Carmichael1

Stokely Carmichael and the Black Power Movement

By mopat

  • Brown v. Board of Education Decision

  • James Meredith enrolls at the University of Mississippi

    He is the first black student to enroll at the school. President Kennedy sends 5,000 federal troops to control the race riots that break out.

  • MLK, Jr writes his "Letter from Birmingham Jail"

    Argues that everyone has a moral obligation to disobey unjust laws.

  • MLK gives "I Have a Dream" speech

  • 4 black girls killed in Sixteenth St. Baptist Church Bombing

  • Malcolm X is shot dead

  • Voting Rights Act of 1965 passed

    This Act makes it easier for southern black paople to vote by making requirements such as literacy tests and poll taxes illegal.
  • Period: to

    Carmichael is Chairman of SNCC

    (*no specific date)

  • Carmichael Becomes Chairman of SNCC

    *exact date unknown When Carmichael was chair of SNCC, he adopted the black panther as a symbol. At this point, Carmichael agreed with moderate civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr and the nonviolent approaches they advocated. The Meredith March is a turning point, however, and after that event Carmichael advocates self-defense and black power rather than integration.
  • Period: to

    Meredith March

  • James Meredith is shot

  • Black Panther Party is formed

    (Happened in October--no specific date)
    Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale formed the Black Panthers party in Oakland, California in1966.

  • The Ten-Point Program is written by the Black Panthers

    10 Point Program

  • Carmichael is expelled from SNCC

    *need to find exact date; only year known
    Other leaders of SNCC were angry that Carmichael had made announcements & statements without the permission or agreement from other SNCC members.

  • Carmichael coins phrase "Black Power"

    He explains what the phrase means in a speech inSeattle: "The coming together of black poeple to fight for their liberation by any means necessary."
    Many people fear that his radical ideas go against their beliefs in nonviolent protest/civil disobedience.

  • Carmichael publishes Black Power book

    • date unknown-only year

  • Carmichael becomes Prime Minister of Black Panther party

    Huey Newton was arrested in 1967 for killing a cop. Carmichael starts working with the Panthers in the struggle to free Newton and then becomes PM of the party in February of 1968. Carmichael is strongly opposed to allowing whites to join the Panthers because he believes that white people do not understand the situation and have an intimidating effect on the black members of the party. His decision to exclude whites is controversial and somewhat divisive to party members.

  • Hoover Declares Goal of Preventing "The Rise of a Black Messiah"

  • MLK, Jr. is shot at age 39

    James Earl Ray, a known racist, is convicted of the crime.

  • Carmichael Exiles himself to Guinea

    *month & year known, not date

  • Carmichael Formally Condemns Black Panter Party