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Bodibeng High School: Black Consciousness Philosophy and Students Demonstration, 1940s–1976

Abstract This paper examines the factor(s) that caused students to demonstrate in 1976 through a case study of Bodibeng High School in Maokeng, Kroonstad, in the northern Free State. It shows the role of the teachers influenced by the Black Consciousness philosophy. The latter caused the behavioural change of some of the students at Bodibeng High School, from submissive to assertive, and political. Bodibeng High School, dating back to the 1940s, was one of the major centres of education for African students in the then Orange Free State (now Free State Province). It was one of the two day schools to offer matric as early as 1940, and the only one to have its matriculants writing the Joint Matriculation Board Examination in the mid 1960s, instead of the Bantu Education's senior certificate examinations. The school attracted an influx of students from all over the country, and some of the best teachers. There were three phases in the history of the school; each phase can be characterised in terms of the degree of its engagement in the political affairs of the day. The first, from the 1940s to 1950s, was one where teachers engaged both education and politics actively. The second, from the 1960s to the beginning of the 1970s was a period of apparent quiescence. The third, from the early 1970s, was characterised, once again, by active engagement of students and teachers with politics. In the latter period, the Black Consciousness philosophy was the major influence. This paper will show that the influence of the Black Consciousness philosophy and the role of the younger and politically conscious teachers played an important part in influencing some of the students at Bodibeng to demonstrate in 1976.