Black Power
Black Power is a pro-black slogan of black supremacism, notably used by the Black Panther Party.
Definition
Leftist Wikipedia claims that it is also a name for a movement including a wide variety ideologies and organizations, including "black nationalism", "Afrocentrism", "black anarchism", "black separatism", "black feminism", "Pan-Africanism, and "black leftism".
That the individuals and organizations labeled by Wikipedia as being part of this movement themselves used or use the label may be dubious. Wikipedia is also very unclear with how to define it, giving various definitions, sometimes positive, sometimes contrasting it with the Civil Rights Movement as being different by advocating violence.
History
Black Power was a political movement that emerged among black radicals in the late 1960's. The earliest known usage of the term "Black Power" came from a 1954 book by Richard Wright titled Black Power. The first use of the term in a political sense may have been by Robert F. Williams, an NAACP chapter president, writer, and publisher of the 1950s and 1960s. New York politician Adam Clayton Powell used the term on May 29, 1966 during a baccalaureate address at Howard University.
The first use of the term "Black Power" as social and political slogan was by Stokely Carmichael and Mukasa Dada (then known as Willie Ricks), both organizers and spokespersons for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). On June 16, 1966, after the shooting of James Meredith in Mississippi, Carmichael said:
- "This is the twenty-seventh time I have been arrested and I ain't going to jail no more! The only way we gonna stop them white men from whuppin' us is to take over. What we gonna start sayin' now is Black Power!"
Some, though not all, Black Power adherents believe in racial separation, black nationalism, and a black revolution in America. Such positions were for the most part in direct conflict with the leaders of the so-called Civil Rights Movement, and thus the two movements have often been viewed as inherently antagonistic. However certain groups and individuals participated in both movements.
21st century
The slogan "Black Power" is still occasionally used (possibly often by individuals with poor knowledge of the historical context) and is not considered politically incorrect (which is not the case for the slogan White Power).