Lecture 18. Black Power

American History: From Emancipation to the Present (AFAM 162)

Just as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X have been mythologized in American history, organizations and individuals affiliated with the Black Power call have also been romanticized as well as demonized in such a way that the truth behind their image has been lost. In this lecture, Professor Holloway uncovers the history of black radicalism in the sixties, most famously embodied by the Black Panther Party, and reveals how black power encompassed a call for race pride, the development of black-run organizations dedicated to saving black communities, and also a fascination with an image--one conferred upon black radicals by whites as well as consciously cultivated by African Americans. At the same time, this hyper-masculine, cool, soulful, and dangerous aesthetic obscured some of the important work that the black militants tried to accomplish. In the second half of this lecture, Professor Holloway reveals how groups like the Black Panthers created their own community social welfare programming and maintained links between their cause and that of oppressed people around the world.

00:00 - Chapter 1. Introduction
05:08 - Chapter 2. James Meredith, Stokely Carmichael and the March against Fear
09:39 - Chapter 3. The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense
38:15 - Chapter 4. 'The Panthers' Lose Popularity

Complete course materials are available at the Yale Online website: online.yale.edu


This course was recorded in Spring 2010.