fall within the boundary of an 'independent' Bantustan.

In this attempt to divide black South Africans, the KwaZulu 'homeland' was created for Zulus. In 1976, Mangosuthu (Gatsha) Buthelezi was named chief minister of KwaZulu, and the white government declared KwaZulu a self-governing territory a year later. Buthelezi established good relations with the National Party government, but refused to take 'independence'.

Buthelezi had been a member of the ANC Youth League, and in those days, had befriended leaders in the anti-apartheid struggle. He attended Sobukwe's funeral in Graaff Reinet in 1978. At the funeral, Buthelezi was jeered at and stoned by young militant Black Consciousness followers.

Desmond Tutu , at the time the Bishop of Lesotho, was a speaker at the funeral, and he advised Buthelezi to leave. The humiliated chief was taken to safety, but in the process, one of his bodyguards shot and wounded three of the mourners. The incident signalled a split between Buthelezi and the ANC, as the ANC did not want to alienate the young Black Consciousness followers that were joining the ANC in exile after the 1976 Soweto Uprising.

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grade 12 history essay bcm

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The Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) was an influential student movement in the 1970s in Apartheid South Africa. The Black Consciousness Movement promoted a new identity and politics of racial solidarity and became the voice and spirit of the anti-apartheid movement at a time when both the African National Congress and the Pan-Africanist Congress had been banned in the wake of the Sharpeville Massacre . The BCM reached its zenith in the Soweto Student Uprising of 1976 but declined quickly afterward.

Rise of the Black Consciousness Movement

The Black Consciousness Movement began in 1969 when African students walked out of the National Union of South African Students, which was multiracial but white-dominated, and founded the South African Students Organization (SASO). The SASO was an explicitly non-white organization open to students classified as African, Indian, or Coloured under Apartheid Law.

It was to unify non-white students and provide a voice for their grievances, but the SASO spearheaded a movement that reached far beyond students. Three years later, in 1972, the leaders of this Black Consciousness Movement formed the Black People’s Convention (BPC) to reach out to and galvanize adults and non-students.

Aims and Forerunners of the BCM

Loosely speaking, the BCM aimed to unify and uplift non-white populations, but this meant excluding a previous ally, liberal anti-apartheid whites. As Steve Biko , the most prominent Black Consciousness leader, explained, when militant nationalists said that white people did not belong in South Africa, they meant that “we wanted to remove [the white man] from our table, strip the table of all trappings put on it by him, decorate it in true African style, settle down and then ask him to join us on our own terms if he liked.”

The elements of Black pride and celebration of Black culture linked the Black Consciousness Movement back to the writings of W. E. B. Du Bois, as well as the ideas of pan-Africanism and La Negritude movement. It also arose at the same time as the Black Power movement in the United States, and these movements inspired each other; Black Consciousness was both militant and avowedly non-violent. The Black Consciousness movement was also inspired by the success of the FRELIMO in Mozambique. 

Soweto and the Afterlives of the BCM

The exact connections between the Black Consciousness Movement and the Soweto Student Uprising are debated, but for the Apartheid government, the connections were clear enough. In the aftermath of Soweto, the Black People’s Convention and several other Black Consciousness movements were banned and their leadership arrested, many after being beaten and tortured, including Steve Biko who died in police custody.

The BPC was partially resurrected in the Azania People’s Organization, which is still active in South African politics.

  • Steve, Biko, I Write What I like: Steve Biko. A Selection of his Writings, ed. by Aelred Stubbs, African Writers Series . (Cambridge: Proquest, 2005), 69.
  • Desai, Ashwin, “Indian South Africans and the Black Consciousness Movement under Apartheid.” Diaspora Studies 8.1 (2015): 37-50. 
  • Hirschmann, David. “The Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa.”  The Journal of Modern African Studies . 28.1 (Mar., 1990): 1-22.
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Steve Biko: The Black Consciousness Movement

The saso, bcp & bpc years.

