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Stokely: A Life
From the author of The Sword and the Shield , this definitive biography of the Black Power activist Stokely Carmichael offers "an unflinching look at an unflinching man" ( Daily Beast ).
Stokely Carmichael, the charismatic and controversial Black activist, stepped onto the pages of history when he called for "Black Power" during a speech one Mississippi night in 1966. A firebrand who straddled both the American civil rights and Black Power movements, Carmichael would stand for the rest of his life at the center of the storm he had unleashed. In Stokely , preeminent civil rights scholar Peniel E. Joseph presents a groundbreaking biography of Carmichael, using his life as a prism through which to view the transformative African American freedom struggles of the twentieth century.
A nuanced and authoritative portrait, Stokely captures the life of the man whose uncompromising vision defined political radicalism and provoked a national reckoning on race and democracy.
Stokely Carmichael, the charismatic and controversial Black activist, stepped onto the pages of history when he called for "Black Power" during a speech one Mississippi night in 1966. A firebrand who straddled both the American civil rights and Black Power movements, Carmichael would stand for the rest of his life at the center of the storm he had unleashed. In Stokely , preeminent civil rights scholar Peniel E. Joseph presents a groundbreaking biography of Carmichael, using his life as a prism through which to view the transformative African American freedom struggles of the twentieth century.
A nuanced and authoritative portrait, Stokely captures the life of the man whose uncompromising vision defined political radicalism and provoked a national reckoning on race and democracy.
432 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2012
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June 13, 2019
Dr. King’s policy was that nonviolence would achieve the gains for black people in the United States. His major assumption was that if you are nonviolent, if you suffer, your opponent will see your suffering and will be moved to change his heart. That’s very good. He only made one fallacious assumption: In order for nonviolence to work, your opponent must have a conscience. The United States has none.
Our grandfathers had to run, run, run. My generation’s out of breath. We ain’t running no more.
Stokely Carmichael was one of the most important figures in the US Civil Rights Movement and the antiwar campaign in the 1960s, who was best known for creating the phrase "Black Power", his leadership of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), his involvement in the original Black Panther Party in Lowndes County, Alabama, his fiery speeches, and his fierce intellect. He was widely viewed as the successor to Malcolm X after his assassination in 1965, and although he was publicly critical of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s nonviolent movement he maintained a close friendship with him, other moderate civil rights activists, and well meaning people of other races who supported the cause of freedom and equality for all mankind. He was arguably one of the most influential and most feared black Americans during the peak of his activity in the latter half of the 1960s, until he moved to Africa with his new wife, the South African singer Miriam Makeba, where he lived until his death from cancer in 1998.
Carmichael was born in Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago in 1941. His mother, a cabin line stewardess, left their crowded family home for New York City when Stokely was three, and his father, a skilled carpenter, followed two years later. He would not see either of them until he reached the age of 11, when he flew to NYC to move in with them in the Bronx. Port of Prince was a majority black city with blacks in all positions of power, and growing up there was essential to his view that black people were capable of governing themselves effectively without the aid of other races, including whites. He was loved by his grandmother and aunts, and he thrived under their care while he simultaneously developed an independent streak.
The British based education he received in Trinidad and Tobago served him well when he moved to the US, as he excelled in his studies at the prestigious Bronx High School of Science and at Howard University. His classmates and neighbors included numerous Jewish and Italian families, including one who introduced him to the vibrant left wing intellectual subculture that existed in the city in the 1950s. He attended talks and meetings, which became the origin of his political activities at Bronx Science and Howard.
The beginnings of the student civil rights movement coincided with Carmichael's matriculation at Howard in 1960, as college students from North Carolina A&T began the first of a series of nonviolent sit-ins at segregated lunch counters in the city of Greensboro. These sit-ins spread to other cities in the South, in stores and restaurants where blacks were not allowed to dine, and these protests led to the formation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) later that year. Carmichael formally joined the movement later that year, participating in sit-ins in Virginia and other civil rights protests in Maryland, and his intellect and commitment to the cause led him to become a leader on campus and the following year, when he served as one of the Freedom Riders that sought to integrate buses and their terminals throughout the Deep South.
Through his participation in the Nonviolent Action Group (NAG) at Howard and SNCC, Carmichael was introduced to and became familiar with civil rights leader that included Martin Luther King, Jr., Bayard Rustin, John Lewis (who he later succeeded as the head of SNCC), and Tom Hayden, a white student at the University of Michigan who gained fame as one of the founding fathers of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).
Carmichael's coming of age came about when he participated in voter registration movements, freedom marches and protests in Alabama and Mississippi, which began during the summers between his studies at Howard and continued after he received his bachelor's degree in 1964. He ingratiated himself with local community leaders, and his tireless efforts, frequent influential speeches and ebullient personality led to his recognition as one of the young faces of the Civil Rights Movement. By 1966 he was elected as president of SNCC, and during that year he become known to the country at large, particularly due to his famous "Black Power" speech in June of that year, in which he proclaimed that black autonomy and solidarity rather than alignment with liberal whites and members of other races was essential to the advancement of the race. He adopted this position after civil rights groups failed to get representatives from the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party seated to the 1964 Democratic National Convention, as party leaders chose segregationist delegates instead, and due to persistent failures of the US government under President Johnson to protect civil rights activists in the Deep South from abuse by local officials, along with Johnson's escalation of the War in Vietnam.
Carmichael became a frequently sought after speaker on college campuses and abroad, which provided SNCC which the necessary funds it needed to continue its activity. However, Stokely's ego and independence fell afoul of the committee's leadership, and his increasingly more extreme statements and positions led to his isolation and ultimate replacement, particularly after he traveled to Europe and Cuba and incurred the wrath of J. Edgar Hoover, the head of the FBI, President Johnson, and moderate civil rights leaders who disagreed with his tactics and rejection of nonviolence as a tool to achieve racial equality. His travels abroad ultimately led to his disillusionment with the United States, and in 1968, not long after Dr. King's assassination, he moved to Guinea in West Africa. He adopted the name Kwame Turé, taken from the names of two of Africa's most prominent leaders, Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of independent Ghana, and Sekou Touré, the first president of Guinea. Unfortunately these two men and others like them became oppressive dictators shortly after their installation as the heads of government, and Carmichael became a marginalized and ineffective civil rights leader during the remainder of his life.
Carmichael was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1996, which claimed his life two years later at the age of 56.
In Stokely: A Life, the noted Haitian American historian Peniel E. Joseph has done a masterful job in detailing the life of this legendary but often misunderstood man, who was an energetic and influential civil rights leader and the key figure in the Black Power movement, but also ostracized white liberals and moderate civil rights activists by his increasingly more extreme positions and statements during his most active years. This book is a valuable contribution to American history and the history of the movement, and it is a compelling, readable and detailed biography, with excellent and even analysis and criticism of the man throughout. It focuses on Carmichael's activity in the US far more than his participation after he moved to Guinea in 1968, though, which is a notable but minor weakness that kept me from giving it a full five stars.
