Civil Rights Beyond the 1960's (Summary)

After the assassination of King, groups like the Black Panther Party, based in Oakland, began to rise. They brought a new movement they called Black Power; aimed at closing the racial and economic injustices left by the Civil Rights Movement. The Cultural Revolution that this movement started began a campaign called "Black is Beautiful" where African Americans could embrace their own natural beauty and culture instead of being consumed by the lack of positive imagery and examples for black Americans. This movement also ushered in an era where "blackness" became synonymous with how cool you were. Things like having an afro, listening to black music, and dancing in a "black" fashion was appropriated by whites. 21 prime-time TV shows now featured black protagonists. Despite this leap in positive social imagery for black Americans, the Civil Rights movement failed to bring economic independence to black communities. Because programs like Affirmative action, which rose a select few black families out of poverty, the poor blacks were becoming poorer. Left behind by the best and brightest of their neighborhoods, they were unemployed and unorganized, with no ability to pool their resources to help the struggling families in their community. This condition was only further perpetrated with Reagan's policies; both getting rid of Johnson's Great Society and beginning his war on drugs. Those that had turned to drug dealing to pay rent or feed their families had no business and nowhere to turn after losing the resources given to them by the Great Society's programs.