black power movement essay summary

African American Heritage

Black Power

Black Power began as revolutionary movement in the 1960s and 1970s. It emphasized racial pride, economic empowerment, and the creation of political and cultural institutions. During this era, there was a rise in the demand for Black history courses, a greater embrace of African culture, and a spread of raw artistic expression displaying the realities of African Americans.

The term "Black Power" has various origins. Its roots can be traced to author Richard Wright’s non-fiction work Black Power , published in 1954. In 1965, the Lowndes County [Alabama] Freedom Organization (LCFO) used the slogan “Black Power for Black People” for its political candidates. The next year saw Black Power enter the mainstream. During the Meredith March against Fear in Mississippi, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Chairman Stokely Carmichael rallied marchers by chanting “we want Black Power.”

This portal highlights records of Federal agencies and collections that related to the Black Power Movement of the 1960s and 1970s. The selected records contain information on various organizations, including the Nation of Islam (NOI), Deacons for Defense and Justice , and the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense (BPP). It also includes records on several individuals, including Malcolm X, Stokely Carmichael, Elaine Brown, Angela Davis, Fred Hampton, Amiri Baraka, and Shirley Chisholm. This portal is not meant to be exhaustive, but to provide guidance to researchers interested in the Black Power Movement and its relation to the Federal government.

The records in this guide were created by Federal agencies, therefore, the topics included had some sort of interaction with the United States Government. This subject guide includes textual and electronic records, photographs, moving images, audio recordings, and artifacts. Records can be found at the National Archives at College Park, as well as various presidential libraries and regional archives throughout the country.

A Note on Restrictions and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

Due to the type of possible content found in series related to Black Power, there may be restrictions associated with access and the use of these records. Several series in RG 60 - Department of Justice (DOJ) and RG 65 - Records of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) may need to be screened for FOIA (b)(1) National Security, FOIA (b)(6) Personal Information, and/or FOIA (b)(7) Law Enforcement prior to public release . Researchers interested in records that contain FOIA restrictions, should consult our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) page.

Black Arts Movement

Black Panther Party

Congressional Black Caucus

Nation of Islam

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

Women in Black Power

Rediscovering Black History: Blogs on Black Power

National Museum of African American History and Culture: The Foundations of Black Power

Library of Congress, American Folklife Center: Black Power Collections and Repositories

Digital Public Library of America: The Black Power Movement

Columbia University: Malcolm X Project Records, 1968-2008

Revolutionary Movements Then and Now: Black Power and Black Lives Matter, Oct 19, 2016

The people and the police, sep 8, 2016.

Black Power

Although African American writers and politicians used the term “Black Power” for years, the expression first entered the lexicon of the civil rights movement during the Meredith March Against Fear in the summer of 1966. Martin Luther King, Jr., believed that Black Power was “essentially an emotional concept” that meant “different things to different people,” but he worried that the slogan carried “connotations of violence and separatism” and opposed its use (King, 32; King, 14 October 1966). The controversy over Black Power reflected and perpetuated a split in the civil rights movement between organizations that maintained that nonviolent methods were the only way to achieve civil rights goals and those organizations that had become frustrated and were ready to adopt violence and black separatism. 

On 16 June 1966, while completing the march begun by James  Meredith , Stokely  Carmichael  of the  Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee  (SNCC) rallied a crowd in Greenwood, Mississippi, with the cry, “We want Black Power!” Although SNCC members had used the term during informal conversations, this was the first time Black Power was used as a public slogan. Asked later what he meant by the term, Carmichael said, “When you talk about black power you talk about bringing this country to its knees any time it messes with the black man … any white man in this country knows about power. He knows what white power is and he ought to know what black power is” (“Negro Leaders on ‘Meet the Press’”). In the ensuing weeks, both SNCC and the  Congress of Racial Equality  (CORE) repudiated  nonviolence  and embraced militant separatism with Black Power as their objective. 

Although King believed that “the slogan was an unwise choice,” he attempted to transform its meaning, writing that although “the Negro is powerless,” he should seek “to amass political and economic power to reach his legitimate goals” (King, October 1966; King, 14 October 1966). King believed that “America must be made a nation in which its multi-racial people are partners in power” (King, 14 October 1966). Carmichael, on the other hand, believed that black people had to first “close ranks” in solidarity with each other before they could join a multiracial society (Carmichael, 44). 

Although King was hesitant to criticize Black Power openly, he told his staff on 14 November 1966 that Black Power “was born from the wombs of despair and disappointment. Black Power is a cry of pain. It is in fact a reaction to the failure of White Power to deliver the promises and to do it in a hurry … The cry of Black Power is really a cry of hurt” (King, 14 November 1966). 

As the  Southern Christian Leadership Conference , the  National Association for the Advancement of Colored People , and other civil rights organizations rejected SNCC and CORE’s adoption of Black Power, the movement became fractured. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Black Power became the rallying call of black nationalists and revolutionary armed movements like the Black Panther Party, and King’s interpretation of the slogan faded into obscurity. 

“Black Power for Whom?”  Christian Century  (20 July 1966): 903–904.

Branch,  At Canaan’s Edge , 2006.

Carmichael and Hamilton,  Black Power , 1967.

Carson,  In Struggle , 1981.

King, Address at SCLC staff retreat, 14 November 1966,  MLKJP-GAMK .

King, “It Is Not Enough to Condemn Black Power,” October 1966,  MLKJP-GAMK .

King, Statement on Black Power, 14 October 1966,  TMAC-GA .

King,  Where Do We Go from Here , 1967.

“Negro Leaders on ‘Meet the Press,’” 89th Cong., 2d sess.,  Congressional Record  112 (29 August 1966): S 21095–21102.

