The Black Power movement was derived from the civil rights movement in the 1950s. The movement manifested a turning point for the African Americans relations with the white counterparts in the United States. In addition, it changed the way the African Americans perceived themselves (Rhodes, 2017).
The people most identified with the Black Power movement include Willi Ricks (Mukasa Dada) and Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture), who first used the term “Black Power” as a racial and social slogan. Others such as Malcom X and Robert F. Williams, the African American thinkers, had a great impact on the early Black movement. The political aims of these leaders were to advocate for independent change of social and political institutions. They emphasized on establishing cultural and political institutions for the African American people to facilitate change. Also, they focused on economic empowerment of the African Americans to improve their standards and status in society. These leaders believed in equality, self-sufficiency, and racial pride for all people of the African American descent (Rhodes, 2017). Therefore, the Black Power Movement acted as a central point for changing the African American and whites relations.
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The idea of black power transcend just the political and become something that permeates all of African American life in America. For instance, the Black Power Movement facilitated the development of black politics both in an indirect and direct way. The movement elevated the African American community through nurturing the feelings of positive self-identity and racial solidarity. It provided the African American with the freedom and rescued them from the world of psychological and physical oppression by the American generation. It enabled them to recognize their virtues in themselves and this provided them with understanding of themselves and their culture. They acquired new definitions of themselves, new hope, and new vision and fostered advanced pro-black agenda (Rhodes, 2017). Therefore, it seems that the Black Power movement had a longer-lasting effect on the American community compared to the political changes.
Reference
Rhodes, J. (2017). Framing the Black Panthers: The spectacular rise of a Black Power icon . University of Illinois Press.
