Black Power: Radical Politics and African American Identity

by Jeffrey O.G. Ogbar

In the 1960s, the Nation of Islam and the Black Panther Party gave voice to many economically disadvantaged and politically isolated African Americans, especially outside the South. Though vilified as extremist and marginal, they were formidable agents of influence and change during the civil rights era and ultimately shaped the Black Power movement. In this fresh study, drawing on deep archival research and interviews with key participants, Jeffrey O. G. Ogbar reconsiders the commingled stories of — and popular reactions to — the Nation of Islam, Black Panthers, and mainstream civil rights leaders. Ogbar finds that many African Americans embraced the seemingly contradictory political agenda of desegregation and nationalism. Indeed, black nationalism was far more favorably received among African Americans than historians have previously acknowledged. Black Power reveals a civil rights movement in which the ideals of desegregation through nonviolence and black nationalism marched side by side.

Ogbar concludes that Black Power had more lasting cultural consequences among African Americans and others than did the civil rights movement, engendering minority pride and influencing the political, cultural, and religious spheres of mainstream African American life for the next three decades.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, History, African American, Race, American History

280 pages, Paperback

First published May 5, 2005

About the author

Jeffrey O. G. Ogbar is associate professor of history and director of the Institute for African American Studies at the University of Connecticut. He is author of Black Power: Radical Politics and African American Identity and edited the volume The Civil Rights Movement: Problems in American Civilization.

Reviews

[Olivia Ramsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

i really enjoyed this book! the origins and evolution of the black power movement are incredibly fascinating. i learned a lot about its relationship with the nation of islam, its complicated connections with the civil rights movement, and its core marxist ideology. the book does a good job of laying out the nebulousness of all of those themes. the biggest thing i took away from it was how integral black power was to the transformation of black americans’ identity, and the central question of whether that was wholly beneficial or not.

read for postwar u.s history

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ogbar wrote of the history of Black Power, a movement that stressed black self-determination, largely Marxist social analysis, and a skepticism of integration into white American institutions as the answer to Black American inequities. The two organizations he focuses on is the Nation of Islam, with a mix of both self-love and hatred of black lifestylism and strong religious based anti-white ideology (much of which largely inverted larger white supremacy), aiming to bring Black people through self-respect and militant rhetoric (though it was seldomly actually practiced against institutions they attacked), and the Black Panthers, who were a combination of self-defense of Deacons for Defense, SNCC style community based organizing, NOI Malcolm X style rhetoric without the religious components, and militant organizational structure which preached Marxism with an emphasis on lumpen-proletariats. While the NOI grew largely because of Malcolm X’s fierce rhetoric and work, the Black Panther Party saw its most explosive growth in the wake of MLK’s assassination, as scores of angry young Black recruits sought to plug into an existing radical organization. While NOI was heavily surveilled, much more violent and concentrated attacks on the BPP caused it to splinter as its leadership turned to infighting. Ogbar also looks to similar groups, as well as militant black power groups that emerged out of Civil Rights organizing, like SNCC and CORE, as well as cultural nationalists whom stressed Black Americans connections with African countries. Black Power and particularly the BPP inspired other oppressed groups, like Latinos, Asians, Native Americans, and even poor whites to organize similar groups inspired by the BPP. Ogbar argued that Black Power was more influential in the end than traditional Civil Rights organizations in that they resulted in the creation of Black pride, Black nationalism, Black Studies, Black Student unions, and other similar determinism. Black Nationalism and Black separatism are often linked but are not necessarily the same.
Key Themes and Concept
-BPP embraced open cursing, “lumpenization”, music and recruited amongst the desperate poor, while NOI frowned upon drinking, pork, music, and swearing.
-1970s saw the sanitization of Black Power movements into commercial and politicians needs.
-Robert Williams “Negros With Guns” emphasized that not all of the southern Civil Rights embraced pacifism and non-violence, but instead called upon self-defense.
-Traditional civil rights usually condemned much of Black Power, but later they came to be sympathetic.
-Ogbar explores connections between ideologies, histories, identities, and actions.
-NOI was conservative towards women, while BPP tried at least to integrate women into leadership, with fairly mixed results.

[Timothy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally written in 2004 and updated in 2019, Ogbar's book contextualizes the Black Power in the Black Freedom Movement by situating it between Black Nationalism and Civil Rights. Black Power resulted from the tension between the more moderate integrationist civil rights movement and the sometimes antiwhite expression black nationalism. The book is readable, well documented, and persuasive.

[George · Rating 5 out of 5]

i really enjoyed this book. realistically, the information about the black panthers and their marxist roots was the information i took away. it's an indispensable book for people searching for a more complex, dignified and nuanced understanding of black power struggles and specifically the articulation of black nationalism.

[Martha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somewhat repetitive but much more readable than other academic works I've been reading recently, and a really useful examination of the development of Black Power movement, including a great chapter on the Nation of Islam.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good overview, but it drags a bit, and the end feels more like a list than it should.