Please contact the OCIO Help Desk for additional support.

Your issue id is: 11388970990695803352.

• History Classics
• Your Profile
• Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window)
• This Day In History
• History Podcasts
• History Vault

How the Black Power Movement Influenced the Civil Rights Movement

By: Sarah Pruitt

Updated: July 27, 2023 | Original: February 20, 2020

By 1966, the civil rights movement had been gaining momentum for more than a decade, as thousands of African Americans embraced a strategy of nonviolent protest against racial segregation and demanded equal rights under the law.

But for an increasing number of African Americans, particularly young Black men and women, that strategy did not go far enough. Protesting segregation, they believed, failed to adequately address the poverty and powerlessness that generations of systemic discrimination and racism had imposed on so many Black Americans.

Inspired by the principles of racial pride, autonomy and self-determination expressed by Malcolm X (whose assassination in 1965 had brought even more attention to his ideas), as well as liberation movements in Africa, Asia and Latin America, the Black Power movement that flourished in the late 1960s and ‘70s argued that Black Americans should focus on creating economic, social and political power of their own, rather than seek integration into white-dominated society.

Crucially, Black Power advocates, particularly more militant groups like the Black Panther Party, did not discount the use of violence, but embraced Malcolm X’s challenge to pursue freedom, equality and justice “by any means necessary.”

The March Against Fear - June 1966

The emergence of Black Power as a parallel force alongside the mainstream civil rights movement occurred during the March Against Fear, a voting rights march in Mississippi in June 1966. The march originally began as a solo effort by James Meredith, who had become the first African American to attend the University of Mississippi, a.k.a. Ole Miss, in 1962. He had set out in early June to walk from Memphis, Tennessee, to Jackson, Mississippi, a distance of more than 200 miles, to promote Black voter registration and protest ongoing discrimination in his home state.

But after a white gunman shot and wounded Meredith on a rural road in Mississippi, three major civil rights leaders— Martin Luther King, Jr. of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Stokely Carmichael of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and Floyd McKissick of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) decided to continue the March Against Fear in his name.

In the days to come, Carmichael, McKissick and fellow marchers were harassed by onlookers and arrested by local law enforcement while walking through Mississippi. Speaking at a rally of supporters in Greenwood, Mississippi, on June 16, Carmichael (who had been released from jail that day) began leading the crowd in a chant of “We want Black Power!” The refrain stood in sharp contrast to many civil rights protests, where demonstrators commonly chanted “We want freedom!”

Stokely Carmichael’s Role in Black Power

Though the author Richard Wright had written a book titled Black Power in 1954, and the phrase had been used among other Black activists before, Stokely Carmichael was the first to use it as a political slogan in such a public way. As biographer Peniel E. Joseph writes in Stokely: A Life , the events in Mississippi “catapulted Stokely into the political space last occupied by Malcolm X,” as he went on TV news shows, was profiled in Ebony and written up in the New York Times under the headline “Black Power Prophet.”

Carmichael’s growing prominence put him at odds with King, who acknowledged the frustration among many African Americans with the slow pace of change but didn’t see violence and separatism as a viable path forward. With the country mired in the Vietnam War , (a war both Carmichael and King spoke out against) and the civil rights movement King had championed losing momentum, the message of the Black Power movement caught on with an increasing number of Black Americans.

Black Power Movement Growth—and Backlash

King and Carmichael renewed their alliance in early 1968, as King was planning his Poor People’s Campaign, which aimed to bring thousands of protesters to Washington, D.C., to call for an end to poverty. But in April 1968, King was assassinated in Memphis while in town to support a strike by the city’s sanitation workers as part of that campaign.

In the aftermath of King’s murder, a mass outpouring of grief and anger led to riots in more than 100 U.S. cities . Later that year, one of the most visible Black Power demonstrations took place at the Summer Olympics in Mexico City, where Black athletes John Carlos and Tommie Smith raised black-gloved fists in the air on the medal podium.

By 1970, Carmichael (who later changed his name to Kwame Ture) had moved to Africa, and SNCC had been supplanted at the forefront of the Black Power movement by more militant groups, such as the Black Panther Party , the US Organization, the Republic of New Africa and others, who saw themselves as the heirs to Malcolm X’s revolutionary philosophy. Black Panther chapters began operating in a number of cities nationwide, where they advocated a 10-point program of socialist revolution (backed by armed self-defense). The group’s more practical efforts focused on building up the Black community through social programs (including free breakfasts for school children ).

Many in mainstream white society viewed the Black Panthers and other Black Power groups negatively, dismissing them as violent, anti-white and anti-law enforcement. Like King and other civil rights activists before them, the Black Panthers became targets of the FBI’s counterintelligence program, or COINTELPRO, which weakened the group considerably by the mid-1970s through such tactics as spying, wiretapping, flimsy criminal charges and even assassination .

Legacy of Black Power

Even after the Black Power movement’s decline in the late 1970s, its impact would continue to be felt for generations to come. With its emphasis on Black racial identity, pride and self-determination, Black Power influenced everything from popular culture to education to politics, while the movement’s challenge to structural inequalities inspired other groups (such as Chicanos, Native Americans, Asian Americans and LGBTQ people) to pursue their own goals of overcoming discrimination to achieve equal rights.

The legacies of both the Black Power and civil rights movements live on in the Black Lives Matter movement . Though Black Lives Matter focuses more specifically on criminal justice reform, it channels the spirit of earlier movements in its efforts to combat systemic racism and the social, economic and political injustices that continue to affect Black Americans.