By Steve Biko Foundation

Stephen Bantu Biko was an anti-apartheid activist in South Africa in the 1960s and 1970s. A student leader, he later founded the Black Consciousness Movement which would empower and mobilize much of the urban black population. Since his death in police custody, he has been called a martyr of the anti-apartheid movement. While living, his writings and activism attempted to empower black people, and he was famous for his slogan “black is beautiful”, which he described as meaning: “man, you are okay as you are, begin to look upon yourself as a human being”. Scroll on to learn more about this iconic figure and his pivotal role in the Black Consciousness Movement...

“Black Consciousness is an attitude of mind and a way of life, the most positive call to emanate from the black world for a long time” - Biko

1666/67 University of Natal SRC

On completion of his matric at St Francis College, Biko registered for a medical degree at the University of Natal’s Black Section. The University of Natal professed liberalism and was home to some of the leading intellectuals of that tradition.  The University of Natal had also become a magnet attracting a number of former black educators, some of the most academically capable members of black society, who had been removed from black colleges by the University Act of 1959.  The University of Natal also attracted as law and medical students some of the brightest men and women from various parts of the country and from various political traditions. Their convergence at the University of Natal in the 1960s turned the University into a veritable intellectual hub, characterised by a diverse culture of vibrant political discourse. The University thus became the mainstay of what came to be known as the Durban Moment.

At Natal Biko hit the ground running. He was immediately influenced by, and in turn, influenced this dynamic environment. He was elected to serve on the Student's Representative Council (SRC) of 1966/67, in the year of his admission. Although he initially supported multiracial student groupings, principally the National Union of South African Students (NUSAS), a number of voices on campus were radically opposed to NUSAS, through which black students had tried for years to have their voices heard but to no avail. This kind of frustration with white liberalism was not altogether unknown to Steve Biko, who had experienced similar disappointment at Lovedale.

Medical Students at the University of Natal (Left to Right: Brigette Savage, Rogers Ragavan, Ben Ngubane, Steve Biko)

Correspondence designating Biko as an SRC delegate at the annual NUSAS Conference

In 1967, Biko participated as an SRC delegate at the annual NUSAS conference held at Rhodes University. A dispute arose at the conference when the host institution prohibited racially mixed accommodation in obedience to the Group Areas Act, one of the laws under apartheid that NUSAS professed to abhor but would not oppose. Instead NUSAS opted to drive on both sides of the road: it condemned Rhodes University officials while cautioning black delegates to act within the limits of the law. For Biko this was another defining moment that struck a raw nerve in him. 

Speech by Dr. Saleem Badat, author of Black Man You Are on Your Own, on SASO

Reacting angrily, Biko slated the artificial integration of student politics and rejected liberalism as empty echoes by people who were not committed to rattling the status quo but who skilfully extracted what best suited them “from the exclusive pool of white privileges”. This gave rise to what became known as the Best-able debate:  Were white liberals the people best able to define the tempo and texture of black resistance? This debate had a double thrust. On the one hand, it was aimed at disabusing white society of its superiority complex and challenged the liberal establishment to rethink its presumed role as the mouthpiece of the oppressed.  On the other, it was designed as an equally frank critique of black society, targeting its passivity that cast blacks in the role of “spectators” in the course of history. The 7th April 1960 saw the banning of the African National Congress and the Pan African Congress and the imprisonment of the leadership of the liberation movement had created a culture of apathy 

Bantu Stephen Biko

“ We have set out on a quest for true humanity, and somewhere on the distant horizon we can see the glittering prize. Let us march forth with courage and determination, drawing strength from our common plight and our brotherhood. In time we shall be in a position to bestow upon South Africa the greatest gift possible - a more human face.”

Biko argued that true liberation was possible only when black people were, themselves, agents of change. In his view, this agency was a function of a new identity and consciousness, which was devoid of the inferiority complex that plagued black society. Only when white and black societies addressed issues of race openly would there be some hope for genuine integration and non-racialism.   

