The Black Power Movement

Read the excerpt below from Bobby Seale's book *Seize the Time* (1970):

"We don’t fight fire with fire. We’re going to fight fire with water. We’re not going to fight racism with racism. We’re going to fight racism with solidarity. We’re not going to fight capitalism with black capitalism; we’re going to fight it with basic socialism."

Based on this excerpt, which of the following statements best describes the Black Panther Party's perspective on achieving liberation?

Read the excerpt below from a 1966 statement by Floyd McKissick, national director of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE):

'Black Power is not Black supremacy. It is not hate... Black Power is the political, economic, and social control of our own communities... It means that we want to put ourselves in a position to determine our own destiny.'

Based on the excerpt, McKissick's definition of 'Black Power' represents a shift from earlier civil rights strategies primarily by emphasizing which of the following goals?

Read the following excerpt from a position paper published by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1966:

"In the past, white allies have played a dominant role in determining the direction of the civil rights coalition. But if we are to proceed toward true liberation, Black people must define their own goals, lead their own organizations, and build an independent political and economic power base. We must reject the assumption that integration into existing white-dominated institutions is the ultimate solution to our oppression."

Which of the following historical developments or ideologies of the Black Power movement is best reflected in the excerpt?

Read the passage below from Larry Neal's essay 'The Black Arts Movement' (1968):

"The Black Arts Movement is the aesthetic and spiritual sister of the Black Power concept. As such, it envisions an art that speaks directly to the needs and aspirations of Black America. ... The Black Arts Movement proposes a separate symbolism, mythology, critique, and iconology. The two movements postulate that there are in fact two Americas—one black, one white."

Which of the following statements best describes how this passage reflects the ideological shift of the Black Power Movement away from the mainstream Civil Rights Movement?

Read the following excerpt from the Gary Declaration, adopted at the National Black Political Convention in Gary, Indiana, in 1972:

> 'The American system does not work for us... The crisis we face as Black people is a crisis of the entire society. This society is not capable of meeting our needs... Therefore, the political conventions of the two major parties cannot serve as the primary arenas for our liberation. We must construct our own independent Black political institutions, negotiate from a position of collective strength, and define our own agenda for social, economic, and political self-determination.'

Based on the excerpt, which of the following best explains how the political strategy advocated in the Gary Declaration aligns with the core philosophy of the Black Power Movement?

Read the following excerpt from a 1968 treatise by Maulana Karenga, a prominent theorist of the Black Power movement:

> "The key crisis in Black life is the crisis of culture... We must recover our history and our culture to reconstruct our lives and wage a victorious struggle for liberation. A cultural revolution is the essential vanguard of the political revolution."

Based on the excerpt, which of the following best describes the role of cultural nationalism in the Black Power movement?

The Black Power Movement emerged in the mid-to-late 1960s as a significant force in the African American freedom struggle. Which of the following best describes a primary focus of this movement?

While mainstream civil rights organizations of the early 1960s focused heavily on legal integration and desegregation, the Black Power movement shifted its emphasis toward which of the following objectives?

Read the following excerpt from a list of demands issued by the Black Student Union at San Francisco State College in 1968:

'We demand a Department of Black Studies... that will be free to present classes that are relevant to the needs of Black people, staffed and run by Black faculty and students.'

Which of the following core principles of the Black Power movement is best demonstrated by this demand?

Read the following excerpt from Bobby Seale's 1970 book, *Seize the Time*:

"We started the Free Breakfast for Children Program because we saw a concrete need in our community that was being ignored. Some critics call this a form of welfare or simple reform, but we call it a survival program. It is a tool to organize the community and sustain our people until we can achieve total self-determination and political power."

Based on the excerpt, which of the following best describes the primary objective of the Black Panther Party's "survival programs"?

Read the following excerpt from a 1968 interview with Kathleen Cleaver, a leading member of the Black Panther Party:

"The reason for it, I think, is a new consciousness among Black people... We have to begin to define ourselves. For so long, we have been defined by other people... We are saying that we are beautiful, that our blackness is beautiful."

Based on this excerpt, which of the following best describes the core goal of the Black Power Movement highlighted by Cleaver?

Read the following excerpt from a Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) position paper titled "The Basis of Black Power" (1966):

"White liberals and radicals have to accept the fact that they are relationally in a position of exploiters... If we are to proceed toward true liberation, we must define ourselves, our goals, and our image... White people who desire to help can do so by going into their own communities—where the racism is���and organizing them to confront that racism, rather than trying to lead or organize Black people."

Based on the passage, which of the following best describes SNCC’s shift in organizational strategy and its implications for the broader Black Power movement?

Read the following excerpt from the preamble to the National Black Political Agenda, adopted at the Gary National Black Political Convention in 1972:

"The American system no longer works for anyone except the very rich and the very powerful... For us, the systems of America have never worked. They have worked against us... We must form a new Black politics... A Black politics that starts with the premise that we must organize ourselves, that we must build our own institutions, and that we must determine our own destiny."

Based on the excerpt, which of the following best explains how the National Black Political Agenda reflects the core goals of the Black Power movement?

In his 1968 essay 'The Black Arts Movement,' writer Larry Neal argued that 'Black Art is the aesthetic and spiritual sister of the Black Power concept,' proposing 'a separate symbolism, mythology, critique, and iconology' that speaks directly to Black Americans.

Based on this context, which of the following best describes the role of cultural expression within the Black Power Movement?

During a 1966 rally in Greenwood, Mississippi, civil rights activist Stokely Carmichael addressed a crowd with the following words:

"The only way we’re gonna stop them... is to take over. We been saying 'Freedom' for six years and we ain't got nothin'. What we gonna start saying now is Black Power!"

Which of the following best describes the shift in civil rights strategy represented by this call for "Black Power"?

Read the following excerpt from "Executive Mandate No. 1," written by Huey P. Newton and read on the steps of the California State Capitol by members of the Black Panther Party in May 1967:

"The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense calls upon the American people in general and the Black people in particular to take careful note of the racist California Legislature which is now considering legislation aimed at keeping the Black people disarmed and powerless at the very same time that a racist police force throughout the country is intensifying the terror, brutality, murder, and repression of Black people."

Based on the excerpt and its historical context, which of the following best describes the political strategy of the Black Panther Party at this time?

Read the following excerpt from a speech delivered by Stokely Carmichael at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1966:

"We are now concerned with and we are moving inside of the Black community, because we have to. The only way we can begin to function as an autonomous force... is if we organize ourselves, by ourselves, inside of our own community. That does not mean we are anti-white. It means we are pro-Black. It means we want to develop our own institutions, our own political organizations, and our own economic base."

Based on this excerpt, which of the following best describes the primary goal of the Black Power movement as articulated by Carmichael?

Read the following excerpt from the Black Panther Party’s Ten-Point Program (1966):

"We want education for our people that exposes the true nature of this decadent American society. We want education that teaches us our true history and our role in the present-day society. If a man does not have knowledge of himself and his position in society and the world, then he has little chance to relate to anything else."

Which of the following best explains how this demand reflects a core tenet of the Black Power movement?

During the late 1960s, organizations associated with the Black Power movement, such as the Black Panther Party, established community-run initiatives including free breakfast programs and health clinics. What was the primary goal of these initiatives?

During the mid-1960s, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) experienced a major transition in its leadership and political philosophy. Under the new chairmanship of Stokely Carmichael, the organization moved away from its early focus on integration and began promoting the concept of 'Black Power.' Which of the following best describes the primary objective of this ideological transition?