I Write What I Like

Bantu Stephen Biko (1946-1977) was a South African antiapartheid activist and leader of the BCM. Born in Eastern Cape to a poor Xhosa family, Biko’s activism began in 1966, when he started medical school at the University of Natal, Non-European Section, in Durban. Biko got involved with NUSAS, one of the most important organizations in South Africa’s antiapartheid movement. Two years later, however, he broke away from NUSAS and formed SASO, an all-Black organization dedicated to the advancement of Black students through the promotion of Black Consciousness (See: Index of Terms), an ideology he developed alongside other Black student leaders. Biko served as SASO’s first president in 1969. The following year, he was appointed as SASO’s Publicity Secretary (1).

Biko became more engaged politically after leaving university in 1972. That year, he began working for Black Community Programs (BCP), a major component of the BCM. He remained active in politics until March 1973, when the South African government banned him and seven other SASO members, preventing them from traveling, speaking in public, and publishing. While restricted to his home in Kingwilliamstown, Biko founded the Eastern Cape Branch of the BCP, serving as branch executive until a new clause inserted in his banning order in 1975 prevented him from continuing this work.