HISTORY Vault: Black History

Watch acclaimed Black History documentaries on HISTORY Vault.

Sign up for Inside History

Get HISTORY’s most fascinating stories delivered to your inbox three times a week.

By submitting your information, you agree to receive emails from HISTORY and A+E Networks. You can opt out at any time. You must be 16 years or older and a resident of the United States.

More details : Privacy Notice | Terms of Use | Contact Us

The Black Power Movement: Understanding Its Origins, Leaders, and Legacy

By Jameelah Nasheed

Politicians love to quote Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous line about the long arc of the moral universe slowly bending toward justice. But social justice movements have long been accelerated by radicals and activists who have tried to force that arc to bend faster. That was the case for the Black power movement, an outgrowth of the civil rights movement that emerged in the 1960s with calls to reject slow-moving integration efforts and embrace self-determination. The movement called for Black Americans to create their own cultural institutions, take pride in their heritage, and become economically independent. Its legacy is still felt today in the work of the movement for Black lives. Here’s what to know about how the Black power movement started and what it stood for.

What were the origins of the movement?

It started with a march. Four years after James Meredith became the first Black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi, he embarked on a solo walk from Memphis, Tennessee, to Jackson, Mississippi. Meredith’s “March Against Fear” was a protest against the fear instilled in Black Americans who attempted to register to vote, and the overall culture of fear that was part of day-to-day life. On June 5, 1966, he began his 220-mile trek, equipped with nothing but a helmet and walking stick . On his second day, June 6, Meredith crossed the Mississippi border (by this point he’d been joined by a small number of supporters, reporters, and photographers). That’s where a white man, Aubrey James Norvell, shot Meredith in the head, neck, and back. Meredith survived but was unable to continue marching. 

In response, civil rights leaders including King and Stokely Carmichael, chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), came together in Mississippi to continue Meredith’s march and push for voting rights. Carmichael, who King had considered to be one of the most promising leaders of the civil rights movement, had gone from embracing nonviolent protests in the early '60s to pushing for a more radical approach for change. "[Dr. King] only made one fallacious assumption: In order for nonviolence to work, your opponent has to have a conscience. The United States has no conscience," said Carmichael.

Carmichael was arrested when the march reached Greenwood, Mississippi, and after his release he led a crowd in a chant , at a rally , “We want Black power!” Although the slogan “Black power for Black people” was used by Alabama’s Lowndes County Freedom Organization (LCFO) the year before, Carmichael’s use of the phrase, on June 16, 1966, is what drew national attention to the concept.

Who are some of the movement’s prominent leaders?

Malcolm X was assassinated before the rise of the Black power movement, but his life and teachings laid the groundwork for it and served as one of the movement’s greatest inspirations . The movement drew on Malcolm X’s declarations of Black pride and his understanding that the freedom movement for Black Americans was intertwined with the fight for global human rights and an anti-colonial future.

Carmichael, a Trinidad-born New Yorker (later known as Kwame Ture), and who popularized the phrase "Black power,” was a key leader of the movement. Carmichael was inspired to get involved with the civil rights movement after seeing Black protesters hold sit-ins at segregated lunch counters across the South. During his time at Howard University, he joined SNCC and became a Freedom Rider , joining other college students in challenging segregation laws as they traveled through the South. 

Eventually, after being arrested more than 32 times and witnessing peaceful protesters get met with violence, Carmichael moved away from the passive resistance method of fighting for freedom. “I think Dr. King is a great man, full of compassion. He is full of mercy and he is very patient. He is a man who could accept the uncivilized behavior of white Americans, and their unceasing taunts; and still have in his heart forgiveness,” Carmichael once said , as quoted in The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 documentary. “Unfortunately, I am from a younger generation. I am not as patient as Dr. King, nor am I as merciful as Dr. King. And their unwillingness to deal with someone like Dr. King just means they have to deal with this younger generation.”

Activist, author, and scholar Angela Davis , one of the most iconic faces of the movement, later told the Nation , "The movement was a response to what were perceived as the limitations of the civil rights movement.… Although Black individuals have entered economic, social, and political hierarchies, the overwhelming number of Black people are subject to economic, educational, and carceral racism to a far greater extent than during the pre-civil rights era.”

What did the movement stand for?

Dr. King believed “Black power” meant "different things to different people,” and he was right. After Carmichael uttered the slogan, Black power groups began forming across the country, putting forth different ideas of what the phrase meant. Carmichael once said , “When you talk about Black power, you talk about bringing this country to its knees any time it messes with the Black man…. Any white man in this country knows about power. He knows what white power is, and he ought to know what Black power is.”

Some Black civil rights leaders opposed the slogan. Dr. King, for example, believed it to be “essentially an emotional concept” and worried that it carried “connotations of violence and separatism.” Many white people did, in fact, interpret “Black power” as meaning a violently anti-white movement. In 2020, during Congressman John Lewis’s funeral, former president Bill Clinton said , “There were two or three years there where the movement went a little too far toward Stokely, but in the end, John Lewis prevailed.” By “Stokely,” he meant the Black power movement.

According to the National Museum of African American History & Culture (NMAAHC), the Black power movement aimed to “emphasize Black self-reliance and self-determination more than integration,” and supporters of the movement believed “African Americans should secure their human rights by creating political and cultural organizations that served their interests.” The Black power movement sought to give Black people control of their own lives by empowering them culturally, politically, and economically. At the same time, it instilled a sense of pride in Black people who began to further embrace Black art, history , and beauty .

