Most famous is that of Steve Biko, leader of the Black Consciousness Movement, who died in police detention in 1977.

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Ms. BUTLER: For years there's been a black consciousness movement since the 1970s working to help people appreciate the richness and, you know, stop denigrating their own culture.

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Clearly, black swans are in the public consciousness.

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Derrick Simmons, his grandmother's tales of life as a black woman in the Delta region under Jim Crow are indelibly etched in his political consciousness.

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