Transcript of a 1972 Interview with Biko

At the University Christian Movement (UCM) meeting at Stutterheim in 1968, Biko made further inroads into black student politics by targeting key individuals and harnessing support for an exclusively black movement. In 1969, at the University of the North near Pietersburg, and with students of the University of Natal playing a leading role, African students launched a blacks-only student organisation, the South African Student Organisation (SASO).  SASO committed itself to the philosophy of black consciousness.  Biko was elected president.

Black Student Manifesto

The idea that blacks could define and organise themselves and determine their own destiny through a new political and cultural identity rooted in black consciousness swept through most black campuses, among those who had experienced the frustrations of years of deference to whites. In a short time, SASO became closely identified with 'Black Power' and African humanism and was reinforced by ideas emanating from Diasporan Africa. Successes elsewhere on the continent, which saw a number of countries, achieve independence from their colonial masters also fed into the language of black consciousness.

SASO's Definition of Black Consciousness

Cover of a 1971 SASO Newsletter

“ In 1968 we started forming what is now called SASO... which was firmly based on Black Consciousness, the essence of which was for the black man to elevate his own position by positively looking at those value systems that make him distinctively a man in society” - Biko

Cover of a 1971 SASO Newsletter 

Cover of a 1972 SASO Newsletter

Cover of SASO newsletter, 1973

Cover of a 1975 SASO Newsletter

Steve Biko speaks on BCM

The Black People’s Convention By 1971, the influence of SASO had spread well beyond tertiary education campuses. A growing body of people who were part of SASO were also exiting the university system and needed a political home. SASO leaders moved for the establishment of a new wing of their organisation that would embrace broader civil society.  The Black People’s Convention (BPC) with just such an aim was launched in 1972. The BPC immediately addressed the problems of black workers, whose unions were not yet recognised by the law. This invariably set the new organisation on a collision path with the security forces.  By the end of the year, however, forty-one branches were said to exist. Black church leaders, artists, organised labour and others were becoming increasingly politicised and, despite the banning in 1973 of some of the leading figures in the movement, black consciousness exponents became most outspoken, courageous and provocative in their defiance of white supremacy.  

BPC Membership Card

Minutes of the first meeting of the Black People's Convention

In 1974 nine leaders of SASO and BPC were charged with fomenting unrest.  The accused used the seventeen-month trial as a platform to state the case of black consciousness in a trial that became known as the Trial of Ideas. They were found guilty and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment, although acquitted on the main charge of being party to a revolutionary conspiracy.  

SASO/BPC Trial Coverage SASO/BPC Trial Coverage BPC Members

SASO/BPC Coverage

Poster from the 1974 Viva Frelimo Rally

Their conviction simply strengthened the black consciousness movement.  Growing influence led to the formation of the South African Students Movement (SASM), which targeted and organised at high school level. SASM was to play a pivotal role in the student uprisings of 1976.

Barney Pityana, Founding SASO Member

In 1972, the year of the birth of the BPC, Biko was expelled from medical school. His political activities had taken a toll on his studies. More importantly, however, according to his friend and comrade Barney Pityana, “his own expansive search for knowledge had gone well beyond the field of medicine.” Biko would later go on to study law through the University of South Africa.

Steve Biko's Order Form for Law Textbooks

Upon leaving university, Biko joined the Durban offices of the Black Community Programmes (BCP), the developmental wing of the Black People Convention, as an employee reporting to Ben Khoapa. The Black Community Programmes engaged in a number of community-based projects and published a yearly called Black Review, which provided an analysis of political trends in the country. 

Black Community Programmes Pamphlet 

Overview of the BCP

BCP Head, Ben Khoapa

86 Beatrice Street, Former Headquarters of the BCP 

"To understand me correctly you have to say that there were no fears expressed" - Biko

Ben Khoapa, Beatrice Street Circa 2007

Biko's Banning Order

When Biko was banned in March 1973, along with Khoapa, Pityana and others, he was deported from Durban to his home town, King William’s Town. Many of the other leaders of SASO, BPC, and BCP were relocated to disparate and isolated locations. Apart from assaulting the capacity of the organisations to function, the bannings were also intended to break the spirit of individual leaders, many of whom would be rendered inactive by the accompanying banning restrictions and thus waste away.

