ABSTRACT
The appalling living environments of many American black people existed in strong contrast to the lilywhite suburbs. Although they had never been attacked physically by black groups, remained a constant goad to black militants who threatened to turn them into 'shooting galleries'. Increasingly aware of their own Afro-American heritage of slavery and beyond, and identifying with the upsurge of African independence, the black movement in the USA was psychologically dependent on this sense of transnational belongingness. The reinforcement of race pride was the essential ingredient added by the political slogan of 'black power'. Despite the dangers that a phrase like 'Black Power' would be misinterpreted and distorted, it captured exactly the changing mood and deepening frustration of the militants. Stokeley Carmichael's profoundly conservative view of power and violence made it difficult to develop any alternative vision for the black movement to underpin a slogan of 'Black Power'.