By Sara Delgado

By Kara Nesvig

By Donya Momenian

Although Dr. King didn’t publicly support the movement, according to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University, in November 1966, he told his staff that Black power “was born from the wombs of despair and disappointment. Black power is a cry of pain. It is, in fact, a reaction to the failure of white power to deliver the promises and to do it in a hurry…. The cry of Black power is really a cry of hurt.”

How did “Black power” relate to the civil rights movement and Black Panther Party?

At its core, the Black power movement was a movement for Black liberation . What made the Black power movement different from the civil rights movement of the early 1960s, and frightening to white people, was that it embraced forms of self-defense . In fact, the full name of the Black Panther Party was “the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense.”

Huey Newton [R], founder of the Black Panther Party, sits with Bobby Seale at party headquarters in San Francisco.  

The Black Panthers were founded in 1966 by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale, two students in Oakland, California. Like Carmichael, Newton and Seale couldn’t stand the brutality Black people faced at the hands of police officers and a legal system that empowered those officers while oppressing Black citizens. The Black power movement came to be as a result of the work and impact of the civil rights movement, but the Black Panther party, which also strayed from the idea of integration, was an extension of the Black power movement. According to the NMAAHC , it was the “most influential militant” Black power organization of the era.

The SNCC and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) embraced militant separatism in alignment with the Black power movement, while the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) opposed it. Subsequently, the movement was divided, and in the late 1960s and '70s, the slogan became synonymous with Black militant organizations. Peniel Joseph , founding director of the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy at the University of Austin Texas’s LBJ School of Public Affairs, told NPR that although the movement is “remembered by the images of gun-toting black urban militants, most notably the Black Panther Party...it's really a movement that overtly criticized white supremacy.”

“You ask me whether I approve of violence? That just doesn’t make any sense at all," Angela Davis said in The Black Power Mixtape . “Whether I approve of guns? I grew up in Birmingham, Alabama. Some very, very good friends of mine were killed by bombs – bombs that were planted by racists. I remember, from the time I was very small, the sound of bombs exploding across the street and the house shaking. That’s why,” Davis explained further, "when someone asks me about violence, I find it incredible because it means the person asking that question has absolutely no idea what Black people have gone through and experienced in this country from the time the first Black person was kidnapped from the shores of Africa.”

What impact did the movement have on U.S. history?

The Black power movement empowered generations of Black organizers and leaders, giving them new figures to look up to and a new way to think of systemic racism in the U.S. The raised fist that became a symbol of Black power in the 1960s is one of the main symbols of today’s Black Lives Matter movement .

“When we think about its impact on democratic institutions, it's really on multiple levels,” Joseph told NPR . “On one level, politically, the first generation of African American elected officials, they owe their standing to both the civil rights and voting rights act of '64 and '65. But to actually get elected in places like Gary, Indiana, in 1967, it required Black power activism to help them build up new Black, urban political machines. So its impact is really, really profound.”

Want more from Teen Vogue ? Check this out: The Black Radical Tradition in the South Is Nothing to Sneer At

Stay up-to-date with the politics team. Sign up for the Teen Vogue Take!

By Liv McConnell

• Search Menu
• Browse content in Arts and Humanities
• Browse content in Art
• History of Art
• Theory of Art
• Browse content in History
• Environmental History
• History by Period
• Intellectual History
• Political History
• Regional and National History
• Social and Cultural History
• Theory, Methods, and Historiography
• Browse content in Linguistics
• Psycholinguistics
• Browse content in Literature
• Literary Studies - World
• Literary Studies (20th Century onwards)
• Literary Studies (African American Literature)
• Literary Studies (Poetry and Poets)
• Literary Theory and Cultural Studies
• Browse content in Media Studies
• Browse content in Philosophy
• Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art
• Feminist Philosophy
• History of Western Philosophy
• Metaphysics
• Moral Philosophy
• Philosophy of Science
• Philosophy of Religion
• Social and Political Philosophy
• Browse content in Religion
• Christianity
• East Asian Religions
• Judaism and Jewish Studies
• Religious Studies
• Browse content in Society and Culture
• Cultural Studies
• Ethical Issues and Debates
• Browse content in Law
• Criminal Law
• Medical and Healthcare Law
• Browse content in Medicine and Health
• Browse content in Clinical Medicine
• Palliative Medicine
• Browse content in Public Health and Epidemiology
• Public Health
• Browse content in Science and Mathematics
• Browse content in Biological Sciences
• Ecology and Conservation
• Evolutionary Biology
• Genetics and Genomics
• Browse content in Earth Sciences and Geography
• Palaeontology
• Environmental Science
• History of Science and Technology
• Browse content in Neuroscience
• Cognition and Behavioural Neuroscience
• Sensory and Motor Systems
• Browse content in Physics
• History of Physics
• Browse content in Psychology
• Clinical Psychology
• Cognitive Psychology
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Criminal and Forensic Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Evolutionary Psychology
• Health Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Browse content in Social Sciences
• Browse content in Anthropology
• Regional Anthropology
• Theory and Practice of Anthropology
• Browse content in Business and Management
• Business Ethics
• Business Strategy
• Business History
• Corporate Governance
• Corporate Social Responsibility
• Information and Communication Technologies
• Browse content in Economics
• Behavioural Economics and Neuroeconomics
• Econometrics and Mathematical Economics
• Economic History
• Economic Development and Growth
• Financial Markets
• Financial Institutions and Services
• History of Economic Thought
• International Economics
• Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics
• Public Economics
• Browse content in Environment
• Climate Change
• Social Impact of Environmental Issues (Social Science)
• Interdisciplinary Studies
• Browse content in Politics
• Asian Politics
• Comparative Politics
• Conflict Politics
• Environmental Politics
• International Relations
• Middle Eastern Politics
• Political Economy
• Political Theory
• Public Policy
• Security Studies
• US Politics
• Browse content in Social Work
• Child and Adolescent Social Work
• Social Policy and Advocacy
• Social Work and Crime and Justice
• Social Work Macro Practice
• Social Work Research and Evidence-based Practice
• Browse content in Sociology
• Comparative and Historical Sociology
• Gender and Sexuality
• Gerontology and Ageing
• Health, Illness, and Medicine
• Marriage and the Family
• Race and Ethnicity
• Social Movements and Social Change
• Sport and Leisure
• Reviews and Awards
• Journals on Oxford Academic
• Books on Oxford Academic