Our grandfathers had to run, run, run. My generation’s out of breath. We ain’t running no more.
Stokely Carmichael was one of the most important figures in the US Civil Rights Movement and the antiwar campaign in the 1960s, who was best known for creating the phrase "Black Power", his leadership of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), his involvement in the original Black Panther Party in Lowndes County, Alabama, his fiery speeches, and his fierce intellect. He was widely viewed as the successor to Malcolm X after his assassination in 1965, and although he was publicly critical of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s nonviolent movement he maintained a close friendship with him, other moderate civil rights activists, and well meaning people of other races who supported the cause of freedom and equality for all mankind. He was arguably one of the most influential and most feared black Americans during the peak of his activity in the latter half of the 1960s, until he moved to Africa with his new wife, the South African singer Miriam Makeba, where he lived until his death from cancer in 1998.
Carmichael was born in Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago in 1941. His mother, a cabin line stewardess, left their crowded family home for New York City when Stokely was three, and his father, a skilled carpenter, followed two years later. He would not see either of them until he reached the age of 11, when he flew to NYC to move in with them in the Bronx. Port of Prince was a majority black city with blacks in all positions of power, and growing up there was essential to his view that black people were capable of governing themselves effectively without the aid of other races, including whites. He was loved by his grandmother and aunts, and he thrived under their care while he simultaneously developed an independent streak.
The British based education he received in Trinidad and Tobago served him well when he moved to the US, as he excelled in his studies at the prestigious Bronx High School of Science and at Howard University. His classmates and neighbors included numerous Jewish and Italian families, including one who introduced him to the vibrant left wing intellectual subculture that existed in the city in the 1950s. He attended talks and meetings, which became the origin of his political activities at Bronx Science and Howard.
The beginnings of the student civil rights movement coincided with Carmichael's matriculation at Howard in 1960, as college students from North Carolina A&T began the first of a series of nonviolent sit-ins at segregated lunch counters in the city of Greensboro. These sit-ins spread to other cities in the South, in stores and restaurants where blacks were not allowed to dine, and these protests led to the formation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) later that year. Carmichael formally joined the movement later that year, participating in sit-ins in Virginia and other civil rights protests in Maryland, and his intellect and commitment to the cause led him to become a leader on campus and the following year, when he served as one of the Freedom Riders that sought to integrate buses and their terminals throughout the Deep South.
Through his participation in the Nonviolent Action Group (NAG) at Howard and SNCC, Carmichael was introduced to and became familiar with civil rights leader that included Martin Luther King, Jr., Bayard Rustin, John Lewis (who he later succeeded as the head of SNCC), and Tom Hayden, a white student at the University of Michigan who gained fame as one of the founding fathers of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).
Carmichael's coming of age came about when he participated in voter registration movements, freedom marches and protests in Alabama and Mississippi, which began during the summers between his studies at Howard and continued after he received his bachelor's degree in 1964. He ingratiated himself with local community leaders, and his tireless efforts, frequent influential speeches and ebullient personality led to his recognition as one of the young faces of the Civil Rights Movement. By 1966 he was elected as president of SNCC, and during that year he become known to the country at large, particularly due to his famous "Black Power" speech in June of that year, in which he proclaimed that black autonomy and solidarity rather than alignment with liberal whites and members of other races was essential to the advancement of the race. He adopted this position after civil rights groups failed to get representatives from the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party seated to the 1964 Democratic National Convention, as party leaders chose segregationist delegates instead, and due to persistent failures of the US government under President Johnson to protect civil rights activists in the Deep South from abuse by local officials, along with Johnson's escalation of the War in Vietnam.
Carmichael became a frequently sought after speaker on college campuses and abroad, which provided SNCC which the necessary funds it needed to continue its activity. However, Stokely's ego and independence fell afoul of the committee's leadership, and his increasingly more extreme statements and positions led to his isolation and ultimate replacement, particularly after he traveled to Europe and Cuba and incurred the wrath of J. Edgar Hoover, the head of the FBI, President Johnson, and moderate civil rights leaders who disagreed with his tactics and rejection of nonviolence as a tool to achieve racial equality. His travels abroad ultimately led to his disillusionment with the United States, and in 1968, not long after Dr. King's assassination, he moved to Guinea in West Africa. He adopted the name Kwame Turé, taken from the names of two of Africa's most prominent leaders, Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of independent Ghana, and Sekou Touré, the first president of Guinea. Unfortunately these two men and others like them became oppressive dictators shortly after their installation as the heads of government, and Carmichael became a marginalized and ineffective civil rights leader during the remainder of his life.
Carmichael was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1996, which claimed his life two years later at the age of 56.
In Stokely: A Life, the noted Haitian American historian Peniel E. Joseph has done a masterful job in detailing the life of this legendary but often misunderstood man, who was an energetic and influential civil rights leader and the key figure in the Black Power movement, but also ostracized white liberals and moderate civil rights activists by his increasingly more extreme positions and statements during his most active years. This book is a valuable contribution to American history and the history of the movement, and it is a compelling, readable and detailed biography, with excellent and even analysis and criticism of the man throughout. It focuses on Carmichael's activity in the US far more than his participation after he moved to Guinea in 1968, though, which is a notable but minor weakness that kept me from giving it a full five stars.
February 26, 2017
When I was a high school student in the mid-1970s, I came across Black Power: The Politics of Liberation in America by Stokely Carmichael and Charles V. Hamilton. The book had a lasting impact on me, as it introduced me to an incisive analysis of institutional racism which remains relevant decades after its publication. It also introduced me to Stokely Carmichael.
Peniel E. Joseph's sympathetic biography of Carmichael seeks to restore the one-time SNCC chairman's place in the history of the civil rights movement and the Black Power movement he helped birth. Joseph charts Carmichael's ascent to fame - some would say infamy - from his Howard University student days through his civil rights organizing in Mississippi and Alabama to becoming one of the most prominent Black revolutionaries of the 1960s, blamed by the FBI and politicians for inciting riots simply by his presence in a given city.
Carmichael emerges from these pages as a skilled organizer who respected the people he worked among, a gifted intellectual with an agile mind, a charismatic, charming and confident man who did not shun the celebrity status foisted upon him.
Most of the biography focuses on Carmichael's work during the 1960s, arguably the most active period of his life. Joseph examines Carmichael's relationships with Dr. Martin Luther King Jnr, SNCC luminaries including John Lewis and James Forman, strong women such as Ella Baker and Fannie Lou Hamer, and the Black Panthers. But it is Malcolm X who casts the longest shadow and possibly the greatest influence on Carmichael.
