2. Black Power’s Antecedents
● A. Phillip Randolph
○ Led the March on Washington Movement in 1941 for wartime
jobs in the defense industries and to desegregate the military.
○ Believed in this idea of black self-empowerment/self-reliance.
○ He was seen as the very beginning of black power being formed
because later on he encouraged his black readers in the
magazine, “The Black Worker” and told them “you possess
power, great power”.
3. Black Power’s Antecedents
● Malcolm X
○ Considered a more aggressive leader of the movement.
○ Learned of the Nation of Islam while he was in prison and
became one of the most prominent speakers from it.
○ Usually spoke directly to specifically black men and tried to light
a fire that would get them to fight in defense of not only
themselves but for everyone in the black community.
○ Believed that there was no point in being a passive to the
aggression and hate that they experienced from white people
and that violence should be met with violence.
○ Assassinated ion February 21, 1965 as he was about to deliver
another speech
4. Black Power’s Antecedents
● Malcolm’s Internationalism Result
○ Bandung Conference
● in 1955 which had leaders from 29 different nations to “discuss
politlical self-determination, national sovereignty, non-aggression,
non-interference in internal affairs, and equality as it applied to
colonialism, racial discrimination, religion, peace, and economic
development.”
5. Black Power’s Antecedents
● Paramilitary Defense Units
● Organization of the Deacons of Defense and Justice
● Were seen as a “police system” that provided protection by use of
carrying rifles, handguns, and sometimes walkie-talkies.
● Were seen as needed to balance out the ideology of the nonviolent
movement because otherwise “there [was] no telling how many
killings there would have been” according to the president of the
Deacons, Charles Sims
6. "Proclaiming" Black Power
● At a freedom rally in Mississippi, Stokely Carmichael first
proclaimed the words, "Black Power!"
○ Carmichael decided it was time for blacks to take over in order to stop
some of the oppression.
● Gave blacks the ability to feel like they could integrate into society
7. The Black Panther Party
● Founded in Oakland, California in 1966 by Huey
Newton, it was a revolutionary socialist organization that
gained popularity in the 60's because of its involvement
in US politics and numerous social/community programs
aimed at helping inner-city blacks.
● Their aim was to alleviate poverty and improve living
conditions among those groups of African Americans.
8. The Black Panther Party
● Oftentimes used forceful means to fight oppression,
which eventually led to the party becoming notorious for
violence against police.
● According to J. Edgar Hoover, then FBI director, the
BPP was "the greatest threat to the internal security of
the country."
● Oftentimes took advantage of
California law that allowed the
carrying of loaded rifles as long as
they were not hidden or pointed
at anyone.
9. A Dissident Youth Culture
● In the 1970's, African American attendance of colleges
and universities across the country began to increase
dramatically.
● This, along with the introduction of Black Studies as a
path of education, gave them a new means for activism
and became their "academic manifestation" of black
power.
● African American students began to demand more
courses specifically designed for their history and
literature, as well as for the hiring of more black
professors and staff at higher learning institutions.
10. A Dissident Youth Culture
● The Afro hairstyle itself was actually born as a counter-
culture statement against traditional, "white" definitions
of beauty that valued straight, long hair. It was another
outlet for black youth to show its displeasure with the
established norm.
● Black women chose to wear their hair in this way
because "Our desire to be free has to manifest itself in
everything we do..."
- Assata Shakur,
Black Panther.
11. Black Artistic Power
-Black Arts Movement established artistic aesthetic expression of black power
through its community based cultural production through intelletcual literary
work through the perspective of African Americans
-1960 On Guard for Freedom; a black nationalist literary circle formed in NY
-The Umbra Workshop; a distinct race-conscious group formed in 1962 which
included NY literary and visual artists/musicians who argued that art could
be an agent of social change
-NY literary group; Harlem Writers Guild included John Oliver Killens and Maya
Angelou.
-July 2, 1966 John Oliver Killens published an article in a white oriented
magazine entitled "Speaking OUt: Negroes Have a Right Fight Back"
advocating black power and arguing "moral suasion alone had never
brought about a revolution"
12. Black Artistic Power
-The Black Arts Movement combined politics and art in a manner of expression
of aesthetic values
-Two of the most poignant anthologies produced during the black power era
are Black Fire (1968) edited by Baraka and Larry Neal, and The Black
Aesthetic (1971) by Addison Gayle.
-The Black Aesthetic provided a cultural glimpse of the black power movement
incorporating drama, poetry, music, and literature into the development of
theories of independent black culture through contemporary and historical
writings
-This anthology unified contemporary political and cultural figures such as
Richard Wright, Langston Hughes, and W.E.B. Du Bois
-The rapidly grown widespread mantra "black is beautiful" increased rejection
of cultural assimilation including the rejection of integrational oriented civil
rights organizations such as the NAACP, SCLC, and the Urban League
13. Black Artistic Power
-The new aesthetic not only corrected the American perspective through
literary writings, but also in music.
-1963 Baraka established Blues People during the Black Arts Movement
through its folk roots featuring the blues, jazz and soul
-The Black Arts Movement adopted free jazz based on it's highly skilled
improvisation using unstructured melodic inflections and rhythmic lines that
challenged constraint and approximated vocal effects.
-1970s "blaxploitation" --another style of film emerged during this era. This
style included a mix of gangsterism, drug culture, sex, and violence.
-During this time period, black women writers such as Toni Morrison, Gayl
Jones, Alice Walker, and Maya Angelou projected their feelings about
oppression and sexism.
-Through gender perspective of black experience, African American women
writers argued against submission to the demands of a polite society that
wished them to be silent.
14. Black Feminism
-In 1965 Assistant Secretary of Labor Daniel Patrick Moynihan reported "The
Negro Family: The Case for National Action"; a highly publicized case that
examined the continued racial disparities between black and whites during
the decade of the Brown decision in 1954 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964
-This report included the blatant identification of racial discrimination
reponsible for the growing problem that placed the black family 'out of the
norm' of the stable white family
-Moynihan also blamed the growing number of black female-headed
households for the "tangle of pathology" within the black community
Moynihan's report created rage among black feminists; female writer Michelle
Wallace described it as "a brain-shattering explosion upon the heads of
black women, the accumuation of over 300 years of rage."
-During the late 1960s and 1970s, gender-conscious black women struggled to
fit between the black-power and feminist movements.
15. Black Feminism
-In 1972 congresswoman Shirley Chisholm responded to critics of the African
American women's movement as "in many respects, it was more difficult to
be a woman than a black"
-The Third World Women's Alliance (TWWA) considered to be the most radical
of the black power women's organizations, formed in 1968 in New York after
the SNCC shifted to black power.
-The TWWA main concerns primarily focused on the same social problems as
the National Black Feminist Organization
-"Free Angela Davis" was one of the organization's most publicized campaign
that occured after Davis was arrested and charged in a Marin County (CA)
courthouse.
16. Social and Political Realities
● Riots began to grow and kept growing to the point
where "neither congressional legislation nor executive
action could stem the violence."
● Riots broke out all across America
○ Los Angeles, Detroit, Newark, Watts, etc.
○ Even more riots broke out at the news of Dr. Martin Luther
King's assassination.
● Massive migration/movement seen in an attempt to
have their voices be heard.
○ As a result, their voices began to be heard and blacks became
more prevalent in the government.
● Though there were rising levels of black unemployment,
by the end of the movement, there had been a drastic
change in the black voice as a whole.