• < Previous chapter

8 Conclusion: Institutionalizing Black Power

• Published: June 2014
• Cite Icon Cite
• Permissions Icon Permissions

This concluding chapter revisits popular conceptions of the Black Power movement, considering its role in the development of black professional associational life. It explores the idea of treating the Black Power era as a transition period in race relations. The Black Power movement created interracial interactions in established integrated organizations, and was the prevalent organizing frame for African Americans seeking change within them. While the civil rights movement took significant action against racial discrimination, it had concerned itself primarily with access to institutions that had previously been closed to African Americans, which is not enough. African Americans had to mobilize Black Power ideas, norms, strategies, and tactics within various organizations in order to devise organizational structures that promote racial equality.

Signed in as

Institutional accounts.

• Google Scholar Indexing
• GoogleCrawler [DO NOT DELETE]

Personal account

• Sign in with email/username & password
• Get email alerts
• Save searches
• Purchase content
• Activate your purchase/trial code

Institutional access

• Sign in with a library card Sign in with username/password Recommend to your librarian
• Institutional account management
• Get help with access

Access to content on Oxford Academic is often provided through institutional subscriptions and purchases. If you are a member of an institution with an active account, you may be able to access content in one of the following ways:

IP based access

Typically, access is provided across an institutional network to a range of IP addresses. This authentication occurs automatically, and it is not possible to sign out of an IP authenticated account.

Sign in through your institution

Choose this option to get remote access when outside your institution. Shibboleth/Open Athens technology is used to provide single sign-on between your institution’s website and Oxford Academic.

• Click Sign in through your institution.
• Select your institution from the list provided, which will take you to your institution's website to sign in.
• When on the institution site, please use the credentials provided by your institution. Do not use an Oxford Academic personal account.
• Following successful sign in, you will be returned to Oxford Academic.

If your institution is not listed or you cannot sign in to your institution’s website, please contact your librarian or administrator.

Sign in with a library card

Enter your library card number to sign in. If you cannot sign in, please contact your librarian.

Society Members

Society member access to a journal is achieved in one of the following ways:

Sign in through society site

Many societies offer single sign-on between the society website and Oxford Academic. If you see ‘Sign in through society site’ in the sign in pane within a journal:

• Click Sign in through society site.
• When on the society site, please use the credentials provided by that society. Do not use an Oxford Academic personal account.

If you do not have a society account or have forgotten your username or password, please contact your society.

Sign in using a personal account

Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members. See below.

A personal account can be used to get email alerts, save searches, purchase content, and activate subscriptions.

Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members.

Viewing your signed in accounts

Click the account icon in the top right to:

• View your signed in personal account and access account management features.
• View the institutional accounts that are providing access.

Signed in but can't access content

Oxford Academic is home to a wide variety of products. The institutional subscription may not cover the content that you are trying to access. If you believe you should have access to that content, please contact your librarian.

For librarians and administrators, your personal account also provides access to institutional account management. Here you will find options to view and activate subscriptions, manage institutional settings and access options, access usage statistics, and more.

Our books are available by subscription or purchase to libraries and institutions.

• About Oxford Academic
• Publish journals with us
• University press partners
• What we publish
• New features  
• Open access
• Rights and permissions
• Accessibility
• Advertising
• Media enquiries
• Oxford University Press
• Oxford Languages
• University of Oxford

Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide

• Copyright © 2024 Oxford University Press
• Cookie settings
• Cookie policy
• Privacy policy
• Legal notice

This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription.

• school Campus Bookshelves
• menu_book Bookshelves
• perm_media Learning Objects
• login Login
• how_to_reg Request Instructor Account
• hub Instructor Commons
• Download Page (PDF)
• Download Full Book (PDF)
• Periodic Table
• Physics Constants
• Scientific Calculator
• Reference & Cite
• Tools expand_more
• Readability

selected template will load here

This action is not available.

2.2: "Empowering the Black Power Movement"

• Last updated
• Save as PDF
• Page ID 229871

• Rebecca Al Haider
• Reedly College

Chapter 5 Objectives

Students will be able to

• Practice vocabulary with an increased understanding of the chapter words
• Learn about the Cornell note-taking strategy and practice it while reading
• Study and discuss the way movements spread through society with the correct use of the order words "before" and "after"
• Read “ Empowering the Black Power Movement ” by USHistory.org and answer comprehension questions based on this reading
• Make connections between this chapter and previously assigned texts
• Practice strategies for writing introduction and conclusion paragraphs
• Create a 5-paragraph draft of an essay about social change
• Develop complete sentences while editing for run-on or fragment errors

Vocabulary Introduction

Exercise 1 prior knowledge.

Look at the words in bold in Exercise 2 without reading the example sentences. Rate your current knowledge of the word before doing the unit exercises. Use the numbered scale and write the number in front of the sentences in Exercise 2. With each exercise and by the end of the unit, your knowledge should work toward a "4", which means you will know the word, can explain it and give an example. It is expected that you will mark many words with a "1" or "2" now since they might be completely new words.

