Richard Wright was impressed by what he saw on his 1953 visit to Ghana. Having grown up in Mississippi under Jim Crow, he understood that the people weren’t just fighting for independence, they were reclaiming their identity. His book, published a year later, captivated their resistance in two unforgettable words.
Freeman and Moss were election workers in Georgia when Giuliani used video footage of them to suggest they illegally tampered with the election. They endured death threats and constant harassment. Freeman was forced to flee her home.
Martin Luther King Jr. thought it was “unwise” to use the phrase because white people might equate it with violence and separatism. But Carmichael refused to be ashamed of the term and within weeks of the Greenwood march, the phrase had picked up so much steam, even King himself acknowledged its significance.
The phrase “Black power” took on a life of its own, ringing through movements across the Pan-African world, and represented with different symbols, including a fist raised to the sky.
According to a popular song, “no one man should have all that power.” But when it comes to Black power, we can never get enough of it. When united, we’re more powerful than ever, and we can hold Black liberation in our hands.