Although Joseph clearly admires Carmichael, he is not afraid to point out some of his ideological shortcomings, particularly the blind spot he developed about authoritarian African regimes after he embraced Pan-Africanism and relocated to Guinea.
Stokely: A Life is a very good biography of one of the Black freedom struggle's most dynamic and gifted organizers. I recommend reading it in conjunction with Carmichael's memoir, Ready for Revolution, co-written with Michael Thelwell, which contains one of the most electrifying descriptions of Malcolm X's physical presence I've ever read.
Peniel E. Joseph's sympathetic biography of Carmichael seeks to restore the one-time SNCC chairman's place in the history of the civil rights movement and the Black Power movement he helped birth. Joseph charts Carmichael's ascent to fame - some would say infamy - from his Howard University student days through his civil rights organizing in Mississippi and Alabama to becoming one of the most prominent Black revolutionaries of the 1960s, blamed by the FBI and politicians for inciting riots simply by his presence in a given city.
Carmichael emerges from these pages as a skilled organizer who respected the people he worked among, a gifted intellectual with an agile mind, a charismatic, charming and confident man who did not shun the celebrity status foisted upon him.
Most of the biography focuses on Carmichael's work during the 1960s, arguably the most active period of his life. Joseph examines Carmichael's relationships with Dr. Martin Luther King Jnr, SNCC luminaries including John Lewis and James Forman, strong women such as Ella Baker and Fannie Lou Hamer, and the Black Panthers. But it is Malcolm X who casts the longest shadow and possibly the greatest influence on Carmichael.
Although Joseph clearly admires Carmichael, he is not afraid to point out some of his ideological shortcomings, particularly the blind spot he developed about authoritarian African regimes after he embraced Pan-Africanism and relocated to Guinea.
Stokely: A Life is a very good biography of one of the Black freedom struggle's most dynamic and gifted organizers. I recommend reading it in conjunction with Carmichael's memoir, Ready for Revolution, co-written with Michael Thelwell, which contains one of the most electrifying descriptions of Malcolm X's physical presence I've ever read.
June 4, 2014
When I first picked up the book Stokely: A Life, I looked at the author Peniel Joseph and said to myself, “That’s a Haitian name!” I googled him and sure enough, he is from Haiti and currently a professor at Tufts University, who specializes in history of the civil rights movement.
I grew up in the 60’s and remembered Stokely as a civil rights activist and particularly associated him with the Black Panthers. I was surprised to read that he was initially involved in SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee), especially in Mississippi and was one of the Freedom Riders.
He also worked a lot with SCLC and had a long term friendship with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I was involved in SCLC and although I was too young to work with King before he was assassinated, I have met many of the SCLC leaders cited in the book.
Gradually, Carmichael became more hard lined and became more supportive of Malcolm X’s phrase “by any means necessary”. In contrast to Malcolm X, who moved from a black only stance to a movement more accepting of all races, Carmichael moved in reverse from an activist that worked with a diverse group to one that supported black power with blacks only as freedom fighters. I can see both sides but the fact that they grew in opposite directions was interesting.
Carmichael was a big proponent of black economic development. During the lunch counter sit-ins, he said “I wouldn’t want to tell my child someday I had to beg a white man to let me eat in a restaurant. I would rather build a restaurant and say to him, ‘Here’s your restaurant’ “.
SNCC, which is the group that did the lunch counter sit-ins, soon started becoming more radical. As long as SNCC focused on racism in the South, it had healthy financial support from white liberals. But once they started focusing on the fact “that racism was not an isolated phenomenon peculiar to the South”, SNCC quickly found itself abandoned by liberal allies. It reminded me of the time my school in SC became integrated in the 60's and then later in the 70’s Boston finally began school integration much to the protest of rioting racist whites. I remember thinking that northerners try to act so liberal compared to southerners but they are just as racist as any other southern white redneck.
Another thing that amazed me is that it was Carmichael who defined the difference between institutional racism and individual racism. I do a lot of anti-racism and white privilege training and never realized that those terms, which are the opening premises in my trainings, were originated by Carmichael.
Another thing that I never realized is that Carmichael was at one point married to one of my favorite singers – Miriam Makeba. I have long been a fan of Makeba and had associated her with fellow singer Hugh Masekela, but never realized Carmichael was a prior husband.
Carmichael soon developed an affinity to Africa and in fact moved there. He identified white western imperialist society as the “main threat to humanity”. He lived most of his final years in the country of Guinea and admired their self-leadership and pride. One of my friends who is originally from the Congo and now lives in the US told me Guinea is her favorite country of all. Maybe I, too, will visit there someday.
I grew up in the 60’s and remembered Stokely as a civil rights activist and particularly associated him with the Black Panthers. I was surprised to read that he was initially involved in SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee), especially in Mississippi and was one of the Freedom Riders.
He also worked a lot with SCLC and had a long term friendship with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I was involved in SCLC and although I was too young to work with King before he was assassinated, I have met many of the SCLC leaders cited in the book.
Gradually, Carmichael became more hard lined and became more supportive of Malcolm X’s phrase “by any means necessary”. In contrast to Malcolm X, who moved from a black only stance to a movement more accepting of all races, Carmichael moved in reverse from an activist that worked with a diverse group to one that supported black power with blacks only as freedom fighters. I can see both sides but the fact that they grew in opposite directions was interesting.
Carmichael was a big proponent of black economic development. During the lunch counter sit-ins, he said “I wouldn’t want to tell my child someday I had to beg a white man to let me eat in a restaurant. I would rather build a restaurant and say to him, ‘Here’s your restaurant’ “.
SNCC, which is the group that did the lunch counter sit-ins, soon started becoming more radical. As long as SNCC focused on racism in the South, it had healthy financial support from white liberals. But once they started focusing on the fact “that racism was not an isolated phenomenon peculiar to the South”, SNCC quickly found itself abandoned by liberal allies. It reminded me of the time my school in SC became integrated in the 60's and then later in the 70’s Boston finally began school integration much to the protest of rioting racist whites. I remember thinking that northerners try to act so liberal compared to southerners but they are just as racist as any other southern white redneck.
Another thing that amazed me is that it was Carmichael who defined the difference between institutional racism and individual racism. I do a lot of anti-racism and white privilege training and never realized that those terms, which are the opening premises in my trainings, were originated by Carmichael.
Another thing that I never realized is that Carmichael was at one point married to one of my favorite singers – Miriam Makeba. I have long been a fan of Makeba and had associated her with fellow singer Hugh Masekela, but never realized Carmichael was a prior husband.
Carmichael soon developed an affinity to Africa and in fact moved there. He identified white western imperialist society as the “main threat to humanity”. He lived most of his final years in the country of Guinea and admired their self-leadership and pride. One of my friends who is originally from the Congo and now lives in the US told me Guinea is her favorite country of all. Maybe I, too, will visit there someday.
