1 janv. 1961 - Start of black nationalism

Description:

black nationalism:A major strain of African American thought that emphasized black racial pride and autonomy. Present in black communities for centuries, it periodically came to the fore, as in Marcus Garvey’s pan-Africanist movement in the early twentieth century and in various organizations in the 1960s and 1970s, such as the Nation of Islam and the Black Panther Party.
Nation of Islam: A religion founded in the United States that became a leading source of black nationalist thought in the 1960s. Black Muslims fused elements of traditional Islamic doctrine with black pride, a strong philosophy of self-improvement, and a rejection of white culture.

Beginning in the mid-1960s, civil rights advocates confronted a fresh set of complex challenges. Court victories and new laws did not mean immediate social change. Sit-ins and marches could not build institutional black power. In 1965, Bayard Rustin wrote of the need to move “from protest to politics.” Some black leaders, such as the young SNCC activists Stokely Carmichael, Frances Beal, and John Lewis, grew frustrated with the slow pace of reform and the stubborn resistance of whites. Still others believed that addressing black poverty and economic disadvantage, rather than seeking legal equality by itself, was the most important objective.

A conviction that civil rights alone could not guarantee equality took hold in many communities of color in this period. African Americans were joined by Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, and American Indians. Each group came at the problem of inequality from different perspectives, but all asked a similar question: how much did equality before the law matter if most people of color remained in or close to poverty, if white society still regarded nonwhites as inferior, and if major social and political institutions were dominated by whites? Black leaders and representatives of other nonwhite communities increasingly weighed this question as they searched for ways to build on the achievements of the civil rights decade of 1954–1965.


Many African Americans saw an answer to these dilemmas in black nationalism. The broad idea of black nationalism could mean anything from wearing African dashikis, buying from African American–owned businesses, or calling for total separatism. Historically, nationalism had emphasized black pride, “self-help” (African Americans creating their own community institutions), and black people’s right to shape their own destiny. In the late nineteenth century, Frederick Douglass stood as a primary inspiration, and in the early twentieth century the nationalist Marcus Garvey took up the banner, calling on African Americans to take pride in their racial heritage and end their reliance on white society.

In the early 1960s, the leading exponent of black nationalism was the Nation of Islam, which fused a handful of elements of traditional Islamic doctrine with black pride, a strong philosophy of self-improvement, and a rejection of white culture. Black Muslims, as they were known, adhered to a strict code of personal behavior; men were recognizable by their dark suits, white shirts, and ties, women by their long dresses and head coverings. Black Muslim ministers preached an apocalyptic brand of Islam, anticipating the day when Allah would banish the white “devils” and deliver justice. While formal membership was modest, the message of the Nation of Islam found a popular following among African Americans in northern cities in the 1950s and 1960s.

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