BLACK POWER MOVEMENT
The Black Power movement grew out of the
CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT that had steadily
gained momentum through the 1950s and
1960s. Although not a formal movement, the
Black Power movement marked a turning point
in black-white relations in the United States and
also in how blacks saw themselves. The movement
was hailed by some as a positive and
proactive force aimed at helping blacks achieve
full equality with whites, but it was reviled by
others as a militant, sometimes violent faction
whose primary goal was to drive a wedge
between whites and blacks. In truth, the Black
Power movement was a complex event that took
place at a time when society and culture was
being transformed throughout the United
States, and its legacy reflects that complexity.
In the 1950s and early 1960s, groups such as
the National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People (NAACP) and the SOUTHERN
CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE (SCLC)
worked with blacks and whites to create a desegregated
society and eliminate RACIAL DISCRIMINATION.
Their efforts generated positive
responses from a broad spectrum of people
across the country. Rev. MARTIN LUTHER KING
JR., who headed the SCLC, made significant
headway with his adherence to nonviolent tactics.
In 1964, President LYNDON B. JOHNSON
signed the CIVIL RIGHTS ACT and a year later he
signed the VOTING RIGHTS ACT.
CIVIL RIGHTS legislation was an earnest and
effective step toward eliminating inequality
between blacks and whites. Even with the obvious
progress, however, the reality was that prejudice
could not be legislated away. Blacks still
faced lower wages than whites, higher crime
rates in their neighborhoods, and unspoken but
palpable racial discrimination. Young blacks in
particular saw the civil rights movement as too
mainstream to generate real social change.What
they wanted was something that would accelerate
the process and give blacks the same opportunities
as whites, not just socially but also
economically and politically. Perhaps more
important, they felt that the civil rights movement
was based more on white perceptions of
civil rights than black perceptions.
Not all blacks had been equally impressed
with the civil rights movement. MALCOLM X and
the NATION OF ISLAM, for example, felt that
racial self-determination was a critical and neglected
element of true equality. By the mid-
1960s, dissatisfaction with the pace of change
was growing among blacks. The term “black
power” had been around since the 1950s, but it
was STOKELY CARMICHAEL, head of the STUDENT
NONVIOLENT COORDINATING COMMITTEE
(SNCC), who popularized the term in 1966.
Carmichael led a push to transform SNCC
from a multiracial community activist organization
into an all-black social change organization.
Late in 1966, two young men, HUEY NEWTON
and BOBBY SEALE, formed the BLACK PANTHER
PARTY FOR SELF-DEFENSE (BPP), initially as a
group to track incidents of police violence.
Within a short time groups such as SNCC and
BPP gained momentum, and by the late 1960s
the Black Power movement had made a definite
mark on American culture and society.
The Black Power movement instilled a sense
of racial pride and self-esteem in blacks. Blacks
were told that it was up to them to improve their
lives. Black Power advocates encouraged blacks
to form or join all-black political parties that
could provide a formidable power base and offer
a foundation for real socioeconomic progress.
For years, the movement’s leaders said, blacks
had been trying to aspire to white ideals of what
they should be. Now it was time for blacks to set
their own agenda, putting their needs and aspirations
first. An early step, in fact, was the replacement of the word “Negro” (a word associated
with the years of SLAVERY) with “black.”
The movement generated a number of positive
developments. Probably the most noteworthy
of these was its influence on black culture.
For the first time, blacks in the United States
were encouraged to acknowledge their African
heritage. COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES established
black studies programs and black studies
departments. Blacks who had grown up believing
that they were descended from a backwards
people now found out that African culture was
as rich and diverse as any other, and they were
encouraged to take pride in that heritage. The
Black Arts movement, seen by some as connected
to the Black Power movement flourished
in the 1960s and 1970s. Young black poets,
authors, and visual artists found their voices and
shared those voices with others. Unlike earlier
black arts movements such as the Harlem
Renaissance, the new movement primarily
sought out a black audience.
The same spirit of racial unity and pride that
made the Black Power movement so dynamic
also made it problematic—and to some, dangerous.
Many whites, and a number of blacks, saw
the movement as a black separatist organization
bent on segregating blacks and whites and
undoing the important work of the civil rights
movement. There is no question that Black
Power advocates had valid and pressing concerns.
Blacks were still victims of racism,
whether they were being charged a higher rate
for a mortgage, getting paid less than a white coworker
doing the same work, or facing violence
at the hands of white racists. But the solutions
that some Black Power leaders advocated
seemed only to create new problems. Some, for
example, suggested that blacks receive paramilitary
training and carry guns to protect themselves.
Though these individuals insisted this
device was solely a means of SELF-DEFENSE and
not a call to violence, it was still unnerving to
think of armed civilians walking the streets.
Also, because the Black Power movement
was never a formally organized movement, it
had no central leadership, which meant that different
organizations with divergent agendas
often could not agree on the best course of
action. The more radical groups accused the
more mainstream groups of capitulating to
whites, and the more mainstream accused the
more radical of becoming too ready to use violence.
By the 1970s, most of the formal organizations
that had come into prominence with the
Black Power movement, such as the SNCC and
the Black Panthers, had all but disappeared.
The Black Power movement did not succeed
in getting blacks to break away from white society
and create a separate society. Nor did it help
end discrimination or racism. It did, however,
help provide some of the elements that were
ultimately necessary for blacks and whites to
gain a fuller understanding of each other.
FURTHER READINGS
Carmichael, Stokely, and Charles V. Hamilton. 1967. Black
Power: The Politics of Liberation in America. New York:
Vintage Books.
Cross, Theorore. 1984. The Black Power Imperative. New
York: Faulkner.
Van Deburg, William, L. 1992. New Day in Babylon: The
Black Power Movement and American Culture. Chicago:
Univ. of Chicago Press.
CROSS-REFERENCES
Black Panther Party; Carmichael, Stokely; Civil Rights Acts;
Malcolm X; Nation of Islam; NAACP; Southern Christian
Leadership Conference; Voting Rights Act of 1965.
