How far do you agree that the Black Power movement hindered the civil rights movement in the 1960s?

by awesomestudent (student)

The Black Power movement was an undeniably controversial and radical branch of the larger civil rights movement that emerged the latter part of the 1960s. The numerous leaders and organizations who adopted the banner of “black power” supported a notably more aggressive and violent approach to tackling racism against blacks in American society, in contrast to the largely peaceful methods employed by their fellow activists. Despite their idealistic aims to help the African- American population through enhancement of their social and economic position in American society, their provocative tactics proved to harm the civil rights movement by fragmenting it and turning away supporters. However, it could argued that Black Power had some positive effects, mainly alleviating the economic and social woes of black people and instilling them with a sense of racial pride and integrity.

A very strong case can be successfully argued that Black Power irreversibly hindered the progress of full civil rights for black people in America; perhaps the main reason directly linked to black power was the mass alienation of white people and moderates from the civil rights. What was once a cause that many white Americans had felt obliged to support in order to fulfil America’s constitutional rights to its citizens and improve their nation’s reputation in the world had slowly morphed into a radical, hate-filled ideology. Organizations such as the Nation of Islam, which gained prominence in the documentary The Hate that Hate Produced, promoted black separatist and nationalist ideologies along with an outlandish and bizarre form of the religion of Islam that inevitably led many white Christians to be repelled by black civil rights. Its leader, Elijah Muhammad was famous for his disdain for white people, terming them “blue-eyed devils”, and his most famous spokesman, Malcolm X, brazenly rejected MLK’s dream of an integrated society instead encouraging blacks to form a society by themselves. The militant philosophies of Malcolm X influenced civil right advocates such as Stokely Carmichael and Floyd McKissick, who took over the iconic organisations SNCC and CORE respectively and expelled white members from their ranks. Because of these changes, white people would inevitably be alienated and refuse to support civil rights. With this loss of a large part of its supporters, civil rights organisations naturally saw a drop in funding, even moderate ones like the NAACP who wanted nothing to do with Black Power. The alienation of white people due to Black Power also led to persecution of its members. One group, the Black Panthers, was infamous for its militant and confrontational tactics against law enforcement. The federal government recognized them as the “greatest threat to the internal security” of America, and ruthlessly persecuted the group through surveillance, imprisonment and assassinations of its top leaders. The impression given off to many white Americans was that parts of the civil rights movement had now become inherently criminal organisations that threatened America’s way of life and security- thus hindering the acceptance and progress of civil rights in American society.

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Not only did Black Power ultimately lead to a loss of support for civil rights, it also irreparably fragmented and divided the civil rights movement itself. Moderate groups, such as the NAACP (who favoured legal action to fight racism) and the SCLC and MLK (who encouraged non-violent protests) found itself at odds with the methods of Black Power groups, who instead encouraged armed aggression and rioting. One example where these divisions became apparent is during the Meredith March of 1966, where thousands of civil rights activists marched from Memphis to Jackson to encourage voting. Stokely Carmichael was among them, and he along with many other activists (especially the young ones) was exasperated with the lack of progress of civil rights at the time and negligible significance of the March. After he was arrested, he became especially critical of King and his supporters, and began his own march. At the end of the March, rival factions of the movement barraged each other with chants of “freedom now” and “black power”. It was becoming clear that a movement that was once so united was no divided into two sides- the moderate groups, such as NAACP and SCLC who was populated by mainly Southern Christian blacks, and the radical groups, largely composed of frustrated youths from the ghettos of Northern cities. These divisions inevitably lead to a lack of progress of civil rights, as each side now had starkly different ways in which to combat racial discrimination and bigotry in America.

Whilst it is clear that the main impact Black Power had on the civil rights movement was undeniably negative, and thus a major hindrance to its progress, it can be argued that the movement had numerous positive effects on African-Americans as a whole, rather than as a promoter of civil rights. During the 1960s, and perhaps for many decades before, African-Americans had been the most economically and socially deprived racial group in American society. Even after the Great Migration, where many blacks travelled from the rural South to industrial cities in the North to gain employment, they found themselves in squalid ghettos with no real chance of escaping. Black Power groups sought to alleviate the economic woes of African-Americans through social work. Groups such as the Nation of Islam and the Black Panthers encouraged blacks living in the ghettos to create small businesses such as restaurants, bakeries and groceries. These employment opportunities, while not exactly aiding the civil rights movements, enabled African-Americans living in some of the most deprived places in America to make small-scale economic and social gain in order to improve their standing in society. Black Power groups not only helped African-Americans to be self-reliant through employments, but through instilling a sense of racial identity and pride that particular resonated with young blacks living in the ghettos.

To conclude, it is truer than not that Black Power hindered the progress of civil rights rather than aiding it. Despite the fact that Black Power exposed the squalid conditions of ghettos that many black Americans lived in , as well equipping with the means necessary to make social and economic gains to achieve self-reliance, these achievements are hardly noteworthy when set against the momentous passage of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Bill that passed in Congress due to a large part by Martin Luther King’s methods of peaceful protests and the huge support that it managed to achieve amongst the American people. Ultimately, the Black Power movement fragmented the movement and caused a mass alienation of white Americans and moderates, resulting in it being a major hindrance to civil rights during the 1960s.

How far do you agree that the Black Power movement hindered the civil rights movement in the 1960s?

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