summarize The Nation of Islam, founded in 1930, supported Black Power. In the 1960s, its most famous member was Malcolm X, who was born as Malcolm Little. The Nation of Islam believed that African Americans could not thrive in an atmosphere of racism. Malcolm X joined the organization and quickly rose to become one of its leaders. Rejecting the nonviolent strategy of many other civil rights activists, he believed in liberation "by any means necessary," including violence and self-defense.
The other organizations associated with the Black Power movement supported working together with people of other races to fight for equality. The Black Panther Party (BPP), founded in 1966 in Oakland, California, by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton, believed that African Americans were as much the victims of capitalism as racism. They organized with other anti-capitalist organizations, including White, Latino, Asian, and Indigenous American organizations in “Rainbow Coalitions.” The BPP called for jobs, housing, education, as well as protection from police brutality and exemption from military service. The BPP began free groceries and breakfast programs that inspired later government-run free breakfast programs for low-income students.
The Black Panthers also patrolled the streets of African American neighborhoods to protect residents from police brutality. The police and FBI felt threatened by the Black Panthers’ promotion of armed self-defense. Black Panther leaders were often arrested, and the group was involved in shootouts with the police in several cities. In 1969, the FBI assassinated BPP and Rainbow Coalition leader Fred Hampton in his sleep.
An Activist Leader
Image of Malcom X
Malcolm X
Historical FigureLifetime
May 19, 1925–February 21, 1965
Birthplace
Omaha, Nebraska
LEGACY
civil rights activist
minister and spokesperson for the Nation of Islam in early 1960s
challenged the non-violent strategy of other civil rights activists
left the Nation of Islam and founded the Organization of Afro-American Unity in 1964
sought freedom, justice, and equality for African Americans “by any means necessary”
DID YOU KNOW?
His original name was Malcolm Little.
While in prison, he joined the Nation of Islam and changed his name to Malcolm X (dropping his slave name).
After a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1964, he changed his name again to el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz.
Stumbling is not falling.
—Malcolm X
What Kind of Disobedience?
A large group of men including both white and black Americans walk together along a street.
Some of the men are hand-in-hand while others hold signs that call for the end of segregation and unfair hiring practices. The men wear the clothing of the period: white shirts, ties, and suit jackets and pants. One of the men stands before the line of marchers and faces the camera with his mouth open, likely in the middle of speaking or chanting.
Martin Luther King, Jr., and other civil rights leaders used peaceful means to fight for equal rights during the March on Washington in 1963.
Peaceful civil disobedience, promoted by several notable civil rights leaders, helped sway many opinions in support of the movement. Images of determined but nonviolent people being violently mistreated by racist mobs and law enforcement officers filled the nightly news. For example, the experiences of the freedom riders and the peaceful marchers seeking to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge into Selma, Alabama, revealed just how dangerous it could be to assert the simplest, most basic of rights.
There is a long list of nonviolent protests that ended in beatings or worse, which led to the fundamental differences in philosophy for those fighting for civil rights. Some activists continued to insist on peaceful protest. They could not support violence for themselves, and they knew that images of their resistance would gain people’s sympathy. Others felt that violence would be justified as self-defense. Thus, some African Americans embraced a more aggressive approach to securing civil rights.
Select the link to read an excerpt from a speech by Stokely Carmichael in which he explains his views on nonviolence as an ineffective way to cause change. Think about how this approach differs from the peaceful demonstrations advocated by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Which approach do you find most compelling? Why?
hyperlink icon Black Power (29 October 1966)
Text adapted from OpenStax U.S. History.
Assassination
An engraving on stone reads “I Have a Dream; Martin Luther King, Jr.; The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom; August 28, 1963”
An engraving memorializes Dr. King’s speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
In 1964, Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam amid tensions within the organization. In addition to his personal differences with the leader of that movement, his views on black power were evolving and becoming less separatist. Although Malcolm X and Dr. King continued to have disagreements, the two men met and shared ideas.
