The Black Panthers: American Civil Rights Movement

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Black Panthers: Black Power! “Black Power” is a phrase that will forever be symbolic in our American society, a phrase made popular by the Black Panther Party during the height of the American Civil Rights Movement. Black power has had its history deeply rooted into civil rights for black people going as far back as slavery in the 1800s. The politics behind the Black Panther Party comes from years of oppression and responding to it not with the same oppression, but with self-determination. The Black Panthers have had much influence in black culture today and will forever be remembered as one of the greatest American black political organizations in the course of our American history. The Black Panther Party is deeply rooted in American…show more content…
All these discourses influenced him when he later joined the Nation of Islam in prison after being a criminal and pimp, as we saw in class with the film “Malcolm X” he worked his way to the top speaking for black civil rights and the nation of Islam, he projected ideals of violence, self-defense, nationalism and separation of the races initially, however later on his ideas later moved closer to that of Martin Luther King Jr. Malcolm X is important because after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. many black Americans felt it was time to take action and stop getting beat up by the police so they turned to Malcolm X. One of his most famous speeches “The Ballot or the Bullet” addressed many issues concerning the black community that needed to be addressed, all of which paved the way for the Black Panthers Party and black power self-determination. In his speech The Ballot or the Bullet Malcolm X addresses his religion and how he is not defined by his religion and it is his personal life and governs his personal morals, he says that although Nation of Islam is his religion his beliefs are in black nationalism because if he talks about religion they would never reach an agreement so we need to get past that and get together and fight the enemy that is common to all of us. (Ballot or the Bullet) Malcolm X said that the political beliefs of black nationalism is having pride in being black and to understand the politics in our community and how much politics play into our lives. He put emprises on the importance of blacks being politically aware when he said, “We must understand the politics of our community and we must know what politics is supposed to produce. We must know what part politics play in our lives, and until we become politically mature, we will

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