Black Power Movement
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Introduction
During the 1960's great changes occured for African-Americans. Though the Civil Rights Movement had occured, many African-Americans did not have equal rights and opportunities as whites. During the the early 20th century, America was a country with a huge cultural investment in the theoretical construct of white supremacy. While white supremacy was obviously inimical to all people of color, its primary focus was to secure for whites exclusive access to a wide range of democratic (social, political and economic) pursuits to affirm black inferiority. African-Americans were constantly attacked in all areas of their life. On the federal, state, and local levels, laws and customs pushed blacks into the periphery of American citizenship. Movies, radio shows, postcards, and popular sayings ridiculed black people, even making light of black suffering and death. Lynch mobs, poor housing, inadequate housing and job discrimination meant that being black in America was both dangerous and unwise. This caused African-Americans to take a stand a fight for everything they had been denied, such as education, employment and housing. During this period, African-Americans were able to transform the way they saw themselves and expected others to see them. The cultural landscape of America now reflected the presence of African-Americans in a way to show that they are more than background characters in a "white drama". These changes occured through the Black Power Movement.
The Affects of the Black Power Movement
The Black Power Movement affected African-American identity and politics as much as any speech, march, or legal victory of the civil rights movement. Its thrust was "black nationalism", though Black Power was not necessarily nationalist. Black Power employed--even co-opted--the activism typified in civil rights struggles and operated on basic assumptions of rights and privileges. In essence, it demanded inclusion while advocating autonomy and self-determination. It asserted black access to full citizenship rights while conspiciously cultivating pride in much that was not American. Black Power was many things to people and an enigma to most. Two fundamental themes, however, were widely celebrated among proponents: black pride and black self-determination. From the traditions of black nationalists (and some integrationists) there developed a fundamentally new system of beliefs that shaped the political currents of the late 1960's and beyond. To read more on black nationalism, click the link below.
Who was Involved
In order to understand the Black Power Movement two groups must be acknowledged. The Nation of Islam (NOI) and the Black Panter Party (BPP) are two of the main and biggest organizations that did the most to forment the cultural shifts that reconfigured politics and identity in America.Both organizations built on the traditions of the black freedom struggle, which had deep roots, but the Panthers and Muslims in the 1960's forced conflicted discussions within the black community, which gave rise to Black Power and expanded radical discourse. To read more about the Black Panther Party, the Nation of Islam and their leaders, please click the links below.
The Black Panther Party | The Nation of Islam | Leaders of the Black Power Movement | Differences
Goals of the Black Power Movement
This Platform & Program articulated the fundamental wants and needs, and called for a redress of the longstanding grievances, of the black masses in America, still alienated from society and oppressed despite the abolition of slavery at the end of the Civil War. Moreover, this Platform & Program was a manifesto that demanded the express needs be met and oppression of blacks be ended immediately, a demand for the right to self defense, by a revolutionary ideology and by the commitment of the membership of the Black Panther Party to promote its agenda for fundamental change in America. To view the Ten Point Plan please click the link below.
Black Panther Community Survival Programs
From 1966 - 1982, the Black Panther Party created more than 60 programs that aided, protected and provided for African-Americans and their communities. These programs were also created due to the government not helping African-Americans in need. To view a list of the Community Survival Programs, please click the link below.
Black Panther Survivial Programs
Conclusion
Through riots, struggles, and violence the Black Power Movement was very successful in establishing pride and useful programs amongst African-Americans and their communities. African-Americans were viewed differently by themselves as well as whites. Blacks had gained access to the things they had been previously denied.
Source: Ogbar, Jeffrey. Black Power: Radical Politics and African American Identity. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004.
Apartheid | Black Power Movement | Chinese in America | La Raza | Citations
