The Black Power Movement: A Logical Extension

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In order to make a case that the Black Power Movement was a logical extension of the African American freedom struggle based on the longstanding African American strategies and goals for change, it is important to look at the longstanding strategies and goals, and compare them to the Black Power movement, using the examples of strategies taken by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Lowndes County Freedom Organization (LCFO) in Alabama. Knowing this, it can be determine whether the Black Power movement built upon those strategies, or went against them. There are several noteworthy strategies used in this comparison. The names of these strategies are based off of the people who are synonymous with them. They comparisons are as follows: W.E.B DuBois’ Talented Tenth Plan, Booker T. Washington’s “Cast down your bucket” Plan, Thurgood Marshall’s Legal Campaign, and Dr. Martian Luther King Jr.’s Non-Violence Movement. In addition to determining whether or not the Black Power movement utilized these strategies, it is equally imperative to ask, assuming that the movement went against these strategies, if it was practical or logical, given the circumstances faced by SNCC and the LCFO, not to implement them. W.E.B Dubois’ Talented Tenth idea could be considered elitist to most people. His idea was to “[develop] the Best of this race [African-Americans] that they may guide the Mass away from the contamination and death of the Worst, in their own and other races.” Mr. Dubois only wanted the select specialized few, through a high quality education based on “intelligence, broad sympathy, knowledge of the world that was and is, and of the relation of men to it”1, to lead the fight. If we apply this model to Lowndes ... ... middle of paper ... ...hose representatives to speak to their needs… And that power must be that of a community.” In order to achieve such a goal, there must be a plan. SNCC and the LCFO had a plan for Lowndes County. SNCC organized successfully, and registered blacks to vote, which lead to the creation of the LCFO, embodying Carmichael’s and SNCC’s black power goal . The Black power movement was a logical extension of the freedom struggle that built on some longstanding African American strategies, but also made logical and particle adjustments in order to be successful under the circumstances faced by African Americans in Lowndes County. Even though the LCFO was not successful in winning an office in 1966, the origination made great strides in organizing the black community in a common cause, something that Stokely Carmichael deemed essential for psychological equality.

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