Black Power: The Politics of Liberation in America - Softcover

Stokely Carmichael; Charles V. Hamilton

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0394700333 ISBN 13: 9780394700335

Publisher: Vintage, 1967

Synopsis

This book presents a political framework and ideology which represents the last reasonable opportunity for this society to work out its racial problems short of prolonged destructive guerrilla warfare. That such violent warfare may be unavoidable is not herein denied. But if there is the slightest chance to avoid it, the politics of Black Power as described in this book is seen as the only viable Hope. The above represents an effort by the authors to place the arguments of "Black Power: The Politics of Liberation in America" in the context of the ghetto riots of last summer. It is also a restatement of the basic assumption that underlies this book and the Black Power argument as well. Messrs. Carmichael and Hamilton argue that American Negroes can no longer afford to believe that their "liberation" will come through traditional political processes. They assert that American racism makes existing political attitudes and institutions irrelevant; that the poverty and powerlessness of this country's black population make it imperative that Negroes organize their own political organisms to make the demands and produce the kind of reevaluation of ideas and institutions to produce the needed social change. To do this, they say, Black Power will have to be understood in terms of its historical roots, its relation to the recent experiences of the Civil Rights movement in electoral and legislative politics, the economics of race relations, and the dynamics of ghetto life. That this book argues a revolutionary position is clear. It is also clear that there is a good deal to be learned here by black and white Americans. No one can disagree with the view that understanding of the meaning and implications of Black Power as a political program can contribute to racial progress. In a time of terrible crisis in our country this book is an essential part of the dialogue that must take place between Negroes and whites of all persuasions.

About this title

From the Inside Flap

In 1967, this revolutionary work exposed the depths of systemic racism in this country and provided a radical political framework for reform: true and lasting social change would only be accomplished through unity among African-Americans and their independence from the preexisting order. An eloquent document of the civil rights movement that remains a work of profound social relevance 25 years after it was first published.

About the Author

Kwame Ture, formerly known as Stokely Carmichael, was among the most fiery and visible leaders of Black militancy in the United States in the 1960s, first as head of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and then as prime minister of the Black Panther Party, where he coined the phrase "Black Power." In 1969 he cut his ties with American groups over the issue of allying with White radicals, and moved to Guinea. He declared himself a pan-Africanist. In 1978 he changed his name to Kwame Ture, to honor African socialist leaders Kwame Nkrumah and Ahmed Sekoe Toure. He lived in Guinea for 33 years, until his diagnosis with prostate cancer. He died in 1998.

Charles V. Hamilton is a political scientist, civil rights leader, and the W. S. Sayre Professor Emeritus of Government and Political Science at Columbia University.

Edition details

• Publisher: Vintage
• Publication date: 1967
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0394700333
• ISBN 13: 9780394700335
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 198