Hip Glossary – Black Power

Black Power: Attributed to Stokely Carmichael who used it to encourage blacks to attain more political clout. For a time this was a uniting theme among black people in the U.S. It became a rallying cry for action against the racial injustice of the 50s and 60s. Black activists were ready to fight the system. Huey Newton, Bobby Seal, Eldridge Cleaver of the Black Panthers, Stokely Carmichael, Dick Gregory and Angela Davis were leaders in this radical movement. Some advocated revolution and the overthrow of the U.S. government. The Black Power movement struck fear into the heart of America’s bigots and all the leaders were soon in jail, sometimes on trumped up charges, sometimes on real crimes. In any case the movement fractured, but the legacy of radical black activism had left its mark on America’s psyche.