Written and compiled by political journalist Baldwin Ndaba, culture writers Therese Owen and Masego Panyane, digital journalist and poet Rabbie Serumula, and author and political analyst Janet Smith, the book is complemented by photography and videography by award-winning photographer Paballo Thekiso.

Diamond Janese Sharp is a poet and essayist from Chicago whose work has been published, among other places, in the New York Times Magazine, New York Magazine, Vice, Pitchfork, Lenny and PANK.

“Beware those who think liberation comes/ through noisy discussion:/ we must prepare ourselves,” wrote Karen Press in her1990 poem “Priorities.” A signal to the new nation, the words circle, then wrap themselves around and hoist up the meaning of Black Consciousness. In 1990, when South Africa started to be free with liberation movements unbanned and the prospect of negotiations between black people and the white oppressors, “priorities” were everything. What were the priorities of Black Consciousness? Through love, it said black people had to redefine their entire outlook. Steve Biko said it was “the realization of the need to rally together around the cause of oppression, to rid ourselves of the shackles that bind us to perpetual servitude

“It is a manifestation of a new realization that by seeking to run away from themselves and to emulate the white man, blacks are insulting the intelligence of whoever created them black.

“Black Consciousness therefore takes cognizance of the deliberateness of God’s plan in creating black people black. It seeks to infuse the black community with a newfound pride in themselves, their efforts, their value systems, their culture, their religion and their outlook to life.”

So much politics has happened since Biko spoke those words in the 1970s. Indeed, South Africans are free inasmuch as apartheid is over. The laws have changed to lay down the groundsheet of equality and we have had four black presidents. But have we achieved Black Consciousness – an internal transformation – and do we know the history sufficiently to understand why that matters more than a political solution in order to reach radical and intrinsic liberation? In this book, we examine the history, culture, philosophy and meaning of Black Consciousness through the voices, art, religion, music, writing, politics, solidarity and dreams of some of those who developed it.

Since it is not an ideology like its enemy, capitalism, but a state of mind, the way its history is approached will be subjective – merely, as Karen Press said, a way to prepare ourselves. Many others created it, many more are still moving its shining particles in patterns in the sand.

The revolution is still unfolding, and it is beautiful and it is black.

Written and compiled by political journalist Baldwin Ndaba, culture writers Therese Owen and Masego Panyane, digital journalist and poet Rabbie Serumula, and author and political analyst Janet Smith, the book is complemented by photography and videography by award-winning photographer Paballo Thekiso.

Diamond Janese Sharp is a poet and essayist from Chicago whose work has been published, among other places, in the New York Times Magazine, New York Magazine, Vice, Pitchfork, Lenny and PANK.

“Beware those who think liberation comes/ through noisy discussion:/ we must prepare ourselves,” wrote Karen Press in her1990 poem “Priorities.” A signal to the new nation, the words circle, then wrap themselves around and hoist up the meaning of Black Consciousness. In 1990, when South Africa started to be free with liberation movements unbanned and the prospect of negotiations between black people and the white oppressors, “priorities” were everything. What were the priorities of Black Consciousness? Through love, it said black people had to redefine their entire outlook. Steve Biko said it was “the realization of the need to rally together around the cause of oppression, to rid ourselves of the shackles that bind us to perpetual servitude

“It is a manifestation of a new realization that by seeking to run away from themselves and to emulate the white man, blacks are insulting the intelligence of whoever created them black.

“Black Consciousness therefore takes cognizance of the deliberateness of God’s plan in creating black people black. It seeks to infuse the black community with a newfound pride in themselves, their efforts, their value systems, their culture, their religion and their outlook to life.”

So much politics has happened since Biko spoke those words in the 1970s. Indeed, South Africans are free inasmuch as apartheid is over. The laws have changed to lay down the groundsheet of equality and we have had four black presidents. But have we achieved Black Consciousness – an internal transformation – and do we know the history sufficiently to understand why that matters more than a political solution in order to reach radical and intrinsic liberation? In this book, we examine the history, culture, philosophy and meaning of Black Consciousness through the voices, art, religion, music, writing, politics, solidarity and dreams of some of those who developed it.

Since it is not an ideology like its enemy, capitalism, but a state of mind, the way its history is approached will be subjective – merely, as Karen Press said, a way to prepare ourselves. Many others created it, many more are still moving its shining particles in patterns in the sand.

The revolution is still unfolding, and it is beautiful and it is black.