Stokely Carmichael: “Black Power”

Questions for Further Study

• 1.: Compare Carmichael’s comments on the Democratic Party in this document with Fannie Lou Hamer’s Testimony at the Democratic National Convention. What were the problems that some, perhaps many, African Americans had with the Democratic Party at that time, particularly in the South?
• 2.: Do you agree with Carmichael that many people were afraid of Black Power primarily because of the word black and that if the movement had had a different name, people might have responded to it more favorably? Why or why not?
• 3.: Compare Stokely Carmichael’s opposition to the war in Vietnam with that of Martin Luther King, Jr., in “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence.” On what grounds did the two men oppose the war? Did they have differing reasons for opposing the war?
• 4.: Carmichael was speaking to an audience of primarily university students. In what ways did he tailor his remarks to appeal to the interests and concerns of students at that time?
• 5.: Carmichael refers to voting as a right, and he is correct. But is there not a sense in which voting is also a privilege? Agree or disagree, and explain.