Reasons for the Black Power Movement

• The Black Power Movement emerged due to Black people's dissatisfaction with the limited achievements of the Civil Rights Movement in the latter half of the 1960s.
• Despite legal victories such as the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, the economic status of most African Americans remained largely unchanged.

Unit 1: Reasons for the Movement

• Black people predominantly resided in overcrowded ghettos with poor living conditions
• Many were jobless or underpaid, lacking better employment opportunities.
• Areas with poverty and crime, received inadequate police protection where inhabitants faced brutality and racial abuse.
• Frustration with the CRM's non-violent approach led them to seek more assertive methods of resistance.
• James Meredith's 1966 protest march against racism inspired others to get involved after he got shot
• Stokely Carmichael, SNCC leader, popularized the slogan 'Black Power' after getting arrested.
• He announced to a large crowd his frustration with the lack of progress despite years of advocating for "Freedom," and proclaimed "Black Power" as the new rallying cry

1. 1 What was Black Power?

• Black Power advocates promoted black interests, self-reliance, cultural pride, and self-defense against racial oppression.
• Black Power wasn't a unified organization
• Differing views existed among followers
• Malcolm X advocated for black separation and self-determination, an idea termed 'black nationalism'.

Unit 2: Black Panther Party

• Founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland, California, in 1966, The Black Panther Party sought to protect blacks from police brutality.
• They employed California's law permitting openly carrying loaded firearms.
• The Black Panthers advocated for radical socialist ideals outlined in their Ten-Point Program.
• Points included reparations for slavery and exemption for black men from military service.
• They advocated for black communities to form armed groups for protection from the police force.
• They demanded the release of imprisoned blacks saying that they did not receive fair trials.
• They welcomed people of any race under socialist principles initially then later it changed to black nationalism in 1966 with Stokely Carmichael's influence as 'Honorary Prime Minister'.
• The party soon shifted away in 1967 and more towards 'revolutionary internationalist movement' with socialist views.
• The BPP engaged in criminal activities to amass money for their funding
• The co-founder, Huey Newton, was convicted of murdering a policeman in 1967.
• The BPP also ran what they called 'survival programmess' that offered aid to disadvantaged black communities.
• free medical clinics
• self-defense and first aid courses
• addiction recovery
• Initially the BPP underwent some internal disagreement
• By 1980 the BPP diminished due to legal costs and split.
• J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI director, saw the Black Panther Party as a major threat.

Unit 3: Roles of Stokely Carmichael and Malcolm X

• Stokely Carmichael and Malcolm X are most strongly names connected to the Black Power Movement.
• Stokely Carmichael was born in Trinidad in 1941.
• He went to Harlem, New York City at the age of 11 to live with his parents.
• Carmichael was SNCC chairman in 1966, shifting the group towards Black Power
• He thought that whites were the issue, including those from up north, and that non-violent tactics were ineffective.
• The FBI, led by J. Edgar Hoover, wanted to prevent the rise of a "messiah" with Carmichael as a potential choice.
• Carmichael went to live in Guinea, West Africa, in 1969, became Kwame Ture, and turned to socialist Pan-Africanism.
• He died in Guinea 1998 from cancer.

3. 2 Malcolm X

• Malcolm X was born in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1925 as Malcolm Little.
• One of his parents died when he was young, and his incarcerated shortly after that.
• Malcolm joined the Nation of Islam getting out of jail in the year 1952.
• He helped spread their knowledge and became a minister.
• The Nation of Islam held the view that black people were higher than white people.
• That black people form their own state in the US until return to Africa.
• Malcolm was dedicated to black freedom and nationalism, which he distinguished from "Negro revolution", in a speech in 1963.
• He spoke out regarding lack of peace and turn-the-other-cheek.
• Malcolm broke with the Nation of Islam in March 1964 because he was jealous of another leader Elijah Muhammad due to success.
• He became a Sunni Muslim later going on the Hajj to Mecca.
• Malcolm lowered his powerful speeches and language when against whites and the CRM upon his return from the Hajj.
• Malcolm was murdered in 1965 while delivering a speech.
• Malcolm X legacy lies in standing up to white people and raising self-esteem in the black people.

Unit 4: Short-term and long-term gains

• Short-term accomplishments of the Black Power Movement include black voters mobilized, political action groups made etc.
• Increased pride and self-confidence, agenda development, and Black Studies programs.
• Sparked discussion over the place of African-Americans in American society.
• An interesting political result of the rise of Black Power was what has been called a 'positive radical flank effect’ which saw that CRM activists are now more widely accepted.
• There was increased solidarity among African-Americans plus a greater sense of ethnic identity and a unique African-American culture.
• The Black Power Movement's rhetoric may have contributed to the riots that occurred in black areas.