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The Many Faces of the Black Power Movement
Prior to the 1960’s, the Civil Rights Movement was defined as generally nonviolent, with
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as its figurehead. However, the economic and societal upheavals of
the 1950’s and 1960’s enacted dramatic change to many facets of the country, including the ways
in which African Americans sought to gain equality and how they viewed themselves. Many
sources, both contemporary and current, have sought to discredit the Black Power movement as
an openly violent, negative, uncontrolled and anti-democratic militaristic force bent upon
destruction, with Malcolm X as its conniving mastermind. Although Dr. King and Malcolm X
represented two approaches to gaining civil rights, the shift in strategy was not as drastic as it is
often portrayed. The differing life experiences of these leaders and their followers, their
respective areas of the country, and the decades in which they led the Civil Rights Movement, all
contributed to the development of the Black Power movement as a means of combating barriers
to equality outside of the South.
As will become clear, Black Power cannot be defined by the actions or experiences of
one particular group or city. However, the common ideal among all was that every individual
could make immense contributions to society, and as such, should be valued and respected
equally, regardless of their background or economic situation. In addition, it comprised the
ideals of economic and self-determination, and promoted that all individuals should use the
power within themselves to enact positive change in their lives and surrounding communities.
Black Power promoted giving power to and developing power within all people, particularly the
poor, downtrodden, and underrepresented. It was a new sense of consciousness among African
Americans that they could use their power to control their destiny.
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Black Power is strongly linked with urban areas outside of the South, even though it
actually existed throughout the country. It featured most prominently in urban areas in the North
and West because of the inequalities that grew out of the New Deal welfare state. Some of the
largest programs of the era excluded low wage earners and the unemployed poor. Social
Security required a job; minimum wages and maximum hours excluded migrant and farm
laborers, domestic workers, dishwashers, and others; and the Aid to Dependent Children
program to assistance to the children of single mothers without providing assistance to their
mothers. In addition, government officials used the excuse of “welfare fraud” to subject African
American women to humiliating and unconstitutional invasions of privacy. Low interest loans
were provided to increase home ownership, but many African Americans could not afford homes
even with this additional incentive. In addition, the widely practiced use of redlining meant that
they were often not even allowed to look at houses in certain neighborhoods, much less actually
apply for a loan in a “white” area. This meant that African American families could not pass on
wealth through the inflation of property values. While covenants were deemed illegal in 1964,
realtors still found subtle and technically legal means of pushing potential buyers towards the
appropriately segregated community. In addition, no benefits were provided for part time work
of less than forty hours per week, which also dwindled down the number of eligible workers.
African Americans were also deeply affected by de-industrialization. Decisive advances
in science, technology and research blossomed during the Cold War, and infiltrated major
American industries. Job displacement and unemployment ran rampant in the agricultural,
manufacturing and automobile sectors, as manual laborers were no longer needed. The
increasing use of mechanization meant that human labor was obsolete. The blue collar working
class was obliterated by 1973, and left millions without steady pay and benefits. As a result, a
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mass migration to urban areas occurred during the 1950’s to 1960’s. Over ten million people
uprooted and moved to cities, but in many cases, there were no jobs available in these areas
either. As African Americans flooded into inner cities, “white flight” resulted in the
phenomenon of suburbanization. Soon, only elderly whites and African Americans of all ages
were left in the inner cities. As all other whites moved out, they took their businesses and
employment opportunities with them. However, there was now a need to link the city to the
suburbs, especially as cars became increasingly common among middle class households. Thus,
the interstate system was created, which was a convenient and positive arrangement for white
suburbanites. But for the African Americans of the inner cities, it was horrific. The new roads
were inexplicably placed in the middle of their communities, cutting through working class
neighborhoods like the Berlin Wall. Oftentimes, the right of imminent domain was used to force
African Americans out of their homes for these construction projects. However, their homes
were often not worth enough for them to find a decent replacement.
Newark, N.J. represented a prime example of how these factors harmed African
Americans in the 1960s. A third of the housing in the city was substandard, landlords would
raise rents and not make necessary repairs, and there was little to no enforcement of housing
codes (City of Promise). Unemployment for inner city African Americans was three times the
national average (City of Promise). Urban Renewal projects, such as highways and other
construction ventures, physically and psychologically tore apart communities, displaced African
Americans, and forced them into highly concentrated, extremely poor public housing projects,
which became known as ghettos (City of Promise). One individual who lived through this period
stated: [We had] “no jobs or control over our lives… [We felt like] “second class citizens” (City
of Promise). Furthermore, despite the availability of construction jobs, which required little
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education but paid well, African Americans were banned from applying because they were not
allowed to become members of the corresponding unions (City of Promise).
