The Black Power Movement

of the 1960s/70s
 BLACK POWER
MOVEMENT
• Late 60s/70s
movement that was a
continuation of the
struggle for Civil
Rights.

• Focused on black
pride, dignity and self-
reliance

• Symbolized by the
Black Fist
CULTURAL ELEMENTS COMING
FROM BLACK POWER
MOVEMENT
• “Black is Beautiful”

• “Buy Black” (the support of black-owned

businesses)

• “By Any Means Necessary” way of gaining

freedom.
 Important People/Events of
the Black Power Movement
• 1968 Olympics

• Stokely Carmichael

• Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

• Formation of the Black Panthers

• Influence of Malcolm X
1968 Olympic Games
 ’68 Olympics
• U.S. Track and field athletes Tommie
Smith and John Carlos gave the black
power salute as a form of protest
during the 200 meter medal
ceremony.

• The two athletes were banned from

the rest of the Olympic games.
Smith later said "If I win, I am American, not a
black American. But if I did something bad,
then they would say I am a Negro. We are black
and we are proud of being black. Black America
will understand what we did tonight."
STOKELY CARMICHAEL
 WHO WAS STOKELY
CARMICHAEL?
• Leader of SNCC (Student Non-Violent
Coordinating Committee) from 1966-1967

• Made the term “black power” popular

through his speeches

• Later gave up the non-violent approach to

protest and help found the Black Panthers.
 SNCC (THE EARLY
YEARS)
• Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee

• Organization that began during the non-

violent Civil Rights Movement of the early
1960s.

• SNCC was instrumental in voter registration

and desegregating public facilities
 SNCC (THE LATER
YEARS)
• Under new leadership, SNCC would
later advocate that blacks should use
armed self-defense to combat racism
and oppression.

• In the late 1970’s the organization

would dissolve and no longer exist.
THE BLACK PANTHERS
 WHO WERE THE BLACK
PANTHERS?
• Organization who first began as “The
Black Panther Party for Self-Defense”

• Founded in Oakland, CA in 1966 as a

response to police brutality in the inner-
city.

• Inspired by SNCC, the teachings of

Malcolm X, and Communist ideology.
 THE BLACK PANTHER
PHILOSOPHY
• The Black Panthers created a Ten Point
Program that explained what the
organization felt was necessary for
American blacks to have true freedom.

• The Ten Point Program demanded that

blacks have decent housing, education,
employment, and healthcare.
 WHAT COMMUNITY PROGRAMS
DID THE BLACK PANTHERS
START?
• Free medical services

• Free breakfast program for neighborhood

children.

• Drug and alcohol rehabilitation

• Free educational programs for adults and

children
 WHAT HAPPENED TO THE
BLACK PANTHER PARTY?
• Spies from the U.S. government became
members and did things to destroy the
organization from the inside.

• Problems developed between leadership

and membership declined.
MALCOLM X
 MALCOLM X

• Leading figure in the 20th century

movement for the freedom of black
people in America.

• Some refer to him as the “father of

the black power movement”
 MALCOLM X’S INFLUENCE ON
THE BLACK POWER MOVEMENT
• He often disagreed with the Civil Rights
Movement strategy of nonviolence and
insisted that blacks use any means of self-
defense to protect themselves against
white racism.

• Many organizations and people would later

use Malcolm X’s stance as foundation for
the Black Power movement.