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Creator
Slate, Michael
Call number
Sc MIRS South Africa 1991-62
Physical description
48 audio_recordings
Language
Multiple languages; Afrikaans, English, Xhosa, and Zulu.
Preferred Citation
South Africa Black Consciousness Movement audio collection, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division, The New York Public Library
Sponsor
An anonymous donor funded preliminary processing for this collection. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation supported a research library-wide grant for the digitization, and funded the Schomburg for the description and production of the finding aid as part of The Next Century of Black Studies Project.
Repository
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division
Access to materials
Appointment preferred: Request an in-person research appointment.

The Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) was a grassroots anti-apartheid movement that emerged in South Africa in the late 1960s led by Steve Biko, an anti-apartheid student activist. The South Africa Black Consciousness Movement audio collection consists of forty-eight audio recordings, primarily of interviews with activists, as well as public events, speeches, talks, and music.

Biographical/historical information

The Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) was a grassroots anti-apartheid movement that emerged in South Africa in the late 1960s led by Steve Biko (1946-1977), an anti-apartheid student activist. Following the Sharpeville massacre in 1960, the government banned the country's two oldest Black organizations, the African National Congress (ANC) and the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC). In their absence, the BCM emerged on university campuses across the country. Black students and youth revived the anti-apartheid struggle by emphasizing self-reliance, mass mobilization, and cultural awareness. After the Soweto Uprising in 1976, the government arrested, tortured, and killed many of the BCM's leaders, including Biko, who died from a brain hemorrhage after police shackled and beat him. At that time, the BCM included more than twenty mass organizations, eighteen of which were banned the following year by the South African regime, driving many members into exile.

Those who avoided exile launched a second generation of BCM organizations, including the Azanian People's Organization (AZAPO). Formed in 1978, AZAPO became South Africa's largest BCM organization. In 1985, the state of emergency imposed by the South African regime forced AZAPO, as well as many BCM organizations, underground. With the release of Nelson Mandela from prison in 1990 and the beginning of negotiations to end apartheid, most organizations were unbanned and able to continue their work. In several respects the BCM disagreed with and countered the ANC and allied-organizations. The main point of difference was that the BCM didn't accept the principle of power-sharing as a basis for negotiations with the South African government. The BCM insisted on the principle of one person, one vote, and the redistribution of land and wealth as the sole basis for negotiations with the apartheid regime.

The BCM and Steve Biko are hailed as forerunners of the resistance movement that eventually ended the apartheid regime in South Africa. Students and young people were at the forefront of the movement, and they comprise many of the interviews in this collection.

Scope and arrangement

The South Africa Black Consciousness Movement audio collection consists of forty-eight audio recordings. Since the collection's original format is audio cassettes, many of the items contain two or more parts, one for each side of the cassette. Each series in the collection is arranged in chronological order.

The South Africa Black Consciousness Movement audio collection is arranged in three series:

  • SERIES I: INTERVIEWS

    Thirty-four audio recordings of interviews with several Black activists conducted from 1982 to 1990. They were all conducted by Michael Slate, who is an independent journalist, revolutionary communist, and the host of The Michael Slate Show. All but two of the interviewees were anonymous to protect their identity. The interviews covered the politics and activities of the BCM organizations, interviewees' activist work, and the experiences of Black people in South Africa living under the oppressive apartheid system. Also included are interviews with Lybon Mabasa, president of AZAPO from 1983 to 1984; and Imrann Moosa, publicity secretary of AZAPO.

  • SERIES II: EVENTS, SPEECHES, AND TALKS

    Eight audio recordings of public events, speeches, and talks. The events include a celebration of Namibia's independence, extracts from an ANC and Institute for Democratic Alternative for South Africa conference, and forums where several people deliver talks on topics of political education.

  • SERIES III: MUSIC

    Thirteen audio recordings of music from South Africa. They include Xhosa music, a combination of traditional and modern (rural and urban) styles, and modern township music. Many of the recordings include umrhubhe, which is a traditional mouth bow played by the Xhosa people of the eastern cape of South Africa. There are also multiple umtshotsho dance songs. Umtshotsho is a traditional Xhosa party for young people that encourages them to explore their curiosity about adulthood. Some songs are described as Gwijo, which is a practice of collective singing deeply embedded in South African Xhosa culture that takes the form of call and response. When available, tracklists are included with descriptions. The English translations are in parentheses.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Purchased from Michael Slate, January 1994.

Processing information

Collection inventoried by Nathan Evans, Virginia Mullaney, and Chris Tong. Collection processed and described by Ornella U. Baganizi, archivist; and Shola Lynch, curator. Finding aid published in 2024.

Separated material

See the Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Books Division for the South Africa Black Consciousness Movement collection 1983-1993, Sc MG 440.

See the Photographs and Prints Division for the South Africa Black Consciousness Movement photograph collection, Sc Photo South Africa Black Consciousness Movement Collection.

See the Art and Artifacts Division for art works.

Using the collection

Location

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division
515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY 10037-1801
Third Floor

Access to materials

Appointment preferred: Request an in-person research appointment.