President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty (1964-1966) sought to address some of
these issues related to poverty and unemployment. Although many policies were beneficial for a
few years, racism and the resulting urban unrest among African Americans undermined his
efforts, and he was forced to turn away from this agenda in order to keep his own party from
rejecting him (City of Promise). The Equal Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 gave one billion
dollars to Head Start programs, hired more teachers and provided more money for education, and
created job boards for young graduates so that they could find employment. Community Action
Projects (CAPs) were government funded action groups created by President Johnson to engage
poor individuals in politics and take power away from urban political machines. Part of this
effort included the creation of Medicare and Medicaid, and funding for student loans. The main
idea of these programs was to promote and support self-empowerment and democracy. Thus,
actual members of poor inner city communities would have the ability to design and run antipoverty programs. Members of CAPs were aided by Students for a Democratic Society, which,
like the campaigns of the South, brought in young white students to suggest radical ideas to the
board. Members started by seeking out beauticians and church leaders – the central members of
the community – to gain their support (City of Promise). Government funds were given directly
to the people, rather than funneled through political parties, and were used to create health
centers, fight for tenet rights, and connect the poor with necessary resources, such as lawyers and
social workers, to get what they needed for their community.
Newark used this money to create the United Community Corporation (UCC) (City of
Promise). The UCC board held town meetings to hear grievances and was allocated one million
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dollars in funding (City of Promise). This newfound power instilled a sense of pride and
motivation in Newark’s African American community, as they finally had a direct way of
improving their lives. They picketed an uncooperative landlord’s home and held rent strikes
(City of Promise). Many local residents used their own funds to provide technical and trade
training to young adults since the government would not fund their program (City of Promise).
When Ken Gibson, an engineer and member of the UCC board, ran for mayor of Newark, the
community came together and worked to add 3,000 African Americans to the voter rolls (City of
Promise). In 1966, they held city wide protests of the police department regarding the use of
brutality and the lack of safety that police provided to the African American community (City of
Promise). They asked for a civilian police review board, but the white mayor of the city refused
to comply with their requests (City of Promise). Throughout this time, the Democratic Party
accused the UCC of corruption as a means of regaining their right to distribute wealth, and
therefore gain back the power that President Johnson had denied them.
Then, in July of 1967, the beating of a taxi driver led to a week-long rebellion that
essentially destroyed the city (City of Promise). The UCC held a peaceful rally to protest the
treatment of the driver, but it turned violent (City of Promise). Police arrived in full riot gear as
looters began wrecking shops (City of Promise). The presence of the National Guard caused the
situation to escalate (City of Promise). In all, three people were killed, over three hundred were
injured, and ten million dollars of property was destroyed (City of Promise). In the aftermath, a
conference about Black Power was held, in which those involved spoke about employment,
housing and relations with police (City of Promise). This marked the beginning of a sense of
black consciousness for African Americans in Newark. Later that year, the mayor of Newark
and his African American constituents faced off in one of their most significant battles, regarding
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the creation of the New Jersey state medical school. The mayor promised 150 acres of land, to
be located in Central Ward (City of Promise). This was home for 100,000 African Americans,
and furthermore, the mayor did not have any plans for alternate housing or construction jobs for
those who would be affected (City of Promise). A further insult occurred when he named a
friend to a position, rather than a clearly more qualified African American candidate (City of
Promise). The UCC was able to delay construction based on these issues, and eventually, a
compromise was attained. African Americans would be involved in the creation of “model
cities” and run review programs, with the assistance of government officials (City of Promise).
Also, they were promised job training and alternative housing to make up for being forced out of
their homes (City of Promise). As witnesses to these events testified, the willingness to
compromise on the part of the white power structure of Newark was proof that whites were
scared, and that President Johnson’s initiatives had at least partially succeeded (City of Promise).
Whites were conceding that they could no longer ignore the rights and needs of their African
American fellows, who were equal citizens and thus deserved equal treatment.
A similar story was unraveling in Las Vegas at this time. Several women who would
later become involved in or help create the National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO), the
Clark County Welfare Rights Organization (CCWRO), Operation Life, Operation Nevada, the
Coalition of Low Income Women (CLIW), and several other community improvement groups
had very innocuous beginnings (Storming Caesar’s Palace, page 9). They began life in the
South, experiencing that brand of racism, along with domestic and sexual abuse, until varying
sources of desperation led them to relocate to Las Vegas (Storming Caesar’s Palace, page 28).
