US History

Postwar United States (1945 to early 1970s)

Social Movements

African Americans

This collection uses primary sources to explore the Black Power Movement.

An excerpt from the agenda for the Black Power Forum, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 1967.

A photograph of participants at the Black Power Forum, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 1967.

A 1969 sermon by Robert Hamill entitled "Black Power and White Response."

A drawing of a black man and woman, the man wearing a shirt with a Black Power fist, circa 1970-76.

A photograph of a young man pointing to a blackboard which says "black is back," circa 1970-76.

An excerpt from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s report on the Winston-Salem chapter of the Black Panther Party, circa 1969-76.

A copy of the Black Panther Party Platform and Program, 1966.

A clip of a television news conference with the Black Panther Party’s Huey Newton, 1971.

*The Black Panther Manifesto* by Eldridge Cleaver, 1970.

An excerpt from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s report on Malcolm X, circa 1950-65.

A photograph of Malcolm X and other pallbearers carrying the casket at the funeral of Ronald Stokes, April 30, 1962.

Ronald Stokes was a member of the Nation of Islam shot by police officers during a mosque raid on Temple No. 27, which Malcolm X had helped to establish in Los Angeles. Malcolm X was devastated by the death of Stokes and angered by the violent interference of the Los Angeles police.

A handwritten statement submitted by defendant Bobby Seale, the co-founder of the Black Panther Party, in 1969.

An excerpt from the transcript of a 1988 interview with Stokely Carmichael, proponent of the Black Power Movement.

A typescript of Amiri Baraka’s essay “Marxism and the Black Community.”

Questions

1. Proponents of the Black Power Movement were often viewed as being violent and racist. How do the resources in this primary source set challenge that image?

2. Two of the resources in the set are FBI investigations of [Malcolm X](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-black-power-movement/sources/391) and the [Winston-Salem chapter of the Black Panther Party](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-black-power-movement/sources/387). What does this reveal about the magnitude/impact of the Black Power Movement in the United States?

3. Using the [Black Panther Party Platform](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-black-power-movement/sources/388), explain what resources and opportunities the Party members wanted for the African American community.

4. Using Eldridge Cleaver’s [*Black Panther Manifesto*](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-black-power-movement/sources/390), explain how the Party members viewed themselves. What is problematic and/or positive about their viewpoint?


Activity

Break the class into groups and assign each group either Robert Hamill’s "[Black Power and White Response](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-black-power-movement/sources/384)" or Eldridge Cleaver’s [*Black Panther Manifesto*](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-black-power-movement/sources/390). Students should work together to annotate the documents and identify significant sections. This portion of the activity may take an entire class period. After they have read and annotated the texts, assign each group one image in the primary source set. The groups working with Hamill’s text should analyze the “[black is back](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-black-power-movement/sources/386)” photograph, and the groups working with Cleaver’s text should analyze the [drawing of a black man and woman](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-black-power-movement/sources/385). Some analysis questions for this activity are:
 
Where is the gaze of the black man and black woman in the drawing? What do you think they are looking at? How do you think they feel at the moment? What leads you to that conclusion? What are the similarities between the feelings Cleaver exhibits in the “Black Panther Manifesto” and the feelings exhibited in the drawing?

What is the significance of the title “black is back”? What message is being conveyed through the photograph? Where is “black” returning from? Is this a positive or a negative return? What leads you to that conclusion? What do you make of the colors and tone in the photograph? What is the significance of the door in the photograph? Consider the history of Black Power outlined in Hamill’s sermon. How does his sermon relate to the “journey” of “black” that is represented in the photograph?

Teaching Guide: Exploring the Black Power Movement 

Resources

1. [Rethinking the Black Power Movement](http://exhibitions.nypl.org/africanaage/essay-black-power.html), the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library. 

2. [The Malcolm X Project](http://www.columbia.edu/cu/ccbh/mxp/) at Columbia University. 

3. [Malcolm X: Make it Plain](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/malcolmx/index.html), PBS. 

4. [Interview: Eldridge Cleaver](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/race/interviews/ecleaver.html), PBS Frontline. 

5. [“Black Power!”: Inside The Movement](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102691304), NPR. 

Overview

The Black Power Movement of the 1960s and 1970s was a political and social movement whose advocates believed in racial pride, self-sufficiency, and equality for all people of Black and African descent. Credited with first articulating “Black Power” in 1966, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee leader Stokely Carmichael represented a generation of black activists who participated in both Civil Rights and the Black Power movements. By the mid 1960s, many of them no longer saw nonviolent protests as a viable means of combatting racism. New organizations, such as the Black Panther Party, the Black Women’s United Front, and the Nation of Islam, developed new cultural, political, and economic programs and grew memberships that reflected this shift. Desegregation was insufficient—only through the deconstruction of white power structures could a space be made for a black political voice to give rise to collective black power. Because of these beliefs, the movement is often represented as violent, anti-white, and anti-law enforcement. This primary source set addresses these representations through artifacts from the era, such as sermons, photographs, drawings, FBI investigations, and political manifestos.

English

The Black Power Movement

black-power-movement_11_f30ce561e7906969a9dbb37401546fa2.jpg

Courtesy of University of Southern California Libraries.

“Malcolm X and pallbearers carrying casket at funeral of Ronald Stokes, 1962,” Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/item/f30ce561e7906969a9dbb37401546fa2.

A photograph of Malcolm X and other pallbearers carrying the casket at the funeral of Ronald Stokes, April 30, 1962.

Cite this item

Tips for Students

Item 11 of 14 in the Primary Source Set The Black Power Movement