the black power movement focused on
fighting to improve the economic prospects for black Americans . they worked in the inner city ghettoes of Detroit and Chicago . for example Black Power groups provided breakfast for city schoolchildren so that they would be better able to learn at school

when were the race riots
1965-67

African Americans in cities such as Chicago and Detroit didn't face the same problems of segregation  as in the southern states , but they were
disconnected because of economic deprivation , poor housing and inadequate schools .

in Chicago ....% of young black youths were unemployed and only ...% of ghetto children graduated from high school . this meant that an explosive situation was developing in the ghettoes of many US cities
70
32

when were the watts riots
1965

a brutal attempt by police to arrest a black drunkard driver sparked off
a huge riot in the Watts district of Los Angeles . it lasted 6 days and resulted in 34 deaths and $40 million of damage as mass looting occurred

further major riots broke out in
Detroit and Newark in 1967 sparked by police arrests in areas where racial tension ran high

both ... and .... worked in the ghettoes , distributing information on education , health , housing
CORE 
SNCC

Seeing such poverty and deprivation at such close quarters made both CORE and SNCC become
even more militant

in what year did Stokely Carmichael leave SNCC
1967

what did he do then
he joined a group called the black panthers

the black panthers was set up in
1966 by Huey Newton after the Watts Riots

The aim of the black panthers was to
promote the ideas of black power and self defence .

the black panthers had links with
communist freedom fighters all over the world and demanded "land , bread , housing , education , clothing , justice and peace"

black panther patrols would
shadow police police patrols and if the police started harassing black Americans then the panthers would intervene to help the blacks .

in response to this , California decided to recruit more black police officers into the force


there were a number of .... .... between the .... and ..... ..., and the leading ..... ... were hunted down  by the ...
gun battles 
police
black panthers 
black panthers 
FBI

In ....... their leaders had been arrested and the organisation died out
1970

when were the Mexico Olympics
1968

the most famous black power salute was given by
two black US athletes at the Olympic games of 1968

Tommie Smith and John Carlos were members of an organisation called
OPHR (the Olympic games project for human rights) which protested that blacks were discriminated against in sport .

both athletes were asked to
boycott the games altogether , to gain media attention for the plight of black athletes , but they decided on another course of action .

Smith won gold and Carlos won bronze in the 200m so
they used the opportunity of the medal ceremony to demonstrate their commitment to black power . They did not wear shoes on the podium to show the poverty of black Americans , and John Carlos wore beads to represent all those black Americans who had been lynched or who had died on the middle passage . They wore one glove each to create an arc of power and of unity .

Smith later said
"we are black and we are proud of being black . Black American will understand what we did tonight"

the athlete who won the silver medal was an Australian called
Peter Norman

Peter Norman was very supportive of what Smith and Carlos intended to do and even
wore an OPHR badge during the ceremony to show this support .

There was widespread condemnation for this action as the
Olympic games are not supposed to be used for political action . Smith and Carlos were suspended from the Olympic Team and when they returned to America they were criticised by the media . Their families received death threats .

When Peter Norman died some years later , Smith and Carlos attended the funeral and helped to
carry his coffin

the black power movement posed a threat to the
civil rights movement

the black power leaders threatened to
split the movement

if the civil rights leaders became entangled in internal arguments they would not be able to
put up a united front against the white racists whop opposed them

Black Power leaders like Stokely Carmichael and Malcolm X believed that the time had come for
black Americans to use violence to defend themselves against racist attacks

black panther leaders despised
MLK as they believed that he was too timid .

MLK did not want to frighten white supporters as he spoke about
"striped power" meaning that black and white would share power equally

MLK did not approve of the
separatists ideas of Malcolm X but Malcolm X said that MLK was a fool . Malcolm X thought that one charismatic leader was not enough and that people with fresh ideas were needed to lead the movement

tension broke out between MLK and Carmichael in
1966 when they were both on a march in Memphis .

Carmichael wanted
the march to be blacks only but MLK objected to this

during the march the state troopers
(who the governor said were there to protect the marchers) tear gassed and clubed them , and this lead to people like Carmichael to lose patience with the ideas of non-violence .

Carmichael and his supporters shouted
"we want black power" and the crowd echoed his call . MLK tried to start another chant with "we want freedom" but the split between the leaders was clear . Carmichael then sang "oh what fun it is to blast/a trooper man away" which horrified MLK