Black Power Movement
Introduction During the 1960's great changes occured for African Americans. At the time African-Americans were able to transform the way they saw themselves and expected others to see them. The cultural landscape of America reflected the presence of African-Americans in a way to show that they are more than background characters in a white drama. How could a country with explicit white supremacist policies at the federal, state and local levels for most of its history make significant changes in such a short time? What brought about such wide-reaching cultural transformation?
Who was Involved In order to understand the Black Power Movement two groups must be __________. 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. The NOI was the chief inspiration and benefactor for the Black Power Movement. The Panthers raised the bar of radicalism and resistive politics, while influencing society far beyond what many expected from its small cadre of members. 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.
The effects of the Black Power Movement This 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.
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.
