AAs Black Power Flashcards
Malcolm X ideals
He argued for pride in African American heritage and rejected the idea of relying on white support to gain rights
Malcolm X rights focus
Unlike King, he did not focus so much on political rights as on social and economic change
Malcolm X support base
He spoke for poor African Americans in the North and stressed the distinctive nature of their African heritage
Malcolm X opinion in violence
He also rejected non-violence and believed in self-defence
Malcolm X break from NOI
In 1964 he was dismissed from the Nation of Islam - he was no longer satisfied by the insularity and exclusiveness of Muslims, and increasingly disagreed with the ideology of Elijah Muhammad
Malcolm X after 1964
After travelling in Africa and Asia he came to believe more in co-operating with the mainstream civil rights movement
He was assassinated by members of the Nation of Islam in 1965, before the effects of this change could be felt
OAAU
Formed the OAAU in 1964 - similar to the UNIA and asserted the right of African Americans to self defense, but never had more than 900 members
Malcolm X attention
Drew significant attention to the poverty facing Northern blacks and effectively pointed out weaknesses in the civil rights movement
Became a figurehead for dissatisfied youths who had been hostile or indifferent to King’s ideology
Malcolm X inspiration
Inspired a new generation of black leaders as the first really prominent advocate of separatism
Malcolm X - lack of organisational effectiveness
Criticised activists like King but never established organisations as effective as the SCLC
Failure to halt disillusionment
Disillusionment among young black continued to increase, as was demonstrated by waves of race riots
Watts riot, riots in general
Watts riot in LA cost $40 million in damages and led to 34 deaths and 1000 injuries
238 other race riots in over 200 US cities 1964-68
Malcolm X - criticism by King
King argued his methods would ‘reap nothing but grief’
Causes of Black Power
The ideas of Malcolm X in opposing the over-reliance of the civil rights movement on white support
Anti-colonialism theories and the example of African nationalists in forming new independent nations
An interest in previous separatist movements like that of Marcus Garvey
Disappointment with the effects of political changes and the wave of riots in 1965
Black Power - lack of aims
Black Power did not have unified aims and it did not focus on either co-operation with white progressives or the achievement of political goals
It was made up of various groups and individuals focused on a different way of thinking about the progress of African Americans
Black Power support base
It did not have so much of a base in the South, but spread throughout the USA and even influenced other countries - for example, Jamaica and Britain
Black Power rejection of previous methods
It did not focus on non-violence and perceived a need for African Americans to be prepared to defend themselves with weapons
It rejected co-operation with white Americans, who were not included in many of its groups and activities
NOI - foundation
Founded in 1930, main leader was Elijah Muhammad
Aimed to provide blacks with an alternative to the white man’s Christian religion, increase black self-esteem and encourage blacks to improve their economic situation
NOI - membership
Membership - exclusively black and concentrated initially in poor ghettos in urban centres
As high as 100,000 in 1960, possibly 250,000 by 1969
NOI newspaper
Muhammad Speaks had a wide circulation of 600,000 by mid-1970s
NOI businesses
Elijah Muhammad and his son Wallace created many businesses, symbolising black success and giving employment opportunities to ghetto dwellers
NOI unrealistic
Some solutions such as returning to Africa or creating a separate black state were unrealistic
NOI failures and decline
Many of the NOI’s teachings exacerbated tensions between blacks and whites
Departure of Malcolm X damaged it; his assassination further decreased its popularity among blacks
Black Panthers - formation and leadership
Formed in 1966 by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale
Developed a ‘shadow government’
Negative view
Undid the progress made by the NVDA movement.
Very small membership numbers - evidence that it did not represent the interests of the majority of African Americans, and notes that it was mainly urban, young, black men who engaged with Black Power.
Gained the wrong sort of publicity for African American civil rights, served only to enhance a sense of fear and alienation between African Americans and whites
Lack of Black power progress
Shown in key areas of civil rights, such as de facto desegregation of facilities, housing, education and services and persistent racial inequality in terms of economic rights and political representation.
Murphy, Cooper and Waldron
Call the Black Panthers the “most extreme manifestation of Black Power”
10-point progranne
Radical and nationalistic
Their 10-point programme said “we want all black men to be exempt from military service”
Black Panthers ideology
The Black Panthers were an openly Communist Party, and handed out Mao’s Little Red Book
Black Panthers links
From 1969 to 1970 they forged links with foreign liberation movements, and aligned themselves with the Mexican ‘Brown Berets’ and Puerto rican and Chinese-American radicals
Black Panthers uniform
They adopted a black paramilitary uniform, with berets and leather jackets
Black Panthers Capitol attack
In 1967, Black Panthers surrounded and entered the California State Capitol Building in Sacramento, accusing the legislature of considering repressive legislation
Plotted to blow up major department stores in New York City
SNCC leadership changes
On becoming leader of the SNCC in 1966, Carmichael began excluding whites
Taken over in 1967 by extremely militant Brown, who stirred up a race riot in Cambridge, urging armed blacks to take over white-owned stores in the ghettos
CORE radicalization
McKissick became leader in 1965, and at their annual convention the following year they endorsed ‘black power’ and declared non-violence inappropriate if black people needed to defend themselves
In 1967, they excluded ‘multiracial’ from their constitution, and in 1968 excluded whites
Problem of radical leadership
Carmichael and McKissick were both Black Power radicals who could not gain the same insider status with the government King managed to attain
End of CRM
The death of King in 1968 is often marked as the end of the civil rights movement
Lack of Black Panthers members
They never had more than 5000 members
Black Panthers eradication
Their existence was very short-lived - in 1969, 27 Panthers were shot by police and 750 were arrested by the FBI, obliterating their movement
General lack of support for Black Power
Few AAs supported the movement - in Detroit in 1968, only 1% of blacks supported separatism
Positive view
Impact Black Power had on creating a sense of class consciousness between black and white workers and on addressing the correlation between social class and race in America.
More positive interpretations would point to the ability of Black Power to engage grassroots support and its success in raising awareness of issues like police brutality.
They would also see a link between NVDA and Black Power, in that its radicalism made white politicans and more leaders more likely to ‘do business’ with the more peaceful end of the Civil Rights movement.
Shift in politics
The shift from conventional politics to ‘identity politics’ introduced a new type of democratic discussion
Black Power at the Olympics
Black Power gained much publicity - in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics 2 AAs gave the Black Power salute
Black Panthers chapters
They had 30 chapters, mostly in ghettos in the West and North, where they won a great deal of respect
Black Panthers ghetto clinics
They set up ghetto clinics to advise on health, welfare and legal rights
Black Panthers free breakfast
The Panthers set up the Free Breakfast for School Children Program for inner city youth, which fed around 10,000 children every day
In 1970, the Southern California chapter of the programme served over 1700 meals weekly to the ghetto poor
Black Panthers police monitoring
Black Panthers monitored police, limiting their brutality and exposing incidents when they occured
Black Power promoting black culture
Black culture became celebrated - Afros became common and black people such as Louis Armstrong became popular figures