September 17, 2016
Research without experience is FLAT . This is the case with this book . I really wanted to love this book , I always wanted to know more about this prolific leader and how he shifted from the non violent movement to black nationalism. Unfortunately I could not get through this book to know the details.
The book completely misses the intimacy of the man , something crucial for biographies. Instead it is a rambling list of people who influenced Stokely. Like so much work on Stokely It seems to base his importance on who he " knew, met with or followed" as opposed to his own story.
In addition to a lack of connection to the main subject , it is one of the few African American books that can't capture the emotion or intensity of the black experience. Stokely has been through the Caribbean, Harlem, Howard and Mississippi and yet I have no emotion when I'm reading about his experiences in any of these places. Where is the pain , joy , fatigue that I should feel reading his story. I don't know if this was done intentionally to pacify white or academic readers . Either way it reads like it was written by someone who reads about but himself is a little disconnected from the struggle. The good news is there are other books on him , get those INSTEAD
.
The book completely misses the intimacy of the man , something crucial for biographies. Instead it is a rambling list of people who influenced Stokely. Like so much work on Stokely It seems to base his importance on who he " knew, met with or followed" as opposed to his own story.
In addition to a lack of connection to the main subject , it is one of the few African American books that can't capture the emotion or intensity of the black experience. Stokely has been through the Caribbean, Harlem, Howard and Mississippi and yet I have no emotion when I'm reading about his experiences in any of these places. Where is the pain , joy , fatigue that I should feel reading his story. I don't know if this was done intentionally to pacify white or academic readers . Either way it reads like it was written by someone who reads about but himself is a little disconnected from the struggle. The good news is there are other books on him , get those INSTEAD
.
November 7, 2018
People like to bash Stokely for stuff he said, stuff they are taking out of context or otherwise misunderstand, when there's plenty of stuff he actually did that you could bash him for: supporting African dictators for example. I like reading about politically active people who's thinking evolved over time. With Stokely, you get 3 phases, I guess, the beautiful SNCC stuff in the early 60s, the Black Power stuff which starts out completely right on but gets weirder as the repression gets weirder and then goes completely bonkers after MLK's assassination, and then the Pan-Africanism phase which I hadn't known anything about and am now pretty disappointed with... I have wondered for years what exactly he was doing in Conakry, and turns out it's not that cool, really. But the thing is, all of these phases happen before he turns 30. After that, it's just trying to convince other, more successful Pan-African organizations to join his party. So something went terribly wrong, and it's basically that a lot of people he loved were murdered because they stood up for peace and justice.
I loved this book, though. Very thorough and deep, back to the archives and the correspondence and personal notes... I also really liked the author's appraisals of Stokely's media impact, how the media kind of made him into a Black Power clown... like put this guy on TV and let him say "kill whitey" in a room full of white people cheering him on... like some of the scenes in The Cotillion: Or One Good Bull is Half the Herd by John Oliver Killens... in the stuff about the media it also really comes across how Stokely was positioned as the bad thing that happens if you don't deal with MLK... really racist crap in the Saturday Evening Post, for example, and then how after MLK's death, the same people who had said King was "too radical" were already getting read to sanctify him.
Stokely as a person is someone I could really identify with, at least until he starts extolling Qaddafi or legitimizing Idi Amin... when he lets his heart speak before his head... who hasn't?
I loved this book, though. Very thorough and deep, back to the archives and the correspondence and personal notes... I also really liked the author's appraisals of Stokely's media impact, how the media kind of made him into a Black Power clown... like put this guy on TV and let him say "kill whitey" in a room full of white people cheering him on... like some of the scenes in The Cotillion: Or One Good Bull is Half the Herd by John Oliver Killens... in the stuff about the media it also really comes across how Stokely was positioned as the bad thing that happens if you don't deal with MLK... really racist crap in the Saturday Evening Post, for example, and then how after MLK's death, the same people who had said King was "too radical" were already getting read to sanctify him.
Stokely as a person is someone I could really identify with, at least until he starts extolling Qaddafi or legitimizing Idi Amin... when he lets his heart speak before his head... who hasn't?
February 2, 2018
One of my heroes. Dope bio.
July 15, 2020
Summary: A biography of a young civil rights icon who called for 'Black Power'.
It is hard to get over how young he was for the main part of his civil rights career. He started working nearly full time as a civil rights activist through NAG (during the school year at Howard) and for SNCC during the summers in Mississippi and Alabama. He was first arrested during the Freedom Rides before he turned 20. At Howard, he was mentored by Bayard Rustin and many of his professors, including Toni Morrison, who later became his editor.
After graduating in 1964, he moved to Mississippi and began working on voting rights projects through SNCC. He quickly became the project director in Mississippi and then in 1965 moved to Lowndes County Alabama. It was during this point when his organization started using a black panther as its mascot. Only a year later, Stokely Carmichael, at just 25, became the head of SNCC.
Carmichael was clearly a gifted speaker and organizer. He kept SNCC funded primarily through his speaking fees. Because he was dependent on those fees to pay the staff and fund the organizing, Stokely spent a lot of time speaking at predominately White colleges which could afford higher fees. The struggle to fund black-led organizations is not new and even for someone known for his Black power stance he faced the struggle of both a desire to work with Whites and a desire to be a Black-led and Black-oriented organization.
A number of issues led to his short tenure. There was a struggle to keep SNCC oriented toward a unified goal during an era of changing priorities in the Civil Rights movement. He also does not seem to have been a great administrator and his fame and name recognition also created both opportunities, jealousy, and self-centeredness.
At the same time, the FBI targeted him in their COINTELPRO operation. His outspokenness against the Vietnam war, which was earlier than most in the Civil Rights movement, was controversial inside and outside of SNCC. After the end of his time at SNCC, he moved toward the Black Panther Party. Within a year of leaving SNCC, MLK, Jr. was assassinated, Black Panthers were strained, both because of ideological difference and because of problems with FBI informants. Carmichael began spending more time out of the country visiting Africa and becoming more oriented toward the pan-African movement. Fred Hampton and other Black Panthers were killed by police in 1969 and Carmichael from that point primarily lived outside of the US.
In 1968 he married Miriam Makeba, a well-known singer, songwriter, and actress. Their marriage alienated her White audience which made their move to Africa less financially harmful since her audience was now largely in Africa. They divorced in 1974.
While Carmichael continued to speak and write and influence those in the US, his connections to increasingly authoritarian African leaders left him alienated from many. He helped to found the All-African People's Revolutionary Party, changed his name to Kwame Ture and continued to work toward pan-African freedom.
Kwame Ture died of cancer in 1998 at the age of 57. Most of the last 30 years were far less influential than his very active and influentials 20s.
