This paper discusses the development and leaders of the Black Power Movement from the beginning of 20th Century to the 1960’s: DuBois, Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, Stokely Carmichael, H. Rap Brown and Eldridge Cleaver.
The development of the Black Power movement in America can be traced from the beginning of the century if one considers all separatist movements from that time to be forerunners of Black Power. For, Black Power has been developed as a specific doctrine only since the middle or late 1960’s; however, it had been slowly evolving for at least sixty years before that time. And, it was only because of various forerunners who had cleared the way that Black Power could develop when it did.
This movement, or doctrine, can be distinguished from the various civil rights movements which flourished concurrently with it. Though intrinsically related to Black Power, these have generally stressed racial harmony and the mutual cultural and mental evolution of both the black and white races to the point where members of each race would hold equal status in society.