1. I do not know this word, and I have never heard of it before.

2. I have heard of this word before. It sounds familiar.

3. I can give an example of this word, but I cannot explain it.

4. I know this word. I can explain it and give an example.

Exercise 2 Definitions

Read the sentences below. Guess the meaning of the words in bold based on the example sentence(s).

____ 1. Alicia was determined to pass the class, so she studied often.

Your definition:

____ 2. The financial aid will help me have more time to study instead of working.

____ 3. Parents should be involved in their children’s lives by doing activities on the weekend, talking at dinnertime, and taking trips together.

____ 4. Ahmed will never disobey his parents. He follows all the rules.

____ 5. The abandoned house attracted homeless people and drug activity.

____ 6. His body rejected the medicine. He had to change his treatment strategy.

Take Cornell Notes on a separate piece of paper. To help you, read the passage first and write margin notes and highlight. Next, transfer your notes into a Cornell Notes template.

Empowering the Black Power Movement by USHistory.org

This informational text discusses how the Black Power movement of the 1960s and 1970s emerged as a major political force following the Civil Rights Movement. While the Civil Rights Movement helped end legal segregation in America, the Black Power movement sought to end the economic and social inequality that African Americans continued to face. As you read, take notes on how the Black Power Movement was formed.

2 Civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., Floyd McKissick of CORE, and Stokely Carmichael of SNCC rushed to Meredith's hospital bed. They determined that his march must be completed. As Carmichael and McKissick walked through Mississippi, they observed that when it came to race relations, little had changed despite federal legislation. Local townspeople harassed the marchers while the police turned a blind eye or arrested the activists as troublemakers.

3 At a mass rally, Carmichael uttered the simple statement: “What we need is black power.” Crowds chanted the phrase as a slogan, and a movement began to flower.

4 Carmichael and McKissick were heavily influenced by the words of Malcolm X, and rejected integration as a short-term goal. Carmichael felt that blacks needed to feel a sense of racial pride and self-respect before any meaningful gains could be achieved. He encouraged the strengthening of African American communities without the help of whites.

5 Chapters of SNCC and CORE — both integrated organizations — began to reject white membership as Carmichael abandoned peaceful resistance. Martin Luther King Jr. and the NAACP denounced black power as the proper forward path. But black power was a powerful message in the streets of urban America, where resentment boiled and tempers flared.

6 Soon, African American students began to celebrate African American culture boldly and publicly. Colleges teemed with young blacks wearing traditional African colors and clothes. Soul singer James Brown had his audience chanting “Say it loud, I'm black and I'm proud.” Hairstyles unique to African Americans became popular and youths proclaimed, “Black is Beautiful!”

7 That same year, Huey Newton and Bobby Seale took Carmichael's advice one step further. They formed the Black Panther Party in Oakland, California. Openly brandishing weapons, the Panthers decided to take control of their own neighborhoods to aid their communities and to resist police brutality. Soon the Panthers spread across the nation. The Black Panther Party borrowed many tenets from socialist movements, including Mao Zedong's famous creed “Political power comes through the barrel of a gun.” The Panthers and the police exchanged gunshots on American streets as white Americans viewed the growing militancy with increasing alarm. Newton himself was arrested in October of 1968 after he was involved in a shootout with police that left an officer dead. Despite the escalation in violence around the country, the Black Panther Party kept growing.

8 The peaceful Civil Rights Movement was dealt a severe blow in the spring of 1968. On the morning of April 4, King was gunned down by a white assassin named James Earl Ray. Riots spread through American cities as African Americans mourned the death of their most revered leader. Black power advocates saw the murder as another sign that white power must be met with similar force. As the decade came to a close, there were few remaining examples of legal discrimination. But across the land, de facto segregation loomed large. Many schools were hardly integrated and African Americans struggled to claim their fair share of the economic pie.

9 Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the Civil Rights Movement led by CORE, SNCC, and NAACP achieved much with their nonviolent civil disobedience methods in regards to ending Jim Crow laws and supporting integration laws. But the 1970s would belong to the Black Power movement.

“ Empowering the Black Power Movement ” by USHistory.org is licensed under CC BY 4.0

Text-Dependent Questions

Directions: For the following questions, choose the best answer or respond in complete sentences.

1. PART A: Which of the following best identifies a central idea of this text?

A. The Black Power movement’s main purpose was to incite violence against white power.

B. The Black Power movement’s goals included integration and ending police brutality.

C. The Black Power movement’s purpose was to establish black pride and protect black communities.

D. The Black Power movement’s goals included empowering black urban youth and arming them for their own protection.

2. PART B: Which TWO phrases from the text best support the answer to Part A?

A. “Carmichael and McKissick were heavily influenced by the words of Malcolm X, and rejected integration as a short-term goal.” (Paragraph 4)

B. “Carmichael felt that blacks needed to feel a sense of racial pride and self-respect before any meaningful gains could be achieved.” (Paragraph 4)

C. “they observed that when it came to race relations, little had changed despite federal legislation” (Paragraph 2)

D. “Openly brandishing weapons, the Panthers decided to take control of their own neighborhoods to aid their communities and to resist police brutality.” (Paragraph 7)

E. “Riots spread through American cities as African Americans mourned the death of their most revered leader.” (Paragraph 8)

F. “Many schools were hardly integrated and African Americans struggled to claim their fair share of the economic pie.” (Paragraph 8)

3. How does the inclusion of paragraph 6 contribute to the author’s description of the Black Power movement?

A. It explains how black musicians were more influential than black activists.

B. It depicts the enlightenment and spiritual awakening of the Black Power movement.

C. It shows how the movement celebrated and uplifted African Americans.

D. It reveals the wide gap between white America and black America during integration.

4. What statement best describes the relationship between Stokely Carmichael and Huey Newton?

A. Carmichael’s call for black power inspired Newton to physically empower black communities.

B. Carmichael’s exclusion of white members inspired Newton to form a black-only movement.

C. Newton worked with Carmichael to learn how to start the Black Panther Party in Oakland, California.

D. Newton’s self-defense methods scared Carmichael because of Newton’s conflicts with the police.

Reading/Writing Strategy: Understand Order of Events

Exercise 5 discuss how movements spread.