Following his banning, Biko targeted local organic intellectuals whom he engaged with as much vigour as he had engaged the more academic intellectuals at the University of Natal. Only this time, the focus was on giving depth to the practical dimension of BC ideas on development, which had been birthed within SASO and the BPC. He set up the King William’s Town office (No 15 Leopold Street) of the Black Community Programmes office where he stood as Branch Executive. The organisation focused on projects in Health, Education, Job Creation and other areas of community development.

No 15 Leopold Street , Former King William's Town Offices of the BCP

It was not long before his banning order was amended to restrict him from any meaningful association with the BCP. Biko could not meet with more that one person at a time. He could not leave the magisterial area of King William’s Town without permission from the police.  He could not participate in public functions nor could he be published or quoted.

Zanempilo Clinic, a BPC Clinic

These restrictions on him and others in the BCM and their regular arrests, forced the development of a multiplicity of layers of leadership within the organisation in order to increase the buoyancy of the organisation.  Notwithstanding the challenges, the local Black Community Programme office did well, managing among other achievements to build and operate Zanempilo Clinic, the most advanced community health centre of its time built without public funding.  According to Dr. Ramphele, “it was a statement intended to demonstrate how little, with proper planning and organisation, it takes to deliver the most basic of services to our people.”  Dr. Ramphele and Dr. Solombela served as resident doctors at Zanempilo Clinic.

Community Member from Njwaxa

Other projects under Biko’s office included Njwaxa Leatherworks Project, a community crèche and a number of other initiatives. Biko was also instrumental in founding in 1975 the Zimele Trust Fund set up to assist political prisoners and their families. Zimele Trust did not discriminate on the basis of party affiliation. In addition, Biko set up the Ginsberg Educational Trust to assist black students. This trust was also a plough-back to a community that had once assisted him with his own education.

Click on the Steve Biko Foundation logo to continue your journey into Biko's extraordinary life. Take a look at Steve Biko: The Black Consciousness Movement, Steve Biko: The Final Days, and Steve Biko: The Legacy.

—Steve Biko Foundation:

Steve Biko: The Inquest

Steve biko foundation, 11 february 1990: mandela's release from prison, africa media online, detention without trial in john vorster square, south african history archive (saha), what happened at the treason trial, steve biko: final days, 9 august 1956: the women's anti-pass march, steve biko: the early years, the signs that defined the apartheid, steve biko: legacy, leadership during the rise and fall of apartheid.

History Paper 2 Memorandum - Grade 12 June 2021 Exemplars

SECTION A: SOURCE-BASED QUESTIONS QUESTION 1: HOW DID SOUTH AFRICANS REACT TO P.W. BOTHA’S REFORMS IN THE 1980s? 1.1 1.1.1 [Extraction of information from Source 1A – L1]

  • It granted rights to African trade unions
  • Allowed privileges for the urban African workforce
  • Create a black middle class  (Any 2 x 1)  (2)

1.1.2 [Interpretation of evidence from Source 1A – L2]

  • The government hoped that there would be fewer uprisings in the townships
  • The house owners would not tolerate the uprisings as it might damage their houses/property
  • Any other relevant response (Any 1 x 2)  (2)

1.1.3 [Extraction of information from Source 1A – L1]

  • Advertising campaigns
  • New loans were made available (2 x 1)  (2)

1.2 1.2.1 [Interpretation of evidence of from Source 1B – L2]

  • The apartheid government used harsher methods to oppress uprisings
  • Many of the political leaders were in jail or in exile
  • Any other relevant response (2 x 2)  (4)

1.2.2 [Extraction of information from Source 1B – L1]

  • Reverend Allan Boesak
  • Albertina Sisulu
  • Patrick ‘Terror” Lekota  (Any 2 x 1)  (2)