Many, such as Ruby Duncan, were expecting a paradise in the desert (Storming Caesar’s Palace,
pages 34-35). Instead, they were met with extreme heat, sand and the African American
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shantytown of West Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada (Storming Caesar’s Palace, pages 38-39).
Although all the women were easily able to find work as maids, but that was the only position
that an African American woman could have in the area (Storming Caesar’s Palace, page 54).
Early efforts to combat unfair hiring practices would result in being fired, to which the women
responded by simply going to the next casino and signing on as a maid (Storming Caesar’s
Palace, page 49).
However, as many had multiple children and only one source of income, receiving Aid to
Families with Dependent Children, more commonly known as welfare, was a necessary evil
(Storming Caesar’s Palace, page 74). These women did not want to rely on the federal
government for subsistence – and they soon learned that the feeling was mutual. In an effort to
reduce welfare fraud (and a veiled effort to discriminate against African American single
mothers) George Miller, Nevada Welfare Director, decided to audit every person receiving
public assistance in his state (Storming Caesar’s Palace, page 130). They were subjected to
humiliating injustices against their character and privacy, with officials coming in the dead of
night to interrogate them about their sexual history and search for signs that a male figure was
residing in the household (Storming Caesar’s Palace, page 117). As it turns out, George Miller’s
figures were bloated and inaccurate, but this realization was not much comfort to the many
women who suffered as a result of his insatiable need to kick them off the rolls (Storming
Caesar’s Palace, page 166).
However, even in the face of this discrimination and the difficulties of raising so many
children on their own, the women who led these community groups achieved astounding results.
Rosie Seals helped to get the other women involved in creating the Clark County Welfare Rights
Organization after she found out that some of her white coworkers were receiving more money
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than her, even though she had more children (Storming Caesar’s Palace, page 99). As the
women became more aware of the injustices that they had been begrudgingly putting up with,
and more frustrated with the lack of support for their community, they began to craft ever more
lofty goals to bring equality and hope to poor African Americans in Las Vegas. One of their
most majestic initiatives was a Las Vegas version of the Greensboro lunch counter sit-ins.
Alongside NWRO chief George Wiley and organizer Tim Sampson, actress Jane Fonda,
President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference Ralph Abernathy, Ojibwa Indian
welfare recipients, clergy men from across the country, as well as thousands of African
American women and children, Ruby Duncan marched on the Strip during the morning of March
6, 1971 (Storming Caesar’s Palace, page 155). As they sang “We Shall Overcome” and
displayed their protest signs, some tourists cheered them while others shouted curses and insults,
as television cameras caught all the action (Storming Caesar’s Palace, pages 156-157). As the
crowd entered Caesar’s Palace, a classic symbol of Las Vegas, word was quickly put out that all
gambling should be stopped for thirty minutes. Soon after, it was announced that the marchers
could stay as long as they wished, and both women and children had a chance to actually enjoy
the hotel the way all other guests had been for years (Storming Caesar’s Palace, page 158).
Eventually, they succeeded in providing nutritious meals for children, medical attention,
job training, drug counseling, mortgage counseling, juvenile delinquency prevention, funding for
small businesses, voter education and registration, as well as a library, a swimming pool, a dental
clinic, a food bank, and care for senior citizens and children (Storming Caesar’s Palace, pages
198, 200, 220-223, 227, 261-264, and 283-284). Although certain programs were more
successful in their longevity and scope than others, it is undeniable that these women completely
transformed their community because they refused to fail. Ruby Duncan was notorious for
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hunting down grants and seeking out charitable organizations who could provide funding, and
every woman continued to seek their goals “For the Poverty Community, in the Poverty
Community” (Storming Caesar’s Palace page 219) despite theft, funding cuts and other setbacks
(Storming Caesar’s Palace, page 257, 274-274, 277-278, 285 and 289-290). The actions of these
women were a significant contribution to the black power movement. In this case, not only were
the leaders black women, but they were poor single mothers who were able to find employment,
raise their children, and run a multitude of programs that bettered their community and
themselves, despite continuous pressure from government officials and their employers to shut
down their operations and protests.
While the women of Las Vegas were fighting for their families and brethren, African
Americans in Harlem were expressing themselves through art. In the 1920’s names such as
Langston Hughes and Jacob Lawrence became associated with the Harlem Renaissance, and
influential African Americans continued to populate the city after that time. During the 1930’s
and 1940’s, NAACP secretary Ella Baker visited, as well as authors Richard Wright and Ralph
Ellison. During the 1940’s to 1950’s the continued popularity of jazz and the advent of bebop
brought in Max Roach, Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald.
Harlem became a mecca for African American art, culture and politics in the 1950’s to 1960’s.
