Stokely Carmichael’s Black Power Speech (1966)

On the night of June 16, 1966, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Chair Stokely Carmichael (Later Kwame Ture) proclaimed to the crowd, “We been saying freedom for six years and we ain’t got nothin’. What we got to start saying now is Black Power! We … Read MoreStokely Carmichael’s Black Power Speech (1966)

James Meredith’s March Against Fear (1966)

The “March Against Fear” began on June 5, 1966, and was initiated by civil rights activist James Meredith. Four years earlier he had become the first African American student to integrate the University of Mississippi by enrolling there in 1962. Meredith decided to protest the … Read MoreJames Meredith’s March Against Fear (1966)

The Stolen Girls (1963)

This entry is for juvenile audiences. To see the full version of this entry, click here. Who are they: In 1963, 200 African American youth protested segregation in downtown Americus, Georgia. Of the girls who were arrested that day, 35 were not released immediately from … Read MoreThe Stolen Girls (1963)

Charles Frederick McDew (1938-2018)

Charles Frederick McDew was a civil rights and community activist, teacher, labor organizer, and one of the founding members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) where he worked towards increasing black voter registration and racial desegregation. McDew was born on June 23, 1938, in Massillon, Ohio to Eva McDew, a nurse, and James McDew, … Read MoreCharles Frederick McDew (1938-2018)

Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture) (1941-1998)

A civil rights leader, antiwar activist, and Pan-African revolutionary, Stokely Carmichael is best known for popularizing the slogan “Black Power,” which in the mid-1960s galvanized a movement toward more militant and separatist assertions of black identity, nationalism, and empowerment and away from the liberal, interracial … Read MoreStokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture) (1941-1998)

Hubert Brown (H. Rap) /Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin (1943- )

H. Rap Brown succeeded Stokely Carmichael as chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and was a prominent figure in the Black Panther Party. A leading proponent of Black Power and a polarizing media icon, Brown symbolized both the power and the dangers—for white Americans and for radical activists themselves—of the civil rights movement’s new … Read MoreHubert Brown (H. Rap) /Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin (1943- )

Fannie Lou Hamer (1917-1977)

Fannie Lou Hamer was a grass-roots civil rights activist whose life exemplified resistance in rural Mississippi to oppressive conditions. Born on October 6, 1917 in Montgomery County, Mississippi, to a family of sharecroppers, she was the youngest of Lou Ella and Jim Townsend’s twenty children.  Her family moved to … Read MoreFannie Lou Hamer (1917-1977)

Julius Lester (1939-2018)

Scholar and civil rights activist Julius Lester was born January 27, 1939 in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of a Methodist minister. Lester spent much of his childhood in Missouri, where in the 1940s and 1950s he dealt with southern attitudes about race and segregation before and during the Civil Rights movement. In … Read MoreJulius Lester (1939-2018)