The Civil Right Movement Essay Research Paper — страница 3

self-sufficiency. Carmichael and his successor as chairman of SNCC, H. Rap Brown became national symbols of black radicalism. They wanted the Civil Rights Movement to be headed by “Ghetto Negroes” because they had never lived or been influenced by the white “system.” The men sought to instill pride in the black community. The Black Panther Party (BPP) picked up on Brown’s “Take your gun and go get what you want” mentality. The Black Panthers were a paramilitary organization founded in Oakland, California in 1966 by Huey Newton and Bobby Seales. Despite their reputation for an aggressive approach to civil rights, the BPP were also involved with “survival programs.” These included free health clinics; free breakfast programs, soup kitchens, ambulance patrols,

voter registration assistance, and community patrols. The Black Panther Party was also the first organization to begin teaching Black history to children. Many people argue that the Civil Rights Movement ended two years later, when on April 4th 1968, Martin Luther King was assassinated. Following his assassination in Memphis, Tennessee, riots erupted in 125 U.S. cities. To many this sparked the end to the Civil Rights Movement. Others argued that it ended with the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and yet others contended that it was a struggle still going on. 338