Intellectuals flocked to the growing metropolis to gain a better understanding of what it meant to
be black.
Throughout these decades, certain individuals brought their craft into the freedom
struggle. Paul Robeson was both a highly accomplished opera singer and Chairman of the
Council on African Affairs, and thus was well informed and vocal regarding his views on the
anti-colonial struggles in Africa. He helped publish a journal with articles about the state of
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politics in the colonies. As a result, he was deemed a Communist influence and his passport was
revoked. This forced him to stay in the United States when he was supposed to be performing in
the Sydney Opera House, an incredibly humiliating punishment for a world renowned singer.
Maya Angelou used her influence within the Harlem’s Writer’s Guild to mentor young
writers during the 1940’s, which led to an explosion of writing relating to the African American
experience. Another key writer was Lorraine Hansberry, who penned A Raisin in the Sun in
1959. This play tells the story of a family who is fighting against redlining in a Chicago
neighborhood, as well as their struggle to get away from street life. This became a key work
within the African American canon because it features a family that survives against the odds, in
large part because of strong female figures. Also, it featured themes regarding internationalism,
black liberation and feminism, which would all factor into the up and coming Black Power
movement. Yet another important figure of this time was James Hicks, a journalist for the
Amsterdam News, which was the center of political culture in Harlem. In addition, Abby
Lincoln, wife of drummer Max Roach, helped to make jazz part of the 1960’s political struggle.
In addition, the contributions of many individuals helped to fund and create the Schomburg
Library, an archive which held the largest collection of African American writings.
The artistic contributions that Harlem residents made are a significant aspect of the Black
Power movement. This was truly a city of and for African Americans, in which they could, to
some extent, feel freer to express themselves. The haven of Harlem meant that African
Americans could rediscover or create their own culture, out of reach from the influence and
control of whites. This was a right that was so long denied them – from the time that slaves were
beaten for singing to the present – that freedom of expression was truly a sacred and powerful
representation of what African Americans could contribute to their own society.
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Finally, a review of Black Power would be far from complete without addressing the core
area and figure involved in its inception: Oakland, California and Malcolm X. First, it is
important to compare the opposing images that are portrayed in the popular media regarding
Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. King was the figurehead of the nonviolent movement.
He was very well educated, and came from a small town, rural background. He used his sense of
humanity and religious convictions to promote the idea of the American Dream. On the other
hand, Malcolm and the Black Panther Party (BPP) were viewed as violent, negative,
uncontrolled and anti-democratic. Malcolm had only an eighth grade education, was a former
street hustler and pimp, and was incarcerated multiple times. He hailed from the urban working
class, a group that was scraping by on minimum wages and limited chances for success.
Although both leaders endured racism and discrimination, Malcolm’s experience kept him from
taking as hopeful and peaceful a stance as King. He was scarred by his familiarity with the
American Fallacy, in which African Americans were not allowed and would never be able to
achieve the American Dream. He believed he was a victim of America, not her citizen. Thus, he
became convinced that nonviolent tactics would be ineffectual due to the entrenched history of
white supremacy in America. Whites would never accept African Americans because it was not
in their economic favor.
Malcolm was also influenced by events abroad. His father was a follower of Marcus
Garvey, who promoted the idea of African American self-determination and self-help. Malcolm
and others within the Civil Rights Movement (CRM) began to note the contradictions between
the rhetoric of the United States regarding equality and justice compared to Communist
countries, despite its inability to secure those inalienable rights for its African American citizens.
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The success of several violence-driven anti-colonial struggles in Africa also inspired Malcolm,
and he began to consider the idea of a more militant CRM.
The same types of thoughts were occurring to others in Oakland. The massive migration
of African Americans into the city forced the issue of race and equality (Living for the City, page
16). Rather than acknowledging that blacks were being limited to substandard housing and
suffering from employment discrimination, school segregation, deindustrialization, poverty, and
related social ills, (Living for the City, pages 16-17, 24-25, 31, 37 and 42) whites responded by
“criminalizing” young black men and, like Newark, allowing a culture of police harassment to
run unchecked (Living for the City, page 48). One man gave his observations: “I noticed that
every time I went back to jail, the same guys were in Juvenile Hall with me there were also there
again” (Living for the City, page 67). These young men would eventually become “the lumpen”
of the BPP (Living for the City, page 67).
