Episode 22: Power to the People: The Music of the Black Power Movement
PLAYLIST
“Say It Loud (I’m Black and I’m Proud)” by James Brown (1968)
“(For God’s Sake) Give More Power to the People” by The Chi-Lites (1971)
“Smiling Faces” by The Undisputed Truth (1971)
“Backstabbers” by The O’Jays (1972)
“Walk on By” by Isaac Hayes (1969)
“Mighty Mighty” by Earth Wind and Fire (1974)
SHOW NOTES
00:35 Amy begins this episode with a history lesson on the evolution of the Civil Rights Movement from nonviolent civil disobedience to black power. Amy plays a brief interview from the “Eyes on the Prize” documentary, in which a white woman in Nashville in 1960 explains how not being allowed to discriminate based on a race is a violation of her civil rights.
03:50 Stokely Carmichael was with Martin Luther King, Jr. at many civil rights events between 1960 and 1965 and shared his belief in nonviolent civil disobedience. However that changed with the shooting of James Meredith by a white man who didn’t like Meredith’s attempts to register African American voters. Carmichael said that nonviolent civil disobedience assumes that people have a conscience, but America has none.
06:56 James Meredith was in Day One of his March for Freedom when he was shot on June 6, 1966. He recovered and was able to join civil rights leaders who picked up the march in his name. However, Carmichael (who later changed his name to Kwame Ture) said that he and other activists were tired of marching while African Americans continued to be shot. At a speech in Mississippi, he uttered the words “black power.” He pointed out that he was glad that King was not there because he did not want King to water down the message.
09:00 Black power is about African Americans creating unity in the Black community and taking care of their own in their quest for equality. It rejects the notion that African Americans should assimilate into white culture. It also rejects the notion that African Americans need the validation of white people. If you want to learn more, there is wealth of information here: https://www.archives.gov/research/african-americans/black-power
10:34 The soundtrack of the Black Power Movement reflects the change in messaging from King’s era. It is soul with more urgency than the gospel-tinged music of the Sixties.
11:33 James Brown, who was not known to be overtly political, surprised a lot of people with “Say It Loud (I’m Black and I’m Proud). Did the Black Panthers put him up to it? Maybe. Either way, it does not change the sincerity of the message. It lost him a lot of white fans, too, who viewed the song as anti-white instead of pro-Black.
15:00 The FBI made a concerted effort to eradicate the Black Panther Party. You can read more about that here: https://www.nytimes.com/1976/05/09/archives/fbi-sought-doom-of-panther-party-senate-study-says-plot-led-to.html
17:30 The FBI also assassinated Fred Hampton. That is the verb that the National Archives website uses. You can read about that here: https://www.archives.gov/research/african-americans/individuals/fred-hampton
18:54 The Chi-Lites went to work on their 1971 album, For God’s Sake (Give More Power to the People) in the weeks following the death of Fred Hampton. They have never made a song with the urgency of the title track, which RIckey Vincent, a funk historian, said was a response to Hampton’s death and an acknowledgement of the influence of the Black Panther Party.
21:20 Alice Echols wrote the “Smiling Faces” by The Undisputed Truth is the first song about black power to make it into the Top 10. Some people may listen to it, as well as “Backstabbers” by The O’Jays and hear a song about general betrayal, like in relationships. Echols said, though, that “Smiling Faces” is a swipe at white liberals. If these songs are, indeed, a critique on white liberals, then they are echoing King’s disappointment in the white moderates, which he wrote about in “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”
27:50 Rock critic Greil Marcus wrote that this canon of music is music of “worry and confinement” and, as a collective, created one powerful answer record.
31:25 Isaac Hayes expressed black power in his very presence, even if his music was not overtly political. He claimed space previously denied to African Americans. His experimental Hot Buttered Soul is a classic. Amy played a clip of “Walk on By” by Dionne Warwick, which Hayes turned upside down with his own interpretation of the song. Emily Lordi wrote a very good analysis of his importance to soul music, which you can read here: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/how-isaac-hayes-changed-soul-music
Isaac Hayes.
34:43 Hayes was friends with Dr. King. After King’s assassination, Hayes was angry and felt like he could not be creative. He eventually decided that the best thing he could do was become a success so that he could have a platform and make a difference.
35:15 Some radio stations would not play “Mighty Mighty” by Earth Wind and Fire because they thought it was about black power. Whether it was intentionally a message about black power or not, it still served as validation that black is beautiful.
38:00 The Black Power Movement and soul died out at the same time. Disco ruled the rest of the decade but hip hop was brewing in the background. It would borrow from funk, soul, and disco to create a new genre of message music. Unfortunately, the message was and is still necessary. We have a long way to go in our fight against racism.
SOURCES
Bates, Karen Grigsby. “Stokely Carmichael, a Philosopher Behind the Black Power Movement.” NPR. March 10, 2014. https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/03/10/287320160/stokely-carmichael-a-philosopher-behind-the-black-power-movement
Dance, L. Janelle. “Helping Students See Each Other’s Humanity” in Everyday Anti-Racism: Getting Real about Race in School. Mica Pollock, ed. ReadHowYouWant.com, 2010.
Hoffman, David. “The Dawn of Black Power.” YouTube. February 14, 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdpFKMbUv30&t=312s
Echols, Alice. Shaky Ground: The 60s and Its Aftershocks. New York: Columbia University Press. 2002.
“Fred Hampton.” The National Archives. https://www.archives.gov/research/african-americans/individuals/fred-hampton
Kennedy, Randall. “How James Brown Made Black Pride a Hit.” The New York Times. July 20, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/20/opinion/sunday/james-brown-say-it-loud-50-years.html
Kifner, John. “F.B.I Sought Doom of Panther Party.” The New York Times. May 9, 1976.
King, Martin Luther. “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” African Studies Center, the University of Pennsylvania. https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html
Lordi, Emily. “How Isaac Hayes Changed Soul Music.” The New Yorker. October 1, 2019. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/how-isaac-hayes-changed-soul-music
Marcus, Greil. Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock ‘n’ Roll Music. New York: E.P. Dutton and Co. 1975
Paul, Alan. “The Time I Interviewed James Brown About Say It Loud I’m Black and I’m Proud.” September 4, 2014. http://alanpaul.net/2014/09/the-time-i-interviewed-james-brown-about-say-it-loud-and-im-black-and-im-proud/
Perone, James E. Music of the Counterculture Era. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group. 2004.
Simpson, Kim. Early '70s Radio: The American Format Revolution. United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Academic, 2011.
Sullivan, Denise. Keep on Pushing: Black Power Music from Blues to Hip Hop. Chicago, IL: Chicago Review Press. 2011.
Vincent, Rickey. Party Music. Chicago, IL: Chicago Review Press. 2013.
WUFilmArchives. “Stokely Carmichael on Non-Violence.” YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4A9SKoMfzek May 2, 2016.