1: Watch the video

Take notes of the main ideas. Click "CC" for English subtitles. Re-watch, if needed.

2: Practice vocabulary from the video

Take notes on new vocabulary terms. Click "CC" for English subtitles. Pause as needed.

3: Share Your Ideas

Hint: This type of movement is defined as a group of people working together to advance their shared political, social, or artistic ideas.

How do social-political movements become popular? How do the ideas spread?

Give an example of one movement: What was it? How did it start? How did others join in?

Write at least 5 sentences for your initial post.

The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement began due to videos of police brutality against Black people spreading online. Protesters called for justice and equality through peaceful demonstrations, marches, and civil disobedience, raising awareness about police violence. Social media, especially hashtags like #BlackLivesMatter, helped the movement go global, gaining support through videos and personal stories. While the movement led to some policy changes in certain police forces, there's still work to be done. The movement continues to spread through online stories and news sources.

4: Reply to two of your peers

After you have created your own post, respond to at least two of your classmates' posts. See if others know about similar movements or have information that you find interesting. You may ask a follow-up question or make a connection to the other student's post. Each reply post should be at least 3 sentences.

Exercise 6 Using before and after to show sequence:

Before connects to the clause of the later event to show that something came before this. Example: Before I came to Delta College, I took some English classes at adult school.

(this happened later) (this happened first)

After connects to the clause of the earlier event to show that something came after this. Example: After I came to Delta College, I made a lot friends from many different countries.

(this happened first) (this happened later)

Punctuation: When you use before and after, your sentence will always have two clauses to show the two different events. You can write these clauses in any order. Before and after are called dependent clause words, meaning the clause with this word is not a complete sentence; it needs to be connected to the other clause. Use a comma to separate the two clauses when you start a sentence with any dependent clause word.

Example: Before a movement really takes off, someone has to start it and a few others have to join in.

(comma needed to separate the two clauses)

Use ideas from the chart to complete the before/after sentences. Add/change words when needed.

Writing Skill-Introduction to Essays

Paragraph to essay.

Recall that a paragraph has three major components: a topic sentence (main idea), supporting details (the body), and a concluding sentence. An essay also has three major parts: an introductory paragraph, a body (supporting paragraphs), and a conclusion paragraph. In this unit, you will learn about the parts of an essay in more detail. In Chapter 4, you wrote an outline with ideas for three body paragraphs about social change. Now, we will discuss strategies for adding an intro paragraph and a conclusion paragraph to create your first full essay assignment.

Introductory Paragraphs

The first paragraph of an essay is called the introduction. Typically, instructors want a hook, connecting information, and a thesis statement. The hook is a sentence that attracts the reader’s attention; however, it is important to note that once you have the reader’s attention, you need to try to keep it. The thesis statement is similar to a topic sentence in that it states the main idea of the essay. In this section, we will focus on the first two parts of an introductory paragraph. Then, you will add your thesis statement.

There are several strategies for the introductory paragraph. More than one strategy can be used.

Definition : Define key concepts that are the focus of the essay.

Surprising facts or statistics : Provide statistics and facts

Funnel : A funnel is like an upside-down triangle. The paragraph begins with a general statement and then the sentences become more and more specific.

Historical Background : Explain the history of the topic. What is the relationship between groups involved? Has there been conflict? This strategy usually involves dates.

Quotation (Expert or Expression): Use a quote or expression related to the topic. The quote should be from an authority or expert on the topic. The expression can be cultural like a proverb.

Anecdote : Tell a story of someone or something that is related to the topic of your essay. For example, if your essay is about immigration (which it is!), then tell the story of an immigrant.

Exercise 5: Identifying the strategies

Look at the three example introductory paragraphs. Identify which strategies are used in each paragraph. More than one strategy per paragraph is possible. Underline the thesis statement.

Example Introduction 1

There is a famous expression in English: "Stop the world, I want to get off!" This expression refers to a feeling of panic, or stress, that makes a person want to stop whatever they are doing, try to relax, and become calm again. 'Stress' means pressure or tension. It is one of the most common causes of health problems in modern life. Too much stress results in physical, emotional, and mental health problems.

Example Introduction 2

First generation immigrants are people that decided to immigrate to another country

looking for a better way of life. Through the years, most of these immigrants get established and

overcome economical hardships. At the same time that these foreign people begin to form their

families in the country where they immigrate, they start to provide to their children who are the

second generation immigrants, better opportunities to live. As immigrants there are some

contrasts between both of these groups, such as economic and educational success, social beliefs,

and social relationships.

Example Introduction 3

United States immigrant history can be found since first English colonists stepped on this land. By the 1960s, United States had become first choice for immigrants. About one-fifth of world immigrants now live in United States (Zong, Batalova, and Hallock). By 2016, United States immigrant population already pass 43.7 million, about one-eighth of total US population. In this large group, Asians and Hispanics are the top two immigrant sources. A recent study shows there are big differences between the first generation and second generation of Asian and Hispanic immigrant by comparing data of education, social views, and identity from each.

