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Difficulty: MediumThe Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s

"We cannot have the assumption that people of color can find their way in this society only by aligning themselves with a white group or white power structure... We must establish our own identity, our own organizations, and our own power bases, rather than attempting to integrate into a system that has systematically excluded us."
— Stokely Carmichael, address at the University of California, Berkeley, 1966

Which of the following developments in the mid-to-late 1960s best explains the perspective expressed in the excerpt?

  1. A
    The universal adoption of Black Power philosophy by all major civil rights organizations as the sole path forward.
  2. B
    The implementation of New Deal social programs that successfully integrated urban communities and ended economic disparities.
  3. Growing disillusionment among younger activists with the limitations of federal civil rights legislation and ongoing systemic discrimination.Answer
  4. D
    A consensus among activists to abandon political lobbying in Washington in favor of creating a separate nation-state.

Answer

Growing disillusionment among younger activists with the limitations of federal civil rights legislation and ongoing systemic discrimination.
The perspective in the excerpt is best explained by the growing disillusionment among younger activists with the limitations of federal civil rights legislation and ongoing systemic discrimination. Despite the passage of major laws like the Civil Rights Act of 1964, many African Americans continued to face intense economic deprivation, residential segregation, and police brutality, especially in northern and western cities. This led activists within groups like the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to reject the integrationist approach in favor of self-determination and self-defense.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the stimulus to identify the speaker, date, and main argument.
The speaker is Stokely Carmichael, the date is 1966, and the argument advocates for self-determination and building independent Black power bases rather than relying on integration into the existing white-dominated system.
This establishes the historical context and the core philosophy of the Black Power movement.
2
Connect the speech to the historical context of the mid-to-late 1960s.
By 1966, major legislation like the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 had passed, but urban racial violence, poverty, and systemic discrimination persisted in many regions.
This contextualization explains why some activists began questioning the effectiveness of integration and legislative focus alone.
3
Evaluate the options to determine which factor caused this shift toward Black Power and self-determination.
The shift was driven by growing disillusionment among younger activists with the limitations of federal legislation and persistent inequality.
This directly matches the cause of Carmichael's perspective and avoids errors regarding movement homogeneity or policy conflation.

Key Concept

The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s

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