1.2.3 [Extraction of information from Source 1B – L1]

  • Freedom from the apartheid regime  (1 x 2) (2)

1.2.4 [Interpretation of evidence of from Source 1B – L2]

  • They had the same goal and that was to end apartheid
  • As the ANC was banned, it called on the UDF to increase internal pressure on the government
  • Any other relevant response (2 x 2) (4)

1.2.5 [Evaluating the usefulness of Source 1B – L3] The source is useful because:

  • It coordinated the anti-apartheid groups so that effective protests could be launched
  • The UDF brought together many different anti-apartheid organisations across the country
  • As it was a loose alliance, the government could not easily destroy it
  • The UDF made the country ungovernable through various campaigns
  • Any other relevant response (Any 2 x 2) (4)

1.3 1.3.1 [Interpretation of evidence from Source 1C – L2]

  • To discourage Coloured and Indians from participating in the elections for the Tri-cameral parliament
  • The reforms were seen as cosmetic and the political power would still remain in the hands of the white minority
  • The fact that black South Africans were left out of the new parliamentary system

1.3.2 [Extraction of information from Source 1C – L1]

  • ‘Don’t Vote’ campaign (1 x 2) (2)

1.3.3 [Interpretation of evidence from Source 1C – L2]

  • To make people aware of the need to organise and actively resist apartheid
  • To mobilise South Africans to fight against discrimination and oppression
  • Any other relevant response (2 x 2) (4)

1.4 [Comparison of Source 1B and Source 1C – L3]

  • Source 1B indicates that the UDF became a mass-based organisation and Source 1C shows the many people/organisations that were affiliated to the UDF
  • Source 1B refers to resistance campaigns launched by the UDF and Source 1C show the ‘Don’t Vote’ campaign
  • Source 1B indicates that the goal was to get freedom from the apartheid regime and Source 1C shows them fighting for freedom

1.5 1.5.1 [Explanation of historical concept from Source 1D – L1]

  • The power of the ordinary people to bring change
  • To insist on a government that represents their interests
  • Any other relevant response (Any 1 x 2) (2)

1.5.2 [Extraction of information from Source 1D – L1]

  • Rent boycotts
  • Consumer boycotts (2 x 1) (2)

1.5.3 [Interpretation of evidence from Source 1D – L2]

  • The rent money was not used to improve the conditions/facilities in their communities
  • The black councillors who collected the rent became corrupt and were seen as ‘sell-outs’

1.6 [Interpretation, evaluation and synthesis of evidence from relevant sources- L3] Candidates could include the following aspects in their response:

  • Black South Africans saw Botha’s reforms as cosmetic (own knowledge)
  • Tri-cameral parliament was rejected by black South Africans (own knowledge)
  • UDF formed to oppose apartheid (Source 1B)
  • UDF coordinated the actions against apartheid (Source 1B)
  • Protests, rent and consumer boycotts held (Source 1B and Source 1D)
  • Different organisations affiliated to the UDF (Source 1B)
  • UDF held anti-elections campaigns (Source 1C)
  • People demanded freedom (Source 1C)
  • Civic organisations fought for better conditions in townships (Source 1D)
  • Workers, student organisations and churches joined the protest actions against apartheid (own knowledge)
  • Any other relevant response

Use the following rubric to allocate marks:

(8)      [50]

QUESTION 2: HOW SUCCESSFUL WAS THE TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION (TRC) IN DEALING WITH THE DEATH OF ACTIVIST LENNY NAIDU? 2.1 2.1.1 [Extraction of information from Source 2A – L1]

  • Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) (1 x 2) (2)

2.1.2 [Extraction of information from Source 2A – L1]

  • Advancing the ideas of non-racialism and unity
  • Fighting for freedom
  • Striving to improve the quality of life of all people (3 x 1) (3)

2.1.3 [Interpretation of evidence from Source 2A – L2]