Peniel Joseph is not writing hagiography, Carmichael was brilliant, talented, and flawed. He was at times known as 'Starmichael' because of his ego while at SNCC. At the same time, he expanded the work on the civil rights movement, brought attention to the Vietnam war as an aspect of the civil rights movement, and drew together organizers in a variety of movements to work together. But also ended up driving some away with his radical rhetoric.
Stokely: A Life filled in a lot of holes in my civil rights era knowledge as well as highlighted the importance of both shared ideology and methodology while organizing and the importance of working across lines for shared goals.
After reading Peniel Joseph's excellent joint biography of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr, I picked up his biography of Stokely Carmichael, mostly because it was on sale (as of posting, it is still $3.49). I had heard of the name of Stokely Carmichael, but little else. Like many, his is an incredible story.
It is hard to get over how young he was for the main part of his civil rights career. He started working nearly full time as a civil rights activist through NAG (during the school year at Howard) and for SNCC during the summers in Mississippi and Alabama. He was first arrested during the Freedom Rides before he turned 20. At Howard, he was mentored by Bayard Rustin and many of his professors, including Toni Morrison, who later became his editor.
After graduating in 1964, he moved to Mississippi and began working on voting rights projects through SNCC. He quickly became the project director in Mississippi and then in 1965 moved to Lowndes County Alabama. It was during this point when his organization started using a black panther as its mascot. Only a year later, Stokely Carmichael, at just 25, became the head of SNCC.
Carmichael was clearly a gifted speaker and organizer. He kept SNCC funded primarily through his speaking fees. Because he was dependent on those fees to pay the staff and fund the organizing, Stokely spent a lot of time speaking at predominately White colleges which could afford higher fees. The struggle to fund black-led organizations is not new and even for someone known for his Black power stance he faced the struggle of both a desire to work with Whites and a desire to be a Black-led and Black-oriented organization.
A number of issues led to his short tenure. There was a struggle to keep SNCC oriented toward a unified goal during an era of changing priorities in the Civil Rights movement. He also does not seem to have been a great administrator and his fame and name recognition also created both opportunities, jealousy, and self-centeredness.
At the same time, the FBI targeted him in their COINTELPRO operation. His outspokenness against the Vietnam war, which was earlier than most in the Civil Rights movement, was controversial inside and outside of SNCC. After the end of his time at SNCC, he moved toward the Black Panther Party. Within a year of leaving SNCC, MLK, Jr. was assassinated, Black Panthers were strained, both because of ideological difference and because of problems with FBI informants. Carmichael began spending more time out of the country visiting Africa and becoming more oriented toward the pan-African movement. Fred Hampton and other Black Panthers were killed by police in 1969 and Carmichael from that point primarily lived outside of the US.
In 1968 he married Miriam Makeba, a well-known singer, songwriter, and actress. Their marriage alienated her White audience which made their move to Africa less financially harmful since her audience was now largely in Africa. They divorced in 1974.
While Carmichael continued to speak and write and influence those in the US, his connections to increasingly authoritarian African leaders left him alienated from many. He helped to found the All-African People's Revolutionary Party, changed his name to Kwame Ture and continued to work toward pan-African freedom.
Kwame Ture died of cancer in 1998 at the age of 57. Most of the last 30 years were far less influential than his very active and influentials 20s.
Peniel Joseph is not writing hagiography, Carmichael was brilliant, talented, and flawed. He was at times known as 'Starmichael' because of his ego while at SNCC. At the same time, he expanded the work on the civil rights movement, brought attention to the Vietnam war as an aspect of the civil rights movement, and drew together organizers in a variety of movements to work together. But also ended up driving some away with his radical rhetoric.
Stokely: A Life filled in a lot of holes in my civil rights era knowledge as well as highlighted the importance of both shared ideology and methodology while organizing and the importance of working across lines for shared goals.
July 11, 2020
a powerful text documenting in great detail Stokely’s evolution from civil rights militant and Black Power icon to revolutionary socialist and Pan-African anti-imperialist! ALWAYS an educator, he led with revolutionary spirit in the struggle against empire!
November 23, 2014
In the heroic era of the civil rights struggle, three men stood shoulder-to-shoulder, and they somehow became so close to many of us in fame and affection that last names aren't necessary: Martin, Malcolm, and Stokely.
Stokely was the only one of the three to make it to age 40.
Martin: I have a dream.
Malcolm: By any means necessary.
Stokely: Black Power!
Stokely's most important arc lasted from 1961-1968. He was one of the first Freedom Riders, leader of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, and "Honorary Prime Minister" of the Black Panther Party. Stokely coined the phrase, "Black Power," and with Charles Hamilton the phrase and intellectual underpinning of "institutional racism." For a brief period, Stokely Carmichael was one of the most powerful men in America. Most powerful, most hated, most watched, most jailed, and mostly right.
"Stokely: A Life," is a well researched, well written, and solid biography of a professional organizer, and revolutionary, and it tracks his evolution from a great believer in democratic revolution able to navigate all the treacherous shoals of multi-racial organizing, to a dogmatic, inflexible Pan-African proponent of "Nkrumahism" - racial and socialistic politics - who took the name of Kwame Ture in tribute to his mentors, Kwame Nkrumah and Ahmed Sékou Touré.
It's interesting how the legacies of the three giants have developed. Martin has been declawed and canonized, the powers-that-be are still trying to bury Malcolm, although Alex Haley, and Spike Lee, have kept his legacy alive, Stokely has been all but forgotten. Perhaps Professor Joseph's biography will help rectify that.
On a personal note, I had the opportunity to sit with about 20-30 students in a lecture hall at the University of Hawaii in the early 80's as Stokely was on one of a few return visits and speaking tours. Stokely, then Kwame Ture, was tall, imposing, handsome, articulate, and passionate, and it was easy to see why he was so effective. It was also sad he had effectively abandoned the struggle in the US to chase the chimera of Pan-Africanism, but maybe that's what allowed him to live 20 years longer than Martin or Malcolm.
No matter how you cut it, though, Stokely was a giant, and this book is an excellent place to review his life and times.
Stokely was the only one of the three to make it to age 40.
Martin: I have a dream.
Malcolm: By any means necessary.
Stokely: Black Power!
Stokely's most important arc lasted from 1961-1968. He was one of the first Freedom Riders, leader of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, and "Honorary Prime Minister" of the Black Panther Party. Stokely coined the phrase, "Black Power," and with Charles Hamilton the phrase and intellectual underpinning of "institutional racism." For a brief period, Stokely Carmichael was one of the most powerful men in America. Most powerful, most hated, most watched, most jailed, and mostly right.
"Stokely: A Life," is a well researched, well written, and solid biography of a professional organizer, and revolutionary, and it tracks his evolution from a great believer in democratic revolution able to navigate all the treacherous shoals of multi-racial organizing, to a dogmatic, inflexible Pan-African proponent of "Nkrumahism" - racial and socialistic politics - who took the name of Kwame Ture in tribute to his mentors, Kwame Nkrumah and Ahmed Sékou Touré.
