The Black Power Movement

The Black Power Movement remains one of the most compelling—and misunderstood—elements of African American History. Since the 1960s, critics have—at best—accused Black Power of distracting attention from more productive endeavors, betraying the promise of civil rights, and dividing an interracial coalition of sympathetic liberals. At worst, opponents have attacked Black Power as a foolish, racist, and violent threat to white America, the state, and the Black Freedom Struggle itself.