  • If caught he would be jailed or killed by the apartheid system
  • He openly rebelled against apartheid and was thus perceived as a threat
  • Could not operate freely to dismantle apartheid
  • Determined to fight against the unjust apartheid system
  • Any other relevant response (Any 2 x 2)  (4)

2.1.4 [Interpretation of evidence from Source 2A – L2]

  • He was waiting to execute the instructions or orders from the ANC in South Africa
  • Which government institutions he had to attack/destroy
  • Any other relevant response (Any 1 x 2) (2)

2.2 2.2.1 [Extraction of evidence from Source 2B – L1]

  • He would have been charged for being a member of the ANC
  • Charged without a passport (Any 2 x 1) (2)

2.2.2 [Extraction of evidence from Source2B – L1]

  • Eugene De Kock
  • Mr Nafumela (2 x 1) (2)

2.2.3 [Interpretation of evidence of from Source 2B – L2] NO.

  • The commissioner told them to wait for full disclosure at the amnesty hearing
  • They will find a lead of what happened at the hearing

2.2.4 [Extraction of evidence from Source 2B – L1]

  • Murder (1 x 2) (2)

2.2.5 [Evaluating the reliability of Source 2B – L3] The source is reliable because:

  • The parents and brother were convinced that Lenny was murdered
  • Both de Kock and Nafumela are guilty because they applied for amnesty
  • They were able to speak their hearts out and get some kind of closure

OR The source is not reliable because:

  • It did not give full disclosure because the commissioner told them they still have to wait for the amnesty hearing
  • Both of them still believed that they were innocent by applying for amnesty
  • Any relevant response (Any 2 x 2) (4)

2.3 2.3.1 [Extraction of evidence from Source 2C – L1]

  • ‘How two sets of Umkhonto we Sizwe cadres were ambushed at Piet Retief’ (1 x 2)  (2)

2.3.2 [Interpretation of evidence from Source 2C – L2]

  • Swaziland supported the ANC’s fight against the apartheid regime
  • Swaziland did not favour white minority rule in South Africa
  • Swaziland wanted a free, democratic and liberated South Africa
  • Swaziland was one of the closest independent African countries and therefore ANC cadres were able to gain access for onward travel to MK training camps, for example in Lusaka (Zambia)

2.3.3 [Extraction of evidence from Source 2C – L2]

  • Charity Nyembezi
  • Makhosi Nyoka
  • Nonsikelelo Cothoza (3 x 1) (3)

2.4 2.4.1 [Interpretation of evidence from Source 2D – L2]

  • The cartoon shows Eugene de Kock submitting his application for amnesty to the TRC
  • It depicts Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the chairperson of the TRC receiving De Kock’s application
  • The cartoon shows a very long list of crimes that were committed by De Kock

2.4.2 [Interpretation of evidence from Source 2D – L2]

  • Tutu wanted De Kock to list all the crimes that he had committed before he could apply for amnesty
  • De Kock had committed a number of human rights crimes against anti-apartheid activists
  • De Kock was famous as a killer of anti-apartheid activist

2.5 [Comparison of Source 2C and Source 2D – L3]

  • Source 2C explains De Kock’s application for amnesty and Source 2D shows De Kock submitting his application for amnesty
  • Source 2C reveals many crimes that De Kock had committed and Source 2D shows De Kock with a long list of crimes that he has committed

2.6 [Interpretation, evaluation and synthesis of evidence from relevant sources – L3] Candidates could include the following aspects in their response:

  • Lenny Naidu was a member of the ANC’s armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (Source 2A)
  • Both parents and brother of Lenny Naidu attended the TRC hearing to seek the truth about the murder (Source 2B)
  • The commissioner thanked them for coming forward and making a disclosure (Source 2B)
  • The TRC revealed the truth about human rights abuses committed from 1960 to 1994 (Source 2C)
  • Leslie Naidu appeared before the TRC to give evidence regarding the murder of Lenny Naidu (Source 2B)
  • Eugene De Kock and other former security policemen testified about their role regarding the killings of political activists at Piet Retief (Source 2C)
  • The truth of how Lenny Naidu was murdered was revealed to the TRC (Source 2C)
  • Eugene De Kock submitted the list of crimes he committed to the TRC (Source 2D)
  • De Kock applied for amnesty for the murder of Lenny Naidu (Source 2C)
  • The TRC was able to solve some murders and disappearances of political activists such as that of Lenny Naidu (own knowledge)

