Join journalist and author Mark Whitaker for an exploration of the momentous year of 1966, in which a new sense of Black identity expressed in the slogan “Black Power” challenged the nonviolent civil rights philosophy of Martin Luther King, Jr. and John Lewis.
Whitaker examines the dramatic events in this seminal year, from Stokely Carmichael’s middle-of-the-night ouster of moderate icon John Lewis as chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to Carmichael’s impassioned cry of “Black Power!” during a protest march in rural Mississippi; the founding of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale to the origins of Kwanzaa, the Black Arts Movement, and the first Black studies programs; and from Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.’s ill-fated campaign to take the civil rights movement north to Chicago to the wrenching ousting of the white members of SNCC.
Whitaker offers portraits of the major characters in the yearlong drama and provides new details and insights from key players and journalists who covered the story. He also discusses why the lessons from 1966 still resonate in the era of Black Lives Matter and the fierce contemporary battles over voting rights, identity politics, and the teaching of Black history.
Whitaker’s book, Saying It Loud: 1966—The Year Black Power Challenged the Civil Rights Movement (Simon & Schuster), is available for purchase.
Book Sale Information
General Information