It's interesting how the legacies of the three giants have developed. Martin has been declawed and canonized, the powers-that-be are still trying to bury Malcolm, although Alex Haley, and Spike Lee, have kept his legacy alive, Stokely has been all but forgotten. Perhaps Professor Joseph's biography will help rectify that.
On a personal note, I had the opportunity to sit with about 20-30 students in a lecture hall at the University of Hawaii in the early 80's as Stokely was on one of a few return visits and speaking tours. Stokely, then Kwame Ture, was tall, imposing, handsome, articulate, and passionate, and it was easy to see why he was so effective. It was also sad he had effectively abandoned the struggle in the US to chase the chimera of Pan-Africanism, but maybe that's what allowed him to live 20 years longer than Martin or Malcolm.
No matter how you cut it, though, Stokely was a giant, and this book is an excellent place to review his life and times.
Read
February 6, 2015323.092 J835 2014
March 23, 2018
This is another book that should grace the home of every black person's library.
October 4, 2025
Peniel E. Joseph makes the case for Stokely Carmichael’s status as a premiere civil rights activists whose name should be positioned right next to the likes of Malcolm and Martin. Throughout this biography, the reader is reminded of how much contemporary Black society has been shaped by the life and teachings of Stokely Carmichael. Stokely’s contributions far extend his most famous phrase of Black Power. From Black studies departments to discourse on institutional racism, Stokely was an instrumental figure in the formation of Black consciousness. Joseph also makes attempts to clear Stokely’s name from some of the common misconceptions surrounding his beliefs and practices. Charges of racism and misogyny are revealed to be unfounded, which serves as a reminder to never let mainstream narratives shape one’s understanding of revolutionary figures. However, Joseph is not a Stokely apologist. While listing Stokely’s missteps, the reader is reminded of Stokely’s humanity which creates better understanding. We have a better sense of how a freedom fighter can become so disillusioned with America that he is willing to look the other way when faced with Black led authoritarian regimes.
Society has a peculiar way of dealing with mortality. A tragic loss has a way of elevating one’s status and an unfortunate by product of that is the way in which longevity is reduced. We see this in Hip-Hop in the way in which 2Pac and Biggie maintain their status as two of the greatest emcees, even as the resumes of their contemporaries call this claim into question. The same is true for how we have seemed to underplay Stokely’s significance. Out of what I would call the Big 3, Stokely is the only one to reach the age of 40. Few realize just how much Malcolm’s life took on another dimension of significance after his death. Similarly, Martin’s image has been transformed (some would say whitewashed) to that one someone as a truly unifying figure to the point where people are shocked to learn that at the time of his death he was polled to be the most hated man in America at the time, and we do not have to guess which demographic dominated the responses and tipped the scales. In many ways death was a gift to the public perception of these figures. No longer alive to be a threat to the dominate society, people were then allowed to explore their teachings without media and FBI sabotage. This explains how Malcolm has been sighted to be an influence to conservatives like Clarence Thomas and progressives like Cornel West. Also explains how the FBI can unironically pay homage to MLK on his birthday on social media. However for Stokely, longevity exposed him to the continual punches. The US government maintained its campaign of targeting his reputation and gradual progress amongst privileged Black Americans forced many to question the validity of his message. Stokely’s life enabled him to maintain control of his message and avoid similar bastardizations of his quotes and ideas to fit a more popular propagandized narrative. From organizer to Pan Africanist, Stokely Carmichael’s life represents one of a revolutionary who remained true to his ideals and dedicated to Black liberation.
Society has a peculiar way of dealing with mortality. A tragic loss has a way of elevating one’s status and an unfortunate by product of that is the way in which longevity is reduced. We see this in Hip-Hop in the way in which 2Pac and Biggie maintain their status as two of the greatest emcees, even as the resumes of their contemporaries call this claim into question. The same is true for how we have seemed to underplay Stokely’s significance. Out of what I would call the Big 3, Stokely is the only one to reach the age of 40. Few realize just how much Malcolm’s life took on another dimension of significance after his death. Similarly, Martin’s image has been transformed (some would say whitewashed) to that one someone as a truly unifying figure to the point where people are shocked to learn that at the time of his death he was polled to be the most hated man in America at the time, and we do not have to guess which demographic dominated the responses and tipped the scales. In many ways death was a gift to the public perception of these figures. No longer alive to be a threat to the dominate society, people were then allowed to explore their teachings without media and FBI sabotage. This explains how Malcolm has been sighted to be an influence to conservatives like Clarence Thomas and progressives like Cornel West. Also explains how the FBI can unironically pay homage to MLK on his birthday on social media. However for Stokely, longevity exposed him to the continual punches. The US government maintained its campaign of targeting his reputation and gradual progress amongst privileged Black Americans forced many to question the validity of his message. Stokely’s life enabled him to maintain control of his message and avoid similar bastardizations of his quotes and ideas to fit a more popular propagandized narrative. From organizer to Pan Africanist, Stokely Carmichael’s life represents one of a revolutionary who remained true to his ideals and dedicated to Black liberation.
April 16, 2024
Peniel Joseph's exhaustively-researched book on Stokely Carmichael (later changing his name to Kwame Ture) is a fascinating portrait of an iconic civil rights figure. His ideology was almost a "down the middle" split between Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. And Joseph's book pulls in interviews, FBI profiles, and enough footnotes to make a novella.
"Stokely: A Life" isn't exactly a life-spanning biography. While Joseph does touch on Ture's life after he moved to Guinea in the early 1970s, that part of his life, up until his death in 1998, spans roughly a chapter, while his exhaustive work in the 1960s, from organizing sit-ins, to befriending Martin Luther King Jr., to his philosophy of Black Power take roughly 80 percent of the book.
While Joseph does a laudable effort in detailing Carmichael's often-contradictory beliefs (while he routinely condemned the United States for their human rights abuses, he remained largely silent against Ugandan dictator Idi Amin), the book oftentimes reads like a history textbook and not a biography. Joseph details the events and dates of Carmichael's rallies, talks, and marches, but far too often, the reader does not get a sense of Carmichael as a person. Stokely Carmichael was a pivotal historical figure, and "Stokely: A Life" is certainly a must-read for anyone wishing to know more about the civil rights leader. But given the fairly thin coverage of his life beyond 1970, and the frustrating lack of insight from those in Carmichael's inner circle to shed more light about who Carmichael was as a person, I hope the "definitive" biography of this civil rights legend is still waiting to be written.
"Stokely: A Life" isn't exactly a life-spanning biography. While Joseph does touch on Ture's life after he moved to Guinea in the early 1970s, that part of his life, up until his death in 1998, spans roughly a chapter, while his exhaustive work in the 1960s, from organizing sit-ins, to befriending Martin Luther King Jr., to his philosophy of Black Power take roughly 80 percent of the book.
