The Black Power Movement

Vocabulary flashcards covering the origins, leadership, ideology, events, and impacts of the Black Power Movement during the 1960s.

Great Migration

The demographic movement between 1910 and the early 1960s during which 6 million Black Americans relocated from the South to northern cities, resulting in 50% living in the North and 80% living in cities by 1965.

'White flights'

The large-scale demographic trend where white Americans relocated from inner cities to the suburbs, leaving inner-city ghettos underfunded and racially segregated.

Watts Riot

The first major 1960s inner-city riot in Los Angeles, sparked by anger over poverty, unemployment, and police brutality, which resulted in 34 deaths (23 by police or national guards), hundreds injured, and 4,000 arrests.

Malcolm X

Civil rights and Black nationalist leader born Malcolm Little in 1925, who joined the Nation of Islam in prison, advocated self-defense and Black self-sufficiency, and founded the Muslim Mosque Incorporated and Organisation of Afro-American Unity.

Nation of Islam

A religious and political organization led by Elijah Muhammad that promoted Black separatism and nationalism, which Malcolm X represented as a minister until leaving in March 1964.

Organisation of Afro-American Unity

A secular Pan-Africanist group established by Malcolm X in 1964 following his departure from the Nation of Islam to advocate for human rights and cooperation across the Black diaspora.

'Ballot or Bullet' Speech

A famous speech delivered by Malcolm X in April 1964 emphasizing that Black Americans must use the ballot to achieve change or resort to violent resistance to defend their civil and human rights.

March Against Fear

A June 1966 civil rights demonstration from Memphis, Tennessee to Jackson, Mississippi, started by James Meredith and continued by Martin Luther King Jr. and Stokely Carmichael after Meredith was shot.

Stokely Carmichael

Civil rights activist who became leader of SNCC in 1966, popularized the slogan 'Black Power,' rejected non-violence, served as Honorary Prime Minister of the Black Panthers, and later moved to Guinea-Conakry taking the name Kwame Toure.

Black Power (Carmichael's Concept)

A political and social philosophy defining Black people as an independent political force focused on Black self-determination, Black self-identity, and the rejection of non-violent conciliation with white society.

Black Panther Party

A militant Black Power and socialist organization founded in Oakland, California in October 1966 by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale to counter white capitalist oppression and police brutality.

Ten-Point Program

The foundational manifesto and list of demands established by the Black Panther Party addressing freedom, employment, housing, education, and an end to police brutality.

"Policing the Police"

The Black Panther Party practice of conducting armed patrols in military uniform to monitor police stops and deter police brutality within urban Black neighborhoods.

Free Breakfast for Children

A community survival program initiated by the Black Panther Party that provided daily meals to 10,000 children by 1969 and inspired a similar federal program.

The Black Panther

The official community newspaper published by the Black Panther Party, which reached a peak readership circulation of 250,000 individuals.

Model Cities Act

1966 federal legislation passed under President Lyndon Johnson to redevelop inner-city slums, leading to the creation of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Thurgood Marshall

Civil rights attorney who in 1967 became the first Black American appointed as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

Medicaid Act of 1968

Legislation passed under President Lyndon Johnson as part of the Great Society program to provide healthcare assistance to low-income Americans.