Black Power and La Raza

Framework

1966-1973: Radical wing of the black movement:From movement involving civil disobedience,

nonviolence, black/white unityAim (at least originally): incorporation into existing

society on equal termsTo Black Power: confrontational stance, separatism,

rhetoric/reality of violence, rejection of liberalismAim: revolution, but what that meant not entirely clear

The Movement

Parallel shift: From aim (at least originally) of realizing American

democratic valuesTo confrontational stance, rhetoric and some actual use

of violence, separatismAim: revolution Difference: this phase pretty much destroyed the

“white” left; black radicalism survivedMeanwhile: emergence of Chicano movement, in

different arena, with less connection to “white” left

“White” left 1967-1973:Widespread expectation: after the war shift in focus to domestic

social changeBut organizations/relationships that could have sustained this

failed to emerge or were destroyed1967: National Conference on New Politics: separatism,

confrontational stance precluded formation of party1969: collapse of SDSAttempt to copy revolutionary movements in Third WorldMore broadly: styles of separatism, conceptions of revolution

that undermined the movementBlack left: experienced parallel problems but survived them:

developed alternative organizations and foci Chicano movement: emerged in southwest, rural focus,

different set of issues

Black Power: Background 1First forerunner: Universal

Negro Improvement Association, Marcus Garvey, founded 1914

Black nationalist: aim, independent state in Africa; a black economic sphere in the US

Captured the imagination of many working class blacks, declined in 1920s, left legacy of working class black nationalism

Black Power: Background 2Second forerunner:

Communist Party, Third Period, policy of self-determination for the Black Belt

Never pursued as concrete aim, ignored during Popular Front, abandoned 1943

Nevertheless left legacy of radical black nationalism, ties between black nationalists and the left, black and white

Black Power: Background 3Malcolm X (originally

Malcolm Little):Went to prison 1946 for

drug selling etc., joined Nation of Islam (NoI), became organizer, leading spokesperson: supported aim of separate black state

Conflict between Malcolm and Elijah Muhammad, head of NoI, Malcolm left NoI

Black Power: Background 41964 called on blacks to form

self-defense clubs: influenced civil rights activists, SNCC, CORE

Visited Mecca, traveled in Africa, Middle East: inspired by interracial unity, rejected politics based on anger

Formed Organization of Afro-American Unity, drew connection between racism and capitalism

Feb. 21, 1965, assassinated speaking to Harlem audience – FBI may have been involved

Ella Collins, Malcolm X’s half-sister who helped run the Organization for Afro-American Unity

Black Power 1964-1968: spring, summer

months, riots/rebellions in black ghettos in northern cities

June 5 1968: James Meredith, first black student to attend U. of Miss., began march from Memphis to Jackson, shot and killed

King, Carmichael, McKissick (SCLC, SNCC, CORE) and others continued march

Carmichael: used slogan, “Black Power.” Spread through radical wing of black movement. Set off debate between reform/radical wings. Underlying issue: Vietnam War. SNCC and others opposed it, NAACP reluctant.

Meanings of Black Power

Black Power expressed rejection of accommodation, nonviolence, adoption of confrontational stance. But content unclear.

Robert Carson, CORE leader: anti-capitalism, vision of socialist future

Julian Bond, SNCC: from the ballot box to politicsJames Boggs, black socialist theorist: struggle against the

capitalist class and anyone who benefits from racism (white working class)

Harold Cruse, black intellectual: return to the philosophy of Booker T. Washingon

Black Power in PracticeBlack Panthers: Black Power

meant both program of community organizing and confrontational/violent posture

Mounting repression from Nixon administration/FBI: Panther membership dropped

Meanwhile many smaller black activist groups emerged associated with Black Power:

Black Power and LaborRadical black workers fought

racism in the workplace and the labor movement:

1967-1972 many radical black union groups formed:

Mahwah NJ: United Black Brothers (Ford Motor Co.)

Boston: United Community Construction Workers for Job EqualityLRBW member James Forman with Charles Lerrigo

Detroit: black workers and black Marxists: Inner City Voice, 1968, Detroit Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM) – attacked hiring practices, UAW leadership1969: coalesced into League of Revolutionary Black Workers1972: conference of 1200 black workers in Chicago

Black Power and Elections 1

Growing black population in cities: 1972 ten major cities, blacks 30%+ of vote

Black electorate rose due to Voting Rights Act of 1965, voter registration campaigns (SNCC, CORE, NAACP)

Black Power: creation of black voting bloc, for black candidates

1969: 994 black men, 131 black women in public office1975: 2,969 black men, 530 black women in public office: 18

in Congress, 281 state legislators or executives, 135 mayors of cities or towns, 367 judges, 939 members of boards of education.

Black Power and Elections 2

National organization:Congressional Black Caucus formed 19711972 conference on black electoral politics, Gary,

Indiana, 12,000 people attended, including every sector of black movement (except some in NAACP)

Formed National Black Political Assembly to promote election of black mayors and others, also to mobilize poor and working class blacks: tone, black nationalism, aim, electoral success

La Raza: Background 1

Union pioneers Virgil Duyungan, Tony Rodrigo, CB Mislang, Espiritu in 1933

Foci prior to 1960s:Regaining land promised to Mexican

Americans in Treaty of Guadalupe de Hidalgo, 1848, but taken from them and given to white settlers: early efforts in late 19th cent on part of Knights of Labor, People’s Party: unsucessful

Organizations of Mexican-American and Filipino agricultural workers in 1920s and 1930s, some led by Communists (Cannery and Agricultural Workers Industrial Union), some by exiled Mexican anarchists (Confederacion de Uniones Campesinos Y Obreros Mexicanos) – fields of southern California

La Raza: Background 2Late 1950s: Reies Lopez Tijerina

initiated efforts to enforce Treaty of Guadalupe de Hidalgo and recover lands lost to Mexican Americans

1963: Alianza Federal de Mercedes, hundreds of Mexican-American farmers joined (CA, CO, NM)

Wide popular support: briefly occupied portion of Kit Carson National Forest; captured courthouse in NM to free arrested members; acquittedReies Lopez Tijerina

United Farm WorkersEarly 1960s: organizing among

Mexican American and Filipino agricultural workers:

Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta: founded and led National Farm Workers’ Association

1965: Agricultural Workers’ Organizing Committee, led by Filipino, Larry Itliong, initiated grape strike

1966: united to form United Farm Workers

Grape strike: lasted five years: 1971 won contracts from major grape growers. Led to improvement of conditions of agricultural workersCommitted to principles of non-violence.

Chicano organizingSixties: use of term “Chicano” took hold: implication, rejection of

accommodation, radicalism, Mexican-American identityOrganizing spread from rural areas to urban areas, from agricultural

workers to students and othersTexas: Mexican American Youth Organization, 1967, led to formation

of El Partido de la Raza, 1970. Chicanos assumed leadership of cityUniversities: El Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan. Formed at

UCLA as United Mexican Studies, became MECHA. Politically broad: nationalists, Marxists, some focusing on reaffirmation of culture; some members of La Raza. Spread through universities of California and southwest.

Chicano movement: strong emphasis on community organizing, emphasis on non-violence, nationalist, inclusive (political differences less antagonistic than elsewhere on left). Women organized but remained internal to movement.