While Joseph does a laudable effort in detailing Carmichael's often-contradictory beliefs (while he routinely condemned the United States for their human rights abuses, he remained largely silent against Ugandan dictator Idi Amin), the book oftentimes reads like a history textbook and not a biography. Joseph details the events and dates of Carmichael's rallies, talks, and marches, but far too often, the reader does not get a sense of Carmichael as a person. Stokely Carmichael was a pivotal historical figure, and "Stokely: A Life" is certainly a must-read for anyone wishing to know more about the civil rights leader. But given the fairly thin coverage of his life beyond 1970, and the frustrating lack of insight from those in Carmichael's inner circle to shed more light about who Carmichael was as a person, I hope the "definitive" biography of this civil rights legend is still waiting to be written.
July 30, 2025
"Stokley: A Life" tells the true story of Stokley Carmichael, a very important leader in the fight for Black rights in America during the 1960s and 70s. The book explains where he came from (born in Trinidad, raised in New York City) and how he got involved in the civil rights movement as a young man. It shows his early work with groups like the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), where he bravely helped Black people register to vote in the dangerous American South.
The book really focuses on how Stokley's ideas changed over time. He started believing in peaceful protests (nonviolence) but later became famous for promoting "Black Power." This meant he thought Black communities should be strong, proud of their heritage, and control their own lives and neighbourhoods, sometimes separately from white society. The book describes this big shift in his thinking and why he felt it was necessary, even though it caused arguments with other leaders.
This biography does a good job of making Stokley Carmichael's complex life and powerful ideas easy to understand. It doesn't hide the controversies around him but helps explain why he made his choices. It's a clear and interesting book for anyone who wants to learn about a passionate leader who deeply shaped the struggle for racial justice and the meaning of Black pride. You feel like you get to know the real person behind the famous words.
The book really focuses on how Stokley's ideas changed over time. He started believing in peaceful protests (nonviolence) but later became famous for promoting "Black Power." This meant he thought Black communities should be strong, proud of their heritage, and control their own lives and neighbourhoods, sometimes separately from white society. The book describes this big shift in his thinking and why he felt it was necessary, even though it caused arguments with other leaders.
This biography does a good job of making Stokley Carmichael's complex life and powerful ideas easy to understand. It doesn't hide the controversies around him but helps explain why he made his choices. It's a clear and interesting book for anyone who wants to learn about a passionate leader who deeply shaped the struggle for racial justice and the meaning of Black pride. You feel like you get to know the real person behind the famous words.
March 29, 2022
I stumbled upon this book in a book sale and thought I would take a chance. I remembered the name Stokely Carmichael, but I could not recall any specifics. Joseph does a wonderful job explaining and putting in context Carmichael’s life. Carmichael was a civil rights pioneer, a prophetic voice, a gifted organizer and activist, a protege and critic of Martin Luther King, a public intellectual, the founder of the black power movement, an early and loud critic of the war in Vietnam, a cheerleader for the pan-African movement, a thorn in the flesh for American politicians, the FBI, someone who stoked the fears of whites, a friend to the global press, a stunning orator, someone who enjoyed people and laughed often, a narcissist who enjoyed his growing fame a little too much, and, in the end, a disappointed man. Not bad for someone whose career from a young age was solely speaking, writing, and organizing protests. While the rhetoric of “black power” sounded radical at the time, it seems morally clear and commonsensical today. After all, Carmichael was saying violence and guns might be needed for Black people to ensure their freedom and path to prosperity. Today, I hear people talking guns and violence because they don’t want to wear masks or have to get vaccinated. In that context Stokely Carmichael does not seem that radical.
September 7, 2022
a carefully documented portrait of a complicated political figure who dared to rise against the u.s. power structures in the name of liberation for african americans. his story is a twisty, turning maze of ascent and descent, and perhaps a victim of the optimism of youth. he begins as brilliant child, graduates from howard university, quickly joins the ranks of martin luther king and malcolm x, and his idealism is both a potent potion and perhaps his fall from grace. while i would agree with everything he strove to achieve - black liberation through self agency and self-reliance, he quickly became the target of fbi surveillance for speaking out against the vietnam war and the hypocrisies laden in a stagnant government bureaucracy too frightened/paranoid to allow white supremacy to lose its crushing foothold of power. in short, he may have been more effective staying focused on improving conditions for blacks in the deep south had he not tried to "achieve everything" ... but again, everything he sought to critique and change was worth fighting for. and in the early years of fighting the power in the deep south, he really achieved quite a lot.
my only criticism would be that the book sometimes lulls with an overabundance of bickering among freedom fighters.
my only criticism would be that the book sometimes lulls with an overabundance of bickering among freedom fighters.
November 23, 2022
extremely informative and scholarly work on Stokely Carmichael, and later - Kwame Ture - the revolutionary, activist, Black Power icon, professional organizer, Black Panther, Pan-Africanist, and public intellectual. there is so much here, from Stokely’s early days as an energetic and influenced student, through his relationships, both political and personal, to his later days abroad, or “home” as he called it, all illustrating his unwavering love of people of African descent. so many layers of Stokely that Joseph closely covers here. he was truly multifaceted. this work calls me to read Stokely in his own words. i learned a lot - especially interesting to learn of his relationship with Sekou Toure, and the undeniable dissonance this must have caused him, particularly in his later life. Stokely should be remembered with King and Malcolm as the three giants of Black freedom and love. required reading.
February 11, 2019
"For a real end to exclusion in American society, that society would have to be so radically changed that the goal cannot really be defined as inclusion," Stokely Carmichael argued. A fascinating historical figure who bridged the Civil Rights and the Black Power movements, he embodied the belief that "when you're able to negotiate from a position of strength, only then will there be meaningful dialogue."
That said, I found this to be a good but not great biography. The author's constant praise of Stokely's "irresistible" "physical appeal and intellectual provocation" was kind of weird. When reading a biography, I'd rather have a more critical look and then come to my own conclusions.
That said, I found this to be a good but not great biography. The author's constant praise of Stokely's "irresistible" "physical appeal and intellectual provocation" was kind of weird. When reading a biography, I'd rather have a more critical look and then come to my own conclusions.
June 15, 2021
The first half of the book is very good; the last half a bit less so as a result of Joseph's hesitancy to be critical of Carmichael's abandonment of the organizing tradition for a form of rhetorical politics that got very little accomplished. Still, the whole story is there and as long as you provide your own critique of the post-1966 story, it's the best biography of a crucial figure we're likely to have for the foreseeable future. I hope future biographers find sources that allow more of a sense of Stokely's internal process.
