Black Power in United States of America

Introduction

Black power is considered as the racial dignity and self reliance for some of the African Americans. The Black Power movement was initiated in middle 1960's (Albert & Albert, 1984), and is considered to include all the struggles and efforts the Black Americans made to maximize their economic and political power in America. This paper describes the problems and struggles African Americans had to face in order to gain political and economic equality in the United States of America.

Background

African American people were tired of facing the racial discrimination not only for the politics, but for nearly every area of life. They faced workplace discriminations, differences in the quality of health care and education they received, different and low standards of housing and many more. In addition, these people also had to face the brutality from the Police. Many of the Black people served as servants of white Americans, and their conditions were even worse as compared to the free Black people. The lives of the free black people who lived in the states where slavery was legally prohibited were far better than those who live in the states where slavery was allowed. In the latter ones, mostly the black people were not allowed to own their lands, to travel freely, and even to attend the prayers as there was a risk of rebellion if the slave would have come to communication with these black people. In most of the states, black people were not even allowed to vote or to educate their children. On the other hand, the slaves who lived in the states where slavery was legally prohibited enjoyed a better life style and were successful in getting a better economic and social position; however they could never get the rights equal to the white people.

The social and political discrimination of the Black American people mainly resulted in the economic exploitation of these people. It was the racial discrimination due to which the black American people were not able to send their children to the same school, where the White American children were taught. The black people were not able to provide quality health services to their families, and in most of the states they were not even allowed to cast their votes. All these situations caused extreme depression and frustration in the black people, and they became able to recognize that only economic independence could provide them political and economical equality in the country.

These are some of the major reasons why Black Power Movement was initiated. The Black Power movement seemed for the African Americans as the source to provide them with the distinguished identity, and the racial pride (Boundless, 2013).

Black Power Movement

The African Americans initiated the political movement named as “Black Power Movement” in the middle of 1960's. The major aim behind the movement was to gain equal political and economic rights, as the Americans had. Through this movement, the Black Americans expressed their political consciousness. The term was first ...