Biko, Steve. I Write What I Like (downloadable pdf)
Steve Biko wrote the essays published in I Write What I Like over a period of just under 10 years (starting in 1968, when he held a leadership position in the newly-created South African Students’ Organisation (SASO), through August 1977, when he was arrested by apartheid state authorities; he died shortly after being arrested, from injuries incurred during torture/beatings/interrogation while in prison, in September 1977). He published most of these essays under a pseudonym, Frank Talk. We will read 5 of these short essays:
“Black Souls in White Skins” (pp. 19-26); “We Blacks” (pp. 27-32); “Fragmentation of the Black Resistance” (pp. 33-39); “Some African Cultural Concepts” (pp. 40-47); “The Definition of Black Consciousness” (pp. 50-53).
Biko was famous in his lifetime but became even more so after his death, which quickly garnered the world’s attention and after which he became a symbol of resistance to apartheid and white supremacy that galvanized both local South African and global/transnational militant in the anti-apartheid movement. One illustration of the symbolic importance of his death: over 20,000 people attended his funeral.
Discussion leaders should be sure to communicate/organize their time so that key ideas, questions, and passages are not duplicated and receive equal attention.