Black Power

A political and social movement and slogan that emerged in the United States in the 1960s, emphasizing Black self-determination, racial pride, and autonomy, often as a departure from civil rights strategies focused on appealing to white moral conscience. Its advocates, including figures like James Baldwin’s interlocutors, regarded it as a justified demand arising from failed freedom struggles, though it also faced critiques about internalized masculinity and fixed racial categories.

Claims that use this term

• Black Power grew from doubt that white America had a moral conscience.
• Baldwin saw Black Power as justified but still rejected fixed categories
• Black Power made Baldwin abandon hope of awakening white America.
• Black Power emerged as a demand born of failed freedom struggles
• Black Power masculinity internalized the racist myth of the emasculated Black man
• Black Power activists underestimated King’s Poor People’s Campaign as a systemic threat