The Black Power Movement (Edexcel GCSE History): Revision Note

Summary

Non-violence was one of the key features of the civil rights struggle during the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Greensboro sit-ins, Freedom Rides and marches. However, some people began to question this approach throughout the 1960s. This led to splits within the civil rights movement and the establishment of the more militant and confrontational Black Power movement. The peaceful protest of two Black American athletes in the 1968 Olympic Games meant that Black Power was soon a term that was known and understood throughout the world. Members of the Black Panther Party, openly carrying guns and wearing black berets became a common sight in Black communities all across America. After years of frustration, many Black Americans were no longer asking for change – they were demanding it.

What led to the formation of the Black Power movement?

• By 1963, many Black Americans had become frustrated by what they saw as a lack of progress made by the non-violent approach

  • Malcolm X’s confrontational stance appealed to a lot of people who were living in both segregated and impoverished conditions

  • These people were angry at the treatment they received from White America and the treatment their ancestors had received

• Some Black Americans began to argue that they shouldn’t wait for White Americans to grant them improved rights

• They also argued against accepting help from White Americans who supported their cause

• Instead, they took pride in their culture and heritage and demanded change

• This approach to achieving improved civil rights became known as Black Power

  • Members of the Black Power movement believed that self-defence was justified

  • They also campaigned on social issues such as unemployment and poor housing in the Black community

Stokely Carmichael & the Panther

• Stokely Carmichael emerged as one of the leaders of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and became its chairman in 1966

  • The SNCC worked to get Black Americans to register to vote

  • Carmichael believed encouraging Black Power supporters to join the SNCC would help further their cause

• When the SNCC under Carmichael’s leadership established the Lowndes County Freedom Organisation, he chose a panther as its symbol

  • The panther went on to become a symbol of the more militant approach to the struggle for Civil Rights

• Under Carmichael’s leadership, the SNCC itself became more militant and adopted the slogan ‘Black is beautiful’

• The  SNCC began to encourage their supporters to:

  • Reject help from White People

  • Promote Black pride

  • Take pride in their heritage

The ‘March Against Fear’, 1966

• In June 1966, the former Black University of Mississippi student James Meridith began a three-week, 220-mile walk from Memphis, Tennessee to Jackson, Mississippi

• It was titled ‘The March Against Fear’ and was intended to:

  • Encourage Black Americans to register to vote

  • Highlight the continuing incidents of racism against Black Americans 

• Meridith was shot by a sniper on the second day of the march

  • This led Martin Luther King, Stokely Carmichael and others to take over leadership of the march

  • Over 15,000 people joined the march but the differences in approach between King and Carmichael soon became clear

  • King continued to argue for a nonviolent approach, whereas Carmichael made militant speeches and used the term ‘Black Power’

• In 1969, Carmichael left the SNCC after criticism of his involvement with the Black Panthers

A quote from Stokely Carmichael in which he criticised the approach of Martin Luther King

The Mexico Olympics, 1968 & the Black Power salute

• Stokely  Carmichael popularised the term ‘Black Power’ across the United States, but it was the actions of Tommy Smith and John Carlos that brought it to the attention of the world

  • Smith and Carlos were gold and bronze-medal-winning athletes in the 200 metres

  • As the US national anthem was played during their medal presentation, the pair bowed their heads and raised a gloved fist into the air

  • This had become known as the Black Power salute

• The  protest meant that the Black Power movement gained enormous media attention

  • It inspired many Black Americans to join their struggle

• However, it came at a huge personal cost to Smith and Carlos who:

  • Received numerous death threats

  • Were widely criticised by politicians and the media

  • Were  suspended from the US Olympic team

Who were the Black Panthers?

• The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was established by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale in 1966

• They were inspired by Malcolm X and communist revolutionaries such as Che Guevara

  • They adopted a military-style uniform of black trousers, black leather jacket and black beret

  • They openly carried guns to protect themselves and tape recorders to record incidents of police harassment

  • Their political agenda was to completely transform American society through a ten-point plan

Impact of the Black Panthers

• Many impoverished Black American communities initially benefitted from the impact of the Black Panthers

• The Black Panthers helped to: 

  • Create clinics to help give free advice to Black Americans on both rights and healthcare

  • Decrease gang violence

  • Create education programs that helped foster pride in Black American heritage and history

  • Create free breakfast programmes in poor communities

• Their encouragement of carrying arms led to:

  • An increase in the number of shootouts 

  • People storming government buildings

  • Department stores being blown up

• This  led many White Americans to see them as a violent and dangerous enemy and made them unsympathetic to the Civil Rights cause in general

• The influence and importance of the Black Panthers steadily declined over the years due to: 

  •  Infiltration by Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents

  • The imprisonment or murder of key members