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• Black Power

  A new way to protest that emerged alongside nonviolent direct action from 1963
• Beliefs and ideas of Black Power groups

  • Encouraged black people to be proud of their heritage and culture
  • Rejected help from white people and argued that black people should rely on themselves
  • Argued against forced integration
  • Were influenced by Malcolm X
  • Used militant language and spoke about revolution
• Black Power movement

  • Had the most support among the poor
  • Talked not just about power but also about a social revolution to improve the lives of poor black people, especially in ghettos
  • Focused on local issues and often achieved results
• Slow progress of non-violent direct action and legislation
• The Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts did not solve segregation or voter registration problems in the Deep South
• Reasons for anger at continuing problems

  • Discrimination in work and education, all over the USA
  • Ghetto conditions worsening and being ignored
• Black Power groups got results on local issues e.g. occupied construction sites to force employers to hire more black workers
• Pride and self-belief

  Black Power campaigners told black people to demand equality from white politicians, to be proud of their race and their roots, and to defend themselves, not to accept violence
• The Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts meant many civil rights supporters (e.g. students) protested about other issues, such as the Vietnam War
• Civil rights campaigners (even King) shifted focus to poverty or employment
• Stokely Carmichael

  • Set up the Lowndes County Freedom Organisation as a party to represent Black Americans, with the party symbol being a panther
  • Became chairman of SNCC and brought more people who believed in Black Power into SNCC, starting more SNCC campaigns in the North, especially in city ghettos
• The March Against Fear

  1. James Meredith led the march through Mississippi, protesting about the violence black Americans in the South faced

  2. Shot on the second day, while in hospital, King and Carmichael led the march

  3. King stressed the need to be non-violent, but Carmichael's speeches were more militant and he urged people to demand Black Power
• Both CORE and SNCC became less welcoming to white supporters, however they lost a significant number of their original black members who disagreed with their new, radical, policies
• Black Power groups used symbol of a raised, clenched fist

  • At the 1968 Mexico Olympics, black Americans Tommie Smith and John Carlos won the gold and bronze medals in the 200m race and used this symbol, inspiring many young people
• The Black Panthers

  • Set up in California in October 1966 by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale
  • Attracted media attention when they went to the State Capitol in Sacramento carrying guns, to protest against a proposed law to stop people openly carrying guns
  • Believed that white officials and police were not supporting black communities and said black people needed black officials and police who would work for the community
  • Each group had their own version of the 'Ten Point Programme' and their own version of the Panther 'uniform': black beret, black trousers and black leather jacket
  • Most Black Panther groups saw themselves as the police and social workers that their black communities needed but did not have, patrolling the streets, creating 'rainbow coalitions', controlling traffic, pressing local government, running courses, carrying guns and tape recorders, and organising medical clinics and breakfast clubs
• The Panthers did, at a local level, help to improve living conditions in ghetto communities, with their health clinics and breakfast clubs being particularly successful, but some Panthers were arrested for robbing banks to fund the projects
• In July 1967, California passed a law that made it illegal to carry guns in public places, and Huey Newton was then badly wounded in a shoot-out with the police in October and charged with murder, leading the Panthers to concentrate on a campaign to 'Free Huey'
• By 1968 there were 25 cities with Panther groups and more than about 2,000 Panthers
• Reasons for the riots between 1964 and 1968

  • Police discrimination, with the police seeming concerned with harassing young black men
  • Discrimination by city officials who did not respond to complaints about issues such as badly-repaired roads or landlord harassment
  • Workers mostly having unskilled, low-paid jobs
  • Landlords, mostly white people, crowding them into cramped, over-priced housing
• While over 80% of the rioters were young black men, they had support in the community, and black violence during the riots was mostly aimed at property (such as white-run stores that discriminated against black people) not white people
• The Watts riots led more black people to join Black Power groups, and more white people to react against calls for equality
• The publicity from the riots drew attention to ghetto problems, and Martin Luther King visited Watts during the riots and decided that the SCLC must campaign in the North, while President Johnson said the riots convinced him to put more money