Black Movements: Where Are They Now
A look at the big ideas that have brought Blacks together.
1 / 17
Black Movements: Where Are They Now - From “We Shall Overcome" to "Black Power," BET.com looks at the big ideas that have brought Blacks together. (Photo: National Archive/Newsmakers)
2 / 17
The Black Panther Party: Then - The Black Panther Party was a political organization that advocated an armed, revolutionary agenda for Black America. The Panthers were known for their social programs (such as Free Breakfast for Children and community-based free health care). The organization describes itself as “the last great thrust by the mass of black people for equality, justice and freedom.” (Photo: Library of Congress)
3 / 17
The Black Panther Party: Now - Today, the Black Panther Party operates the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation, named after its iconic co-founder Huey P. Newton. The group maintains that it is in no way connected to another armed revolutionary group which calls itself the New Black Panther Party (pictured above).(Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
4 / 17
Nation of Islam: Then - The Nation of Islam is a religious organization that started in 1930s Detroit as a movement to uplift Black communities. In addition to religious beliefs, the Nation of Islam also advocated for the economic self-sufficiency of Black people. At the organization’s height, the Nation of Islam owned several bakeries, restaurants and fish markets in Black communities.(Photo: by FPG/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
5 / 17
Nation of Islam: Now - Today, the Nation of Islam still operates roughly 163 mosques, study groups and offices in cities across America. Recently, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan has been vocal in speaking out against gun violence in Chicago, where the organization is based.(Photo: AP/Nam Y. Huh)
ADVERTISEMENT
6 / 17
Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee: Then - The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was an organization of grassroots civil rights activists that came together in the 1960s following a series of student sit-ins in Greensboro, North Carolina. SNCC and its now legendary members (such as Stokely Carmichael, Ella Baker and Fannie Lou Hamer) played a major role in organizing the freedom rides and the March on Washington. (Photo: Birmingham News /Landov)
7 / 17
Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee: Now - While individual SNCC activists continued to play significant roles in politics and the broader fight for civil rights, the group began to disintegrate in the late 1960s, after the death of Martin Luther King Jr. and as more radical philosophies became increasingly popular. (Photo: Commercial Appeal /Landov)
8 / 17
Universal Negro Improvement Association: Then - Led by Marcus Garvey, the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL) grew to become one of the largest mass movements of African-Americans in history. Its members or adherents were known as “Garveyites” and the core of the UNIA’s philosophy was the ambition to repatriate all Black people to Africa and to improve the condition of Black people worldwide. At its height in the 1920s, the UNIA boasted 700 branches in 38 states. (Photo: Universal History Archive/Getty Images)
9 / 17
Universal Negro Improvement Association: Now - UNIA-ACL still operates today, although with significantly fewer members than in the 1920s. The group still advocates for the creation of a United States of Africa. (Photo: WikiCommons)
10 / 17
Civil Rights Movement: Then - Perhaps the most well-known of all Black movements, the Civil Rights Movement was a broad cause involving several organizations that sought to eliminate racial discrimination against Blacks in America and to secure voting rights. (Photo: William Lovelace/Express/Getty Images)
ADVERTISEMENT
11 / 17
Civil Rights Movement: Now - Although issues of racial discrimination, disenfranchisement and attacks to voting rights still exist, civil rights today is now the work of a few organizations and less of a mass, social movement. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
12 / 17
The Black Power Movement: Then - The Black Power Movement was a broad ideology that many different groups and organizations ascribed to. Picking up in the late-1960s, Black Power espoused Black self-determination, economic self-sufficiency and self love. (Photo: Harper Collins)
13 / 17
The Black Power Movement: Then - The Black Power Movement began to wane in the late 1970s as groups such as the Black Panther Party began to disband and key members were killed, imprisoned or began to follow different ideologies. (Photo: John Leyba/The Denver Post via Getty Images)
14 / 17
The Black Arts Movement: Then - The Black Arts Movement was the artistic "branch" of the Black Power Movement and sparked a renaissance of Black creativity that inspired Black people to publishing houses, magazines, journals and art institutions. The movement also influenced the creation of African-American studies departments at U.S. universities. (Photo: Tim Boxer/Getty Images)
15 / 17
The Black Arts Movement: Now - Although the fervor behind the movement began to fizzle out in the late 1970s/early '80s, the movement's work made way for the continued contemporary success of notable Black authors like Toni Morrison. (Photo: Francois Durand/Getty Images)
ADVERTISEMENT
16 / 17
Nation of Gods and Earths: Then - The Nation of Gods and Earths is an Islamic religious organization founded in the 1960s by former Nation of Islam member Clarence 13X. Adherents are known as the “Five Percenters” and their philosophy is based on the belief that black people are the original people of the planet Earth, making Black people the fathers (Gods) and mothers (Earths) of human civilization. (Photo: Courtesy of Nation of Gods and Earth)