How Accurate Is It to Say That the Black Power Movements of the 1960’s Achieved Nothing for the Black People?
How accurate is it to say that the Black Power Movements of the 1960’s achieved nothing for the Black people?
In some ways I agree that the Black power Movements of the 1960’s achieved nothing for the Black people because by 1968 little had changed, and it is therefore easy to claim that Black Power movements achieved nothing, and in fact had a negative impact on black Americans. However in some ways I disagree because the Black Power movements in the early 1960s coincided with the peak of success for the Civil Rights campaign such as the freedom cities of 1966 or the Free D.C. movement.
Firstly I agree that the Black Power Movements achieved nothing for Black people relations between King and other Civil Rights groups were never entirely secure, and he was often accused of taking credit for the efforts of others, for example in the student sit-ins of 1961. He was criticised for a cynical use of children in the Birmingham campaign of 1963 and for cowardice in halting the first Selma March. These attacks reflect internal rivalries that had nothing to do with Black Power. They increased after 1966 when he moved his focus to the north. The Chicago campaign of 1966 was a dismal failure and also revealed a cultural gap between the respectable bible-belt leaders of the south and the ghetto-based youth of the north, who found Malcolm X a more inspiring figure. The whole situation was made much worse by the war in Vietnam, which diverted money and media attention and created a widening gap between black and white communities. Many black people resented having to fight for a country that valued them so little, while white public opinion saw the refusal of some to serve, like Mohammed Ali, as unpatriotic. The most important point, however, is that once legal equality had been achieved in 1965 and the focus shifted to the social and economic effects of long-term discrimination, King’s methods were ineffective.
Secondly the Chicago campaign. The Albany movement
In some ways I agree that the Black power Movements of the 1960’s achieved nothing for the Black people because by 1968 little had changed, and it is therefore easy to claim that Black Power movements achieved nothing, and in fact had a negative impact on black Americans. However in some ways I disagree because the Black Power movements in the early 1960s coincided with the peak of success for the Civil Rights campaign such as the freedom cities of 1966 or the Free D.C. movement.
Firstly I agree that the Black Power Movements achieved nothing for Black people relations between King and other Civil Rights groups were never entirely secure, and he was often accused of taking credit for the efforts of others, for example in the student sit-ins of 1961. He was criticised for a cynical use of children in the Birmingham campaign of 1963 and for cowardice in halting the first Selma March. These attacks reflect internal rivalries that had nothing to do with Black Power. They increased after 1966 when he moved his focus to the north. The Chicago campaign of 1966 was a dismal failure and also revealed a cultural gap between the respectable bible-belt leaders of the south and the ghetto-based youth of the north, who found Malcolm X a more inspiring figure. The whole situation was made much worse by the war in Vietnam, which diverted money and media attention and created a widening gap between black and white communities. Many black people resented having to fight for a country that valued them so little, while white public opinion saw the refusal of some to serve, like Mohammed Ali, as unpatriotic. The most important point, however, is that once legal equality had been achieved in 1965 and the focus shifted to the social and economic effects of long-term discrimination, King’s methods were ineffective.
Secondly the Chicago campaign. The Albany movement