Stokely Carmichael was an influential civil rights activist in the Black Power Movement of the 1960s-1970s, who became the Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee before eventually obtaining the role as the Honorary Prime Minister of the Black Panther Party. Carmichael’s speech, “Black Power,” given at UC Berkley in October of 1966 was crucial to the reformation of the misunderstood demands of the black community. Peniel E. Joseph, an experienced lecturer on the topic of the Black Power Movement, writes on the reinterpretation of the Black Power Era and its several different historical and cultural effects. Stokely Carmichael’s grievances in “Black Power” provides and continues to provide the audience with an accurate insight on the thoughts, beliefs, and goals of the Black Power Era to convey its movement’s true meaning. The historical and cultural effects of the Black Power Era presented in Joseph’s articles influence Carmichael’s speech, “Black Power” because they not only improve Stokely’s argument, but also provide the audience with accurate details about the Black Power Movement.

Peniel E. Joseph’s article, “Reinterpreting the Black Power Movement,” presents an understanding of Black Power and how its “provocative rhetoric, militant posture, and cultural and political flourishes permanently altered the contours of American identity, citizenship, and democracy” (Reinterpreting the Black Power Movement, 4). According to both Carmichael and Joseph, the characteristics of the Black Power Movement were similar to those of the Civil Rights Movement, but were significantly different in aggression. The civil rights activists focused on pursuing legal rights, whereas the Black Power militants “aggressively confronted” the several different issues “related to race, violence, citizenship, and democracy” in a society full of white supremacy (Reinterpreting the Black Power Movement”, (4, 5).  Although Stokely admired Martin Luther King Jr. and all of his accomplishments, he claimed in “Black Power,” that Martin had “a long way to go” until liberating the black community from the clutches of white supremacy (Carmichael 324). By including that King had “a long way to go”, Carmichael was emphasizing his point that King’s nonviolent protesting wasn’t going to satisfy the desires of the black community. Stokely Carmichael instead rejected the society’s insufficient way of handling the issues and proposed to the whites that they “Move over, or we’re going to move on over you” (Carmichael 326). Through this quote, the audience can see the aggressive tone of Stokely Carmichael as he is proposing an ultimatum to the white community to either change their oppressive nature of the social institutions or they will eventually force them to change it. It was eventually Black Power that “triggered white backlash, urban rioting, and severely crippled the mainstream civil rights struggle” (“Historians and the Black Power Movement”, 8). In Carmichael’s speech, “Black Power,” he employs the scenario “after rebellion, when some black brothers throw some bricks and bottles, ten thousand of them has to pay the crime, cause when the white policeman comes in, anybody who’s black is arrested, cause we all lookalike” to show his audience not only the certain stereotypes made about black people but also the incredibly unjust acts committed by the policeman in white societies (Carmichael 322). By introducing this scenario into his speech, Carmichael is trying to show his audience the many grievances that come with being an African American during the era.

One mistake made about the Black Power movement that Peniel E. Joseph brings to light is the misconstrued belief that the movement only lasted during its brief classical period of the late 1960s. On the contrary, the movement’s characteristics originated from the early 1950s, when Malcolm X arrived in Harlem as a “new kind of activist” that didn’t exactly believe in the art of peaceful protesting (Reinterpreting the Black Power Movement”, 5). Malcolm X paved the way for Stokely Carmichael and the Black Power Party during their classical period, far after he had died. Every aspect of American society was impacted by the Black Power Movement’s “provocative rhetoric” from Malcom X and Stokely Carmichael, its “militant posture” from The Black Panther Party, and its overall “cultural flourish” from the African American community (Reinterpreting the Black Power Movement, 4).  According to Peniel E. Joseph, Malcom X’s political transformation while incarcerated inspired the radical prisoner rights movement during the Black Power Era (“Historians and the Black Power Movement”, 12). Stokely Carmichael “unleashed” the “Black Power” slogan during a civil rights march in Greenwood, Mississippi, on June 16, 1966 that truly sparked the movement’s inspiration to fix the civil rights bill (“Historians and the Black Power Movement”, 9). In Carmichael’s speech, he addresses the white people’s displeasure at the use of the slogan, and decides that they are going to use the slogan, “Black Power,” “whether they like it or not” (Carmichael 316). This address made in his speech further proves the aggressive nature of the Black Power Movement. 

Carmichael’s speech, “Black Power” led to the transformation of the “distorted shape and character of the American Democracy” especially in America’s major cities (Historians and the Black Power Movement,9). Stokely Carmichael’s behavioral tone during the speech includes a feeling of victimism in which the black community and himself are owed social justice. The tone of “Black Power” not only relates to the black victims of the failed civil rights bill but also Stokely Carmichael himself and his gruesome pursuit of radical democracy. During the 1960s, he had to endure physical violence, racial terror, and certain personal sacrifices because of his rise to becoming “the most visible face of black militancy” (Historians and the Black Power Movement, 9). Carmichael states the idea that “[Blacks] are oppressed as a group because [they’re] black, not because [they’re] lazy, not because [they’re] apathetic, not because [they’re] stupid, not because [they] smell, not because [they] eat watermelon and have good rhythm” to further his argument that the issues are strictly formed from racism and nothing else (316, 317). Carmichael’s use of so many black stereotypes makes the audience feel sentiment towards blacks, because they not only show the racism that whites have but also the stereotypes that blacks have to struggle with daily. When it boils down to it, this is the main issue that sparks Carmichael’s criticism of America and the oppressive nature of its societal institutions.

Peniel E. Joseph’s articles, are significant to the effectiveness of Stokely Carmichael’s speech, “Black Power”, because of their incredible insight on the Black Power Era and Stokely Carmichael. Through researching both of Joseph’s articles, it becomes easy to understand that Stokely Carmichael’s thoughts, beliefs, and goals were engraved into the development of the Black Power Movement. There were many inferences made that the Black Power Movement was just another name for the Civil Rights Movement, and that they both called for the same reformations. Through reading both “Black Power” and Peniel E. Joseph’s articles it becomes evident that the Black Power Movement was esteemed so much higher because of its aggressive push to resolve the racial issues and end white supremacy. It is important to obtain the knowledge of the specific historical and cultural background of the Black Power Era to understand the reasoning behind Stokely Carmichael’s grievances in his famous speech, “Black Power”. By knowing the historical background of the Black Power Era, it becomes easier to be able to understand where the original thoughts, motives, and ideas of the movement derived from and see how Carmichael applies them to his protests and speeches. The cultural background is also important because it helps the audience of both articles and the speech comprehend why the Black Power activists responded with aggression and violence. The articles from Peniel E. Joseph, “Reinterpreting the Black Power Movement” and “Historians and the Black Movement” are extremely crucial to the development and effectiveness of Stokely Carmichael’s speech, “Black Power” because both articles improve his argument and clearly provide proof that Stokely Carmichael and the Black Power Movement were fighting for the greater good, by transforming American democracy.