Example introduction 1 strategies:

Example introduction 2 strategies:

Example introduction 3 strategies:

Which introductory paragraph is your favorite? What features of this paragraph do you like?

“Example Paragraph 1” is derived from “ Writing for Success ” by Tara Horkoff and Scott McLean licensed CC BY-NC-SA .

Exercise 6: Write a draft for your Essay Introduction (social change)

Write an introductory paragraph for the outline you wrote about social change in Chapter 4. Be sure to use one or more of the strategies you learned in this chapter. Then end the intro paragraph with a clear main idea (your thesis statement!)

Writing Skill-Conclusion Paragraphs

A good conclusion paragraph will restate the main idea from the thesis but not in the exact words and end with a final thought. Strategies for the final thought might be a suggestion, solution, prediction, or opinion. The conclusion should not be a summary. Writing a summary for the conclusion can be redundant or repetitive.

Final Thought Strategies

Suggestion : What do you suggest people do or not do? Should policies or rules be changed? Should people stop a habit?

Example: The second-generation immigrants could give back to their parents who worked so hard to help them become successful. They could help their parents learn English.

Solution : How can the problem be fixed? What are the steps to fixing the problem?

Example: To prevent students from dropping out of college, a peer mentorship program could be created so that students can get advice from students who may have faced the same obstacles in their educational career.

Prediction : What might happen in the future related to this topic?

Example: If immigration policies in America are reformed to create legal status for dreamers, lives will be tremendously changed for the better.

Opinion : How do you feel about this topic without saying “in my opinion”? Is this good, bad, important and why?

Example: Creating laws that deter texting while driving is an important step in preventing accidents, major injuries, and even death.

Exercise 7: Write a draft for your Essay Conclusion (social change)

Write a conclusion paragraph for your essay on social change. Be sure to write a restatement of the thesis and several sentences that provide a final thought using one or more of the strategies above.

Social Change Essay Draft 1

Use the outline from Chapter 8 to write the first draft of your essay (a 5-paragraph essay on the most effective strategies for social change). When you write your draft, be sure to use strategies for the introductory and conclusion paragraphs. Remember that you are trying to convince the reader that these are effective strategies, so be sure to provide strong reasons why these strategies will bring change. You are encouraged to use examples from the readings in this unit.

Vocabulary Practice

Exercise 9 sentence completion.

Complete the sentences using the vocabulary in the box below.

Table 20 Chapter 9 Sentence Completion

1. Esmeralda had to ________________ the car and walk to the gas station.

2. Jorge is ________________ sports and clubs on campus.

3. Christina ________________ offers of help. She wanted to do it alone.

4. Soloman ________________ his mother and went to the party although she said not to.

5. After the earthquake, ________________ arrived from different regions of the country.

6. Natasha is ________________ lose weight, so she only eats salads.

Exercise 10 Discussion Questions

Take notes answering the questions below. Then discuss your answers with a partner or group.

1. Tell about a time you were determined to do something. Why were you so determined?

2. Tell about a time you disobeyed your parents, teacher, or an authority.

3. Are you or your children involved in any clubs or organizations (e.g., sports or religious)? Explain. Why or why not?

• International
• Schools directory
• Resources Jobs Schools directory News Search

Grade 12 History Essay: Black Power Movement USA

Subject: History

Age range: 16+

Resource type: Assessment and revision

Last updated

13 February 2024

• Share through email
• Share through twitter
• Share through linkedin
• Share through facebook
• Share through pinterest

The Black Power Movement Essay explores the historical and social significance of the Black Power Movement that emerged in the 1960s. This essay examines the key ideologies, leaders, and activities that shaped the movement and analyzes its impact on the African American community and the broader civil rights movement.

The essay begins by providing a brief overview of the historical context in which the Black Power Movement emerged, including the Civil Rights Movement and the socio-political climate of the time. It then delves into the core principles of the movement, such as self-determination, racial pride, and the rejection of nonviolence as the sole strategy for achieving racial equality.

The essay explores the influential figures within the Black Power Movement, including Stokely Carmichael, Angela Davis, and Huey P. Newton. It discusses their roles as leaders and their contributions to the movement’s ideology and activism. Additionally, the essay highlights significant events and organizations associated with the movement, such as the Black Panther Party and the National Black Power Conferences.

Furthermore, the essay examines the impact of the Black Power Movement on the African American community and the broader civil rights movement. It analyzes how the movement challenged traditional civil rights strategies and redefined notions of Black identity and empowerment. The essay also discusses the movement’s influence on subsequent activist movements and its lasting legacy in contemporary social and political discourse.

Overall, the Black Power Movement Essay provides a comprehensive analysis of this significant chapter in American history, shedding light on its ideologies, leaders, impact, and lasting relevance in the fight for racial justice and equality.

Tes paid licence How can I reuse this?

Your rating is required to reflect your happiness.

It's good to leave some feedback.

Something went wrong, please try again later.

This resource hasn't been reviewed yet

To ensure quality for our reviews, only customers who have purchased this resource can review it

Report this resource to let us know if it violates our terms and conditions. Our customer service team will review your report and will be in touch.

Not quite what you were looking for? Search by keyword to find the right resource:

You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser or activate Google Chrome Frame to improve your experience.

Gr. 12 HISTORY REVISION: THE BLACK POWER MOVEMENT

REVISION: THE BLACK POWER MOVEMENT

Do you have an educational app, video, ebook, course or eResource?

Contribute to the Western Cape Education Department's ePortal to make a difference.

Home Contact us Terms of Use Privacy Policy Western Cape Government © 2024. All rights reserved.