I am Black and I am Proud: Malcom X

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Recommended: Black Power Movement in History grade 12

The words of ‘I am Black and I am proud’ was an anthem that filled the 1960s. A time period which saw the militancy of Malcolm X, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and a student movement that would push forward an agenda of black culture empowerment that would change America. This movement arose from civil activism of the 1950s with leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X and then Stokely Carmichael. The Black Power Movement arose from males who had grown weary of mistreatment and of the broken promises of the equality within American. This movement also arose from the males whose views would change after the Civil Rights Movement. Stokely Carmichael had grown weary of emphasizing nonviolence and decided to move towards more forceful actions in civil liberties. The Black Panther Party was created and the group emphasized ‘black power’. The Black Power movement empowered the black male voice. A voice that grew from the whimpers of the Jim Crow Era to a loud roar heard from the White House. Black Power inspired many black Americans to be able to look Americans in the face without fear and to fight for their rights no matter what obstacles they may face.
Incidentally, blacks did not suddenly fathom the idea of wanting equal rights and freedoms, the desire came from centuries of oppression. People of African descent, were not truly American, they were not treated as American citizens. ‘All men were created equal,’ defined America yet, people of African descent suffered from the infamous human brutality known as slavery. Abraham Lincoln used ‘colored’ people as political pawns notably when he ‘freed the slaves’ in his Emancipation Proclamation speech in 1863 which provided the enslaved population with a sense of sec...

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...tate University, n.d.
Web. 19 Nov 2013. http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/what.htm.
Schladweiler, Kief. “Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).” Stokely Carmichael and
SNCC. N.p.. Web. 23 Nov 2013. http://www.aavw.org/protest/carmichael_sncc_abstract06_full.html. “Stokely Carmichael.” The History Channel website. Web. 22 Nov 2013. http://www.history.com/topics/stokely-carmichael. “Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.” The History Channel website. Web. 23 Nov 2013. http://www.history.com/topics/student-non-violent-coordinating-committee. Voice, Charleston. “Black Nationalism.” Charleston Voice. N.p. Web. 19 Nov 2013. http://www.knology.net/~bilrum/BLKNATION.htm. Warren, Chief Justice. “Loving v. Virginia (No. 395) .” Legal Information Institute. N.p., 12 Jun
1967. Web. 23 Nov 2013.
http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0388_0001_ZO.html.

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