On February 21, 1965, Malcolm X was assassinated as he addressed a crowd in Harlem, New York. Three members of the Nation of Islam were convicted of his murder. Stokely Carmichael later recalled Malcolm X’s tremendous influence on black nationalism. He had also popularized the idea of using violence in response to violence as a way to achieve the goals of Black Power.
Also, the vision of whites and African Americans working together peacefully to end racial injustice suffered a severe blow with the assassination of Dr. King in Memphis, Tennessee, in April 1968. Dr. King had gone there to support sanitation workers trying to unionize. On April 4, Dr. King was shot and killed while standing on the balcony of his motel. A white man named James Earl Ray was convicted after pleading guilty.
Within hours, many of the nation’s cities exploded with riots. Supporters of Dr. King, shocked and angered by his murder, protested and rioted in major cities across the country.
Text adapted from OpenStax U.S. History.
Aftermath
The photograph shows a street screen with soldiers dressed in battle gear standing in the middle of the street maintaining the peace. In the background on the corner a brick building is shown reduced to smoldering rubble. Further down the street a fire truck sprays another destroyed building with water.
Aftermath of riots April, 1968, in Washington D.C.
The episodes of rioting that accompanied Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination were part of a number of urban riots that had shaken the United States since the mid-1960s. Indeed, in the summer of 1967, before King’s assassination, over 150 race riots had occurred.
While the riots after King’s assassination were neither more numerous nor more violent than those of the previous year, they still marked a turning point. Some Americans feared a race war. According to the New York Times’ 1968 obituary of King, “to many millions of American whites, he... preserved the bridge of communication between the races when racial warfare threatened the United States” and had been seen as an “intermediar[y] in restoring order.” These fears contributed to support for Richard Nixon’s “law and order” campaign for presidency that year and his election in 1969.
Meanwhile, many civil rights activists, including King’s family, felt suspicious of the government in the aftermath of the assassination. King and other civil rights leaders had been subject to years of FBI harassment. Many Americans of all races now felt pessimistic about African Americans peacefully obtaining their rights.
As a result, the Black Power movement grew. The Black Panther Party in particular expanded its offices across the country within the year of King’s assassination. According to Kathleen Cleaver, Communications Secretary of the Black Panther Party, “The murder of King changed the whole dynamic of the country... Once King was murdered, in April '68, that kind of ended any public commitment to nonviolent change. It was like 'Well, we tried that, and that's what happened.'.. The Panthers were all of a sudden thrust into the forefront of being the alternative, and maybe they weren't quite anticipating as much attention as they got."
Still, in the days right after King’s assassination, civil rights activists won a pivotal victory honoring King’s legacy. President Lyndon Johnson passed a landmark law against housing discrimination. Such a law had been recommended by the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders after the riots of 1967 to prevent future riots.
1 answer
The Nation of Islam, founded in 1930, advocated for Black Power and believed that African Americans could not prosper amidst systemic racism. Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little, became its most prominent leader in the 1960s, promoting a philosophy of self-defense and liberation "by any means necessary," diverging from the nonviolent strategies of other civil rights activists.
The Black Panther Party (BPP), established in 1966 by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton, also supported the Black Power movement but sought collaboration with other racial groups to combat both racism and capitalism. The BPP organized community programs, such as free breakfast initiatives, and patrolled neighborhoods to protect against police brutality, which led to confrontations with law enforcement and the FBI. The assassination of BPP leader Fred Hampton in 1969 highlighted the violent backlash against their activism.
Malcolm X eventually left the Nation of Islam to form the Organization of Afro-American Unity and sought a broader approach to civil rights, which included engaging with diverse groups. Tragically, he was assassinated in 1965, followed by Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination in 1968, which ignited widespread riots and shifted the dynamics of the civil rights movement. In this tumultuous climate, the Black Power movement, particularly the BPP, gained momentum as the belief in nonviolent protest waned, leading many to seek more aggressive strategies for achieving racial justice.
The aftermath of King's death further fueled distrust towards the government among civil rights leaders and created an environment that bolstered the appeal of more militant approaches like those promoted by the BPP, marking a significant inflection point in the struggle for civil rights in America.
