Who Was Stokely Carmichael? with Paul Berman

Stokely Carmichael, later known as Kwame Ture, was a significant figure in the American Civil Rights Movement and the global Black Power movement. Born on June 29, 1941, in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, he moved to the U.S. with his family when he was 11 and grew up in the Bronx, New York.
Carmichael became politically active during his time at Howard University, where he joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). He initially advocated for nonviolent civil disobedience, participating in Freedom Rides and other desegregation efforts. However, by the mid-1960s, Carmichael grew frustrated with the slow progress of nonviolent activism and the persistent racial inequalities in the U.S.
In 1966, while serving as the chairman of SNCC, Carmichael popularized the term "Black Power" during a march in Mississippi. Black Power called for racial dignity, economic and political self-sufficiency, and the rejection of white paternalism. His embrace of this more militant stance marked a shift from the integrationist goals of the Civil Rights Movement towards a focus on Black autonomy and empowerment. This ideology was seen as more radical than that of leaders like Martin Luther King Jr., who emphasized nonviolence and integration.
Carmichael later joined the Black Panther Party and became its honorary Prime Minister. His internationalist perspective deepened as he connected the struggles of African Americans with those of oppressed people worldwide. In the late 1960s, Carmichael moved to Africa, living in Guinea, where he adopted the name Kwame Ture in honor of African leaders Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana and Ahmed Sékou Touré of Guinea.
Throughout his life, Ture continued advocating for Pan-Africanism, the unity of African people across the globe, and socialist principles. He wrote influential books such as "Black Power: The Politics of Liberation" (co-authored with Charles V. Hamilton) and "Stokely Speaks: From Black Power to Pan-Africanism". Ture remained politically active until his death in 1998, working to advance the causes of racial justice, anti-imperialism, and African liberation.
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