Post on 17-Dec-2015
The Civil Rights Movement and The Civil Rights Movement and Black PowerBlack Power
1. Factors Influencing the Civil Rights Movement
2. Civil Rights Movement: Progressive Narrative
3. Civil Rights Movement: Tragic Redemptive Narrative
Protest as a Historical Continuum
Progressive Narrative Tragic Redemptive Narrative
DU BOIS GARVEY
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR MALCOM X
BARACK OBAMA BLACK PANTHERS
SOUTH NORTH
WALTER RODNEY
Factors Influencing the Civil Factors Influencing the Civil Rights MovementRights Movement
1. Increased number of blacks in north;2. Impact of World War II;3. Increased access to education;4. Widespread access to television;5. Growth of a black culture industry;6. Anti-colonialist movements in Africa & Caribbean; and7. Changes in US and global politics.
King’s Progressive NarrativeKing’s Progressive Narrative
Christian
Non-violent
Multiracial and Integrationist
Media centered
Student organized
NAACP as legal representative
X and a Tragic Redemptive X and a Tragic Redemptive NarrativeNarrative
Northern
Separatist
Africa as source of inspiration
Slavery as ongoing
Community based
Confrontational
Definition of Black PowerDefinition of Black Power
“It is about taking care of business—the business of and for black people . . . If we succeed we will exercise control over our lives, politically, economically and psychically. We will also contribute to the development of a viable larger society; in terms of ultimate social benefit there is nothing unilateral about the movement to free black people” (Toure and Hamilton, Black Power 1967)
The Watts RiotThe Watts RiotA large-scale race riot lasted for six days in Los Angeles, California in August 1965. 34 people were killed, 1,032 injured, and 3,952 arrested.
Black Panther Party for Self-Black Panther Party for Self-DefenceDefence
Protection from police brutality
Ten-point program of community empowerment
Black nationalist
Kerner Commission (1968)Kerner Commission (1968)
US divided, along racial and socio-economic lines, intotwo societies: 40% of non-whites lived below the federal government's poverty line;
Black men were twice as likely to be un-employed as whites and three times as likely to be in low-skill jobs;
The commission viewed this poverty as the cause of crime and civil unrest.
Walter Rodney and Black Power in Walter Rodney and Black Power in a Caribbean Contexta Caribbean Context
Historical continuity with Garvey
Challenged white cultural Referents and valorized blackness
Drew language and metaphors from Rastafarianism
Critical of educational system and middle class Unable to address issues of Indian ethnicity