(8)    [50]

SECTION B: ESSAY QUESTIONS QUESTION 3: CIVIL RESISTANCE, 1970s TO 1980s: SOUTH AFRICA [Plan and construct an original argument based on relevant evidence using analytical and interpretative skills.] SYNOPSIS Candidates should critically discuss the role and impact of the Black Consciousness Movement under Steve Biko on black South Africans in the 1970s. MAIN ASPECTS Candidates should include the following aspects in their response:

  • Introduction: Candidates need to take a stance and discuss the role and impact of the Black Consciousness Movement under Steve Biko on black South Africans in the 1970s.

ELABORATION

  • Reason for the formation of the Black Consciousness Movement (Background)

Biko’s philosophy of Black Consciousness (BC)

  • Conscientised black people of the evils of apartheid
  • Instilled a sense of self-worth and confidence in black South Africans
  • Restored black pride
  • Changed the way black South Africans saw themselves
  • Empowered them to confront apartheid
  • Biko urged black South Africans to assert themselves and to do things for themselves
  • Eliminated the feeling of inferiority

Role of Steve Biko

  • Formation of SASO
  • SASO spread BC ideas across the campuses of the ethnically separated universities
  • SASO promoted black unity and solidarity
  • Made students more politically aware
  • Encouraging students to liberate themselves from apartheid
  • Biko promoted self-liberation
  • He believed that association with whites made the liberation struggle ineffective and that blacks must liberate themselves
  • Established self-help groups for black communities with other BC leaders
  • BC ideas were published in SASO newsletters

Black Consciousness became a national movement

  • In 1972 the Black People’s Convention was formed
  • Aimed to liberate black people from both psychological and physical oppression
  • Self-help projects were set up e.g. Zanempilo Clinic, Ginsburg, and Zimele Trust Fund
  • Led to the formation of the Black Allied Workers Union in 1973
  • BC influenced scholars that led to the formation of SASM

Challenges posed by the ideas of BC to the state

  • At first the South African government was not concerned about the BCM and assumed it to be in line with its own policy of separate development
  • BCM became stronger and posed a challenge to the state
  • It became a mass movement that sought to undermine apartheid
  • Biko’s speeches encouraged black South Africans to reject apartheid
  • BC ideas incited the workers to embark on strike action
  • BCM supported disinvestment companies

Government’s reaction to Biko’s philosophy

  • Banning and house arrest of Biko and other leaders
  • BC leaders were banned from speaking in public
  • BPC activists were detained without trail
  • SASO was banned on university campuses
  • Biko was arrested and interrogated
  • Biko was brutally murdered by the security police in 1977

Conclusion: Candidates need to tie up their argument with a relevant conclusion. [50]

QUESTION 4: THE COMING OF DEMOCRACY TO SOUTH AFRICA AND COMING TO TERMS WITH THE PAST [Plan and construct an original argument based on relevant evidence using analytical and interpretative skills] SYNOPSIS Candidates need to agree or disagree with the statement by discussing the commitment and leadership displayed by both Mandela and De Klerk that ensured South Africa’s democracy. Relevant examples to South Africa’s road to democracy must be discussed. MAIN ASPECTS Candidates should include the following aspects in their essays:

  • Introduction: Candidates need to discuss the commitment and leadership role played by Mandela and De Klerk in creating conditions for South Africa’s road to democracy from 1990 to 1994.

