The Black Power movement represented and helped the poverty stricken African Americans who were abandoned by the 1950s civil rights movement. This was because De Facto segregation had to be defeated from below and so using politics or the legal system had little effect. Perhaps this highlighted the error of Kings ways, simply because racism was informal in the north. King struggled to gain support using non-violent civil disobedience mainly because he was unable to sympathise with northerners. This shows the importance of the Black power movement in that it raised awareness and was their only option.
The Black power movement gave the African American community a heightened sense of pride. This was mostly due to Malcolm X who rejected an alliance with white citizens or white government instead believing African Americans should be entitled to live in their own state for as long as they lived with white Americans they will always be subject to racism and humiliation. In one of his more famous lines he said “Black people were the only race until some evil scientists created white people” suggesting Black’s are in fact superior. He insisted that change can be brought about without the aid of white Americans. This gave African Americans confidence, pride and self respect, changing the movement while freeing them from social and emotional repression.
On the other hand Black power brought about divisions within the movement slowing progress. The SNCC who were originally allied with the NAACP, CORE and the SCLC had become more militant and broke away from the non-violent movement. This separation created serious problems as the movement was slowed down and people disagreed on which course of action to take. The Black power movement created divisions between organisations who shared roughly similar goals.
Furthermore the Black power movement was ineffective because it had not set any clear goals instead it had the broad goal of self determination. The movement never stated whether it wished to return to Africa, create a separate state or overthrow white rule. This made it hard and led to confusion while highlighting the difference in methods between from the 1950s campaign who set clear goals and worked within the system.
In conclusion I believe that the Black Power movement was partially effective because it brought change to African Americans in the northern states. The Black Panthers were born out of the black power movement and created a neighbourhood watch, protected Black people from police brutality and racist groups. This was effective because it meant that someone was there to directly ensure African Americans were not being mistreated through De Facto segregation. On the other hand the movement made no real breakthroughs instead it shifted federal support to king. It could be said that the only achievement was an increase in African American self esteem.
