Black Power emerged from frustration with slow nonviolent progress amid urban rebellions

Evidence

The term “Black Power” was first used in the context of political activism by Stokely Carmichael, a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). By the mid-1960s, the country was boiling with urban rebellions and police reprisals. Like many activists, Carmichael had begun to feel frustrated with the slow progress of the nonviolent movement, which seemed increasingly out of step with the times. In 1965, during the Watts Rebellion, thirty-four people had been killed in clashes between the city’s Black residents and law enforcement. The following year, Carmichael traveled to Mississippi to take part in a rally for James Meredith, the Black student who had integrated the University of Mississippi and had recently been shot and wounded during his one-man protest, the March Against Fear. Carmichael and some other SNCC members had been discussing introducing the phrase “Black Power” during the rally. After Carmichael was arrested and then released, he took the stage and addressed the assembled protesters. “We’ve been saying ‘freedom’ for six years,” he said. “What we are going to start saying now is ‘Black Power.’ ” This rapidly became a mantra for the younger generation. — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 1047

Categorization

• DEFINE: Establishes the origin of the term ‘Black Power’ — naming Carmichael and the specific 1966 Mississippi rally context.