Introduction

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Dec 6, 2023

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Introduction The failures of the Civil Rights Movement led to the Black Power Movement. The Civil Rights Movement was a fight for equality and justice for African Americans that happened mainly in the 1950s and 1960s. As the movement did not achieve its goals, it led to the birth of the Black Power Movement. The Black Power started as a revolutionary movement in the 1960s and 70s. (National Archives-Black Power 1). Black Power believed African Americans had to secure their human rights by creating political and cultural organizations that served their interests. The Black Power Movement illustrated and emphasized racial pride, economic empowerment, and the creation of political and cultural institutions. Essentially, black people were proud, proud of who they are, and proud of their culture. Black Power “Black Power” is the slogan for the Black Power Movement. The term has many origins. The roots can be traced back to author Richard Wright’s non-fiction publication named Black Power in 1954. After that, the term was used by the Lowndes County Freedom Organization for its political candidates in 1965. After that, the Black Power slogan became very popular. It became a necessary part of all Black Freedom movements. The slogan stood for something bigger, it stood for the desire for a better life. For instance, during the Meredith March against Fear in Mississippi, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Chairman rallied thousands of marchers by chanting “we want Black Power.”(National Archives-Black Power 2) Social Change In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law. It essentially outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states after the Civil War (Voting Rights Act 1). Numerous demonstrations were held and a lot of disruption and destruction occurred which was what brought attention to the issue of voting rights which led

to the Act. The Voting Rights Act meant that there would be changes, people wouldn’t have to worry about getting harassed or intimidated when they register to vote or vote. The law had an immediate impact. For instance, by the end of 1965, a quarter-million new black voters had registered (Voting Rights Act 6). Stokely Carmichael Stokely Carmichael was a prominent organizer and political activist in the civil rights movement and Black Power Movement. Stokely Carmichael believed that black people needed to feel a sense of racial pride and self-respect before anything meaningful could be achieved. He, therefore, encouraged the strengthening of black communities without the help of whites. Chapters of SNCC, an integrated organization, started to reject white membership (US History-Black Power 4). Carmichael once said, “The most powerful person in the struggle for civil rights in the 1960s was Miss Ella Baker, not Martin Luther King.” He evidently had a lot of respect for her. Ella Baker’s main focus was the mobilization and empowerment of grassroots and group-centered leadership. This is one of the things that inspired Carmichael. He believed in working together as blacks without the help of whites. Bayard Rustin Bayard Rustin was an African American leader in social movements for civil rights, socialism, nonviolence, and gay rights. Bayard Rustin often criticized Black Power which made him a target for Black Nationlists and their allies in the 1960s and 1970s (Bayard Rustin, Black Power… 2). Rustin’s major criticism was that Black Power threatened to recreate the conditions they claimed to be fighting against. He claimed that the only thing Black Power was advocating was the push for “the creation of an new black establishment,” (Bayard Rustin, Black Power … 4). The solution Rustin offered to establish a “liberal-labor- civil rights coalition which would work to make the Democratic Party truly responsive to the aspirations of the poor.”

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