ABSTRACT
Black nationalism emerged in the mid-19th century and endorses the creation of an independent black nation state. In its essence, black nationalism seeks territorial separatism and political sovereignty for black people. Given that a common history, culture, and language are also essential qualities to nationalist movements, black nationalism is even more aberrant in its willingness to transcend histories, cultures, and languages to strengthen the foundational characteristics of its expression of nationalism. In the context of black nationalism—as it is understood in the United States—those two concepts (threat and identity) have been thoroughly and extensively explored by scholars for generations. Most black nationalists deep into the 20th century insisted that Africans in the diaspora had crucial skills—or were simply “civilized”—and had a duty to establish links to their “despoiled” people in Africa. A new variant of black nationalism, known as “Black Power” developed among activists in 1966.