ELABORATION Focus on different role players in the following key historical events and turning points:

  • Release of Mandela and unbanning of ANC, PAC and SACP
  • The process of negotiations (i.e. Groote Schuur Minute, Pretoria Minute)
  • Suspension of the armed struggle
  • Record of Understanding
  • Increased violence – Rolling mass action (i.e. Boipatong, Bhisho, etc.)
  • Goldstone Commission
  • Multi party negotiations
  • Death of Hani
  • Storming of the World Trade Centre, etc.
  • 1994 election – cast ballot in KZN
  • ANC won elections and Mandela became the first black South African President

QUESTION 5: THE END OF THE COLD WAR AND A NEW WORLD ORDER: THE EVENTS OF 1989 [Plan and construct an original argument based on relevant evidence using analytical and interpretative skills] SYNOPSIS They need to indicate to what extent the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1989 served as a catalyst for South Africa to begin its political transformation in the 1990s. Candidates must support their given line of argument with relevant historical evidence. MAIN ASPECTS Candidates should include the following aspects in their response:

  • Introduction: Candidates need to indicate the extent of the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1989 served as a catalyst for the political transformation that occurred in South Africa in the 1990s.

ELABORATION In agreeing, candidates could include the following points in their answer:

  • The impact of the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1989 on South Africa
  • Gorbachev’s reform policies of Glasnost and Perestroika
  • The communist regimes in Eastern Europe collapsed
  • The Berlin Wall had fallen
  • Changes in the world contributed to the end of apartheid
  • The collapse of the USSR deprived the ANC of its main source of support (financial; military and moral and its consequences)
  • The National Party claim that it was protecting South Africa from a communist onslaught became unrealistic
  • Western world powers supported the move that South Africa resolve its problems peacefully and democratically
  • It became evident the National Party government could not maintain white supremacy indefinitely
  • Influential National Party members started to realise that apartheid was not the answer to the needs of white capitalist development
  • The Battle of Cuito Cuanavale and its consequences
  • The security forces and state of emergency had not stopped township revolts
  • By the late 1980s South Africa was in a state of economic depression
  • The role of business leaders in South Africa’s political transformation
  • PW Botha suffered a stroke and was succeeded by FW de Klerk
  • FW De Klerk started to accept that the black South African struggle against apartheid was not a conspiracy directed from Moscow
  • This enabled De Klerk to engage in discussions with the liberation organisations
  • On 2 February 1990, De Klerk announced ‘a new and just constitutional dispensation’
  • This signalled the end of apartheid

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Grade 12 History Essay: Black Power Movement USA

Grade 12 History Essay: Black Power Movement USA

Subject: History

Age range: 16+

Resource type: Assessment and revision

smutsacademic

Last updated

13 February 2024

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grade 12 history essay bcm

The Black Power Movement Essay explores the historical and social significance of the Black Power Movement that emerged in the 1960s. This essay examines the key ideologies, leaders, and activities that shaped the movement and analyzes its impact on the African American community and the broader civil rights movement.

The essay begins by providing a brief overview of the historical context in which the Black Power Movement emerged, including the Civil Rights Movement and the socio-political climate of the time. It then delves into the core principles of the movement, such as self-determination, racial pride, and the rejection of nonviolence as the sole strategy for achieving racial equality.

The essay explores the influential figures within the Black Power Movement, including Stokely Carmichael, Angela Davis, and Huey P. Newton. It discusses their roles as leaders and their contributions to the movement’s ideology and activism. Additionally, the essay highlights significant events and organizations associated with the movement, such as the Black Panther Party and the National Black Power Conferences.

Furthermore, the essay examines the impact of the Black Power Movement on the African American community and the broader civil rights movement. It analyzes how the movement challenged traditional civil rights strategies and redefined notions of Black identity and empowerment. The essay also discusses the movement’s influence on subsequent activist movements and its lasting legacy in contemporary social and political discourse.

Overall, the Black Power Movement Essay provides a comprehensive analysis of this significant chapter in American history, shedding light on its ideologies, leaders, impact, and lasting relevance in the fight for racial justice and equality.

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  23. Grade 12 History Essay: Black Power Movement USA

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