The lack of educational and employment opportunities, along with the revolving door
policy of juvenile delinquency, led to mass discontent with the state of affairs. Beginning at
Berkeley, and eventually expanding to Merritt College, San Francisco State, and the rest of the
East Bay, college students began to organize and petition for speakers such a Malcolm X to visit
their campuses, which led to the creation of the Afro-American Association (AAA) at Berkeley
in 1961 (Living for the City, pages 71-73). The AAA helped to create a Black Studies
department at Merritt College with a substantial number of African American instructors,
appoint an African American president to the college, and established February 21 as Malcolm X
Day (Living for the City, page 116). It was also the precursor to the Black Panther Party for Self
Defense (BPPSD) (Living for the City, page 73). The students involved in this and related
organizations held various protests and marches, and became increasingly connected to
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international affairs and the Nation of Islam through Malcolm X (Living for the City, pages 73,
81, 91, and 93). They also used “street speaking” – which later evolved into rap – to connect
with the greater Bay community and communicate their ideals regarding education, morality,
classism and African pride (Living for the City, pages 91-92).
One Merritt College student, Huey Newton, forged the idea of police patrols, in which he
tailed dispatches in West Oakland and carefully noting any violations of laws on the part of
police officers (Living for the City, page 131). In October of 1966, he and Bobby Seale founded
the BPPSD and drafted their Ten Points Program (Living for the City, page 127). Together, they
recruited young men – many of them with extensive military and firearms training – into the fold
based on the shared experience of police brutality and the juvenile detention system (Living for
the City, page 167). It quickly developed into an expansive social movement, with chapters in
over two dozen states, as many other individuals were equally frustrated with the traditional
weapons of civil rights and their inability to combat urban issues effectively (Living for the City,
pages 167-168). However, as the popularity of the movement grew, so did issues of security and
misleading media tactics. John Edgar Hoover, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI), specifically targeted Newton, Seale and other Oakland Panther members with their
Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO), which included placing informants into the
organization (Living for the City, page 168). This culminated in a capital murder trial against
Newton, contradictory leadership from default leader Eldridge Cleaver, and the shooting of
Bobby Hutton (Living for the City, page 168).
After nearly being destroyed, the BPP was forced to reconstruct its image and goals. The
issues with law enforcement led to the organization becoming more involved in social welfare on
a local level, similar to the enterprises of the Operation Life women in Las Vegas (Living for the
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City, page 189). In fact, by 1969, women made up the majority of the BPP, and addressing the
needs of children became a primary goal (Living for the City, page 190). However, as Newton
noted, the party was far from broken. He gave credit to the Ten Point Program for its survival,
and reaffirmed that although the BPP “lost its vision” for a time, its strategy had always been to
“raise the consciousness” of the people (Living for the City, page 189-190).
Huey Newton’s remark about consciousness is perhaps one of the best synonyms for the
Black Power movement. It was this increased awareness that propelled Dr. King to give a
controversial but monumental speech regarding his opposition to the Vietnam War on April 30,
1967. He realized that the CRM needed to address this war, given that it was being fought by the
lowliest class in America – the poor. The United States was openly throwing away the lives of
those who could not stand up for themselves, because they felt that they had few other options
than to join the war effort. In addition, he noted the direct relation between the ever increasing
defense and war budget, versus the paltry amount spent on poverty programs (MLK Speech). He
also brought to light the personal hypocrisy he felt in telling desperate young black men in the
ghettos that “Molotov cocktails and rifles would not solve their problems”, while the United
States is using that very strategy under the banner of social progress in Vietnam (MLK Speech).
Yet another disconnect was inherent in the media, which approved of African Americans using
nonviolent tactics, but was calling for the blood of Vietnamese, even innocent civilians (MLK
Speech). It is clear within his words that the many years of struggle have tired Dr. King, yet he
is able to inspire his listeners all the same. He remained of the belief that eventually, they would
“transform the jangling discords of our world into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood” (MLK
Speech). This is perhaps the most fundamental tenet of Black Power, spoken by a man whom
history has tried to neatly partition from this segment of the CRM.
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Newark, Las Vegas, Harlem and Oakland each have storied histories within the
development and use of Black Power. Each represents a facet of what African Americans had
been trying to achieve ever since the beginning of the CRM. Thus, Black Power is merely an
extension of thought, not a completely divergent strategy, within the greater freedom struggle.
Black Power represented a growing awareness that freedom did not just mean economic or social
equality. It was the realization that African Americans did not need, and should not seek, to
comply with the white power structure in their pursuit of respect and equality. It cannot be
characterized as a shift from nonviolent to violent tactics. Rather, it was an effort on the part of
African Americans to become psychologically and economically freed from reliance on whites
and white-centered society to determine their own self-worth or potential to contribute to society.
This is one of the most astounding and essential achievements that a repressed party can realize
for themselves and future generations, and should never be made to seem like anything less.