July 13, 2022
This was a very good biography of the amazing activist and revolutionary, Kwame Ture, aka Stokely Carmichael. It was amazing to see his journey and all the influences on him and that he had on others. Peniel Joseph does a good job of portraying him as a whole and complex human being, though his admiration for Stokely is clear. I appreciated how Joseph lifted up others in this telling, especially women and LGBTQ folks in the movement. I have a deeper understanding of Ture’s life and impact and this can serve as a correction to the dominant narrative of Ture as a villain.
July 19, 2020
The book is insightful of Stokely Carmichael ideological evolution as he becomes Kwame Ture. The author explores meticulously Stokely’s experiences and participation through different organizations, characters and locations which shows the influence on an individual struggling against oppression. Great book, to understand the intersection of events locally, nationally and internationally and the influence on a revolutionary.
August 5, 2020
Stokely was the true revolutionary from the SNCC organization to the consciousness turn rising for Black Power!! As a follower of Carmichael -Ture "Stokely : A Life book is thorough into his life.
Such a beautiful , brave and noble soul. Another strong warrior soldier for justice "Just Us"...Yes he marched on through for Black Power. The courage to take a stand is duly noted in Civil Rights history today. His spirit is captured well in this book.
Such a beautiful , brave and noble soul. Another strong warrior soldier for justice "Just Us"...Yes he marched on through for Black Power. The courage to take a stand is duly noted in Civil Rights history today. His spirit is captured well in this book.
April 21, 2020
Quite often, the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Power Movement are presented as separate phenomena. However, not only was Stokely Carmichael a bridge between the two, Peniel Joseph's rich context provides a broader connect between this historical milestones while simaltaneously sharing the nuance of Carmichael's story.
October 3, 2021
Kwame Ture was a complicated, fascinating man, and the political journey chronicled in this book is one that reflects a deep disillusionment with the status quo of American racial politics.
On a more mechanical level, the writing here is fairly weak, and the author repeats certain phrases and sentence structures so frequently that it becomes quite noticeable and fairly annoying.
On a more mechanical level, the writing here is fairly weak, and the author repeats certain phrases and sentence structures so frequently that it becomes quite noticeable and fairly annoying.
October 7, 2022
Stokely Carmichael is not as well known as Martin Luther King or Malcolm X but his biography is no less fascinating for this. I really enjoyed the way Peniel Joseph tells the story of Carmichael and my only criticism is that the focus of the book is overwhelmingly on the early part of Stokely Carmichael's activism. An inspiring story well told.
July 22, 2020
Written in 2014 about racial turmoil and change in 1960/70 and so much of the book still rings true in 2020..... Unfortunately. An important book.
April 27, 2024
Love the way this biography was written. I grew up hearing about Stokely, but never knew his story. This book was enlightening, easy to read, and full of information.
February 18, 2020
I was really excited to read this book but I could not get through it due to all the references. It slowed me down and made me become disinterested. I am definitely. going to have to re-read this book to have an accurate review
September 17, 2014
A largely sympathetic biography of the controversial Stokely Carmichael. The biography is comprehensive starting with his early life in Trinidad and then an elite high school in New York City. The biography and Carmichael's life takes off when he goes to college at Howard and becomes involved in SNCC and its efforts to help desegregate the south. During this time Carmichael becomes more militant becoming a leader of the "Black Power" movement. The biography describes Carmichael's relationship with Martin Luther King. While King's SCLC and Carmichael's SNCC become somewhat estranged and King and Carmichael develop differing strategies, the author, Peniel Joseph, makes a case that King and Carmichael themselves remained friends genuinely liking and respecting each other
Joseph writes that a key event that sparked Carmichael's evolving from the traditional SNCC nonviolence to his later "Black Power" was the murder of Jonathan Daniels, a young white from the North who came to work with SNCC and became Carmichael's friend. They were arrested together but SNCC was able to bail some of SNCC workers out of jail including Carmichael. Daniels was held two days longer and when he and others were released they were shot with Daniels dying. The murder's brutality and eventual acquittal of the murderer by an all white jury helped radicalize Carmichael. However, Joseph notes that later in life Carmichael would rarely talk about Daniels or acknowledge his sacrifice though he personally was impressed with his dedication, sacrifice and friendship. Joseph writes that the friendship with Daniels was overcome with the inconvenience of crediting a white person's sacrifice while Carmichael was developing the Black Power movement.
Joseph was less candid when writing of Carmichael's famous response during a SNCC discussion prompted by Black women's dissatisfaction with the treatment of women and their role within the movement and SNCC. Carmichael responded that the role of woman was prone. Joseph argues that Carmichael's response was a joke taken out of context, but he never really gives a context that made Carmichael's comment not dismissive of the women's legitimate complaints
The biography includes Carmichael's later life including his early involvement with the Black Panthers and his moving at age 27 to Africa, but it is the comprehensive story of SNCC and the south that makes this a compelling read. If there was one thing I wish was discussed more was how different people such as John Lewis, Andrew Young, and Carmichael could experience and witness the same brutality in the fight for racial justice in the South in the 1960s and develop such radically different responses and lives. But this is in the end a very compelling and interesting read
Joseph writes that a key event that sparked Carmichael's evolving from the traditional SNCC nonviolence to his later "Black Power" was the murder of Jonathan Daniels, a young white from the North who came to work with SNCC and became Carmichael's friend. They were arrested together but SNCC was able to bail some of SNCC workers out of jail including Carmichael. Daniels was held two days longer and when he and others were released they were shot with Daniels dying. The murder's brutality and eventual acquittal of the murderer by an all white jury helped radicalize Carmichael. However, Joseph notes that later in life Carmichael would rarely talk about Daniels or acknowledge his sacrifice though he personally was impressed with his dedication, sacrifice and friendship. Joseph writes that the friendship with Daniels was overcome with the inconvenience of crediting a white person's sacrifice while Carmichael was developing the Black Power movement.
Joseph was less candid when writing of Carmichael's famous response during a SNCC discussion prompted by Black women's dissatisfaction with the treatment of women and their role within the movement and SNCC. Carmichael responded that the role of woman was prone. Joseph argues that Carmichael's response was a joke taken out of context, but he never really gives a context that made Carmichael's comment not dismissive of the women's legitimate complaints
The biography includes Carmichael's later life including his early involvement with the Black Panthers and his moving at age 27 to Africa, but it is the comprehensive story of SNCC and the south that makes this a compelling read. If there was one thing I wish was discussed more was how different people such as John Lewis, Andrew Young, and Carmichael could experience and witness the same brutality in the fight for racial justice in the South in the 1960s and develop such radically different responses and lives. But this is in the end a very compelling and interesting read
December 15, 2017
This book situates Carmichael as part of a trifecta with King and Malcolm X. I am not sure if that's right because it seems that Carmichael is more of an heir of Malcolm--which the author also claims in a bit of a contradiction. Nevertheless, I think the black power movement has been completely misunderstood from the modern view. This and Black Against Empire are helping retell this story in a more accurate way.
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