Im at the university of memphis. Welcome to the roundtable discussion of Stokely Carmichael. We thought this would be an appropriate moment to discuss Stokely Carmichael. An important locus of civil rights organizing. His political journey takes us through atlanta. Born in trinidad, raised in the bronx, educated at howard university. Moreover, at the 50 year anniversary, between the most formative experiences of Stokely Carmichaels political life. He organized the freedom independent like party. Ependent he introduced the slogan black power. He organized in atlanta and washington, d. C. He traveled the world in alliance with revolutionary political movements. Moving to ginny, changing his name and devoting his last years to the all African Peoples revolutionary party. We brought together a panel of historians and activists. We begin with charles cobb junior. A scholar of the black freedom movement. He attended Harvard University and got involved in demonstrations against segregation. He came to mississippi in 1962. He later helped found the center for black education and washington, d. C. He worked as a journalist for npr, pbs, national geographic. He is currently a duke this his books include radical equations, civil victories, onasy the road to freedom and most recently, this nonviolence doubledigit killed. Nonviolence stuff will get you killed. His Research Interests are in civil rights and black Power Movement sensor but by his influential book. He is working on a new book. Interestsch include black feminism. Finally, Chris Johnson is these a supervisor history at the university of memphis with a phd in history from yale university. Concernsrch themes including feminism and sexuality and afro asian hes at work on a book project in the interwoven itineraries of black revolutionaries and 20th i have tailored one question to each of the participants here to rub their experience and research. Geared towards their experience and research. After the poor questions four questions for our four participants, we want to leave plenty of time for comments and questions from the audience. Cobb that she mr. Worked for years alongside you workedhael for years alongside Stokely Carmichael. The short answer to your question is Stokely Carmichael as the organizer. Can everybody hear me . The short answer to your question is really, the way i think about Stokely Carmichael and the way people should think about him is as Stokely Carmichael the organizer. The condition of the southern particular that is most overlooked is the organizing tradition of the Southern Civil rights movement. Digging in at the grassroots and organizing and mobilizing people to struggle for change. He left a presence, it is Stokely Carmichael the be mostr that needs to carefully considered and understood. In some ways, history has stokely poorly, completely defining him as this guy who, for no apparent reason, ated out black power message of hate that destroyed the Redemptive Movement of love and nonviolence that had defined black struggle. That is what stokely has been reduced to. Im happy to be sitting here next to jeffries, who has written an important book on the county. In some ways, by looking at the county and carmichaels work there, you get the clearest picture of stokely. I worked with stokely for years and mississippi. In mississippi. I should talk for a minute about how stokely got to the county. , the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party mounted to the socalled regular democratic mississippi. I called them the white supremacist democrats of mississippi. That challenge was rejected by the Democratic PartyNational Establishment and stokely had played a major role in helping that party get organized, as did all of us who worked in mississippi. Reasons,for its own the mississippi freedom thisratic party decided bite the rejection of its challenge by the National Democrats to nonetheless campaign for the Democratic Party president ial ticket. Disagreed with that decision. Organizer a lot vested, buta lot of the organizer kicks in a lot of us did, but the organizer kicks in. Mississippians had organized. It was not his job or his mission to beat up on this local organization because he disagreed with their choice. You cannot tell people in short that you have a right to make the decisions that affect your lives and then turn around and say because i disagree with you, i will not help you implement the decisions youve made. , stokely organizing goes to the county to begin building what he thinks is necessary. In alabama, what does stokely think is necessary . An independent black party is necessary. He begins to organize that. What would become the black Panther Party. The first black Panther Party was created in alabama, not oakland, california. Im making something more complex, perhaps over simple. Organizeizer went to what he thought was important. Whomo fight people with his choices disagreed with. Movestruggle with how to from protest and being protesters to being organizers at the grassroots. Life, ion of stokelys would include africa in this, the lesson of stokelys life is a lesson of the organizer. If you want to Pay Attention to Stokely Carmichael, you have to Pay Attention to the choices he made as an organizer at the grassroots. That is the short version of my answer to your question. Let me turn to jefferies. That leads into the next question. In your book, we see his leadership and vision and helping to develop the freedom organization. About thislked movement represented an evolution of carmichaels theology. Can you talk about how it shapes his political life Going Forward . It is an excellent segue to ofk up on, this idea remembering, understanding and studying stokely as an organizer. He was very much a master organizer. One of the great places or moments in his life through which to understand his understanding of organizing is what he does in alabama between 1966 1965 and 1966. It is also a moment in which he notble to put into practice only his own individual thinking about organizing and politics and what the future direction of black political politics, black politics ought to be, but putting into practice the organizing philosophy of baker and applying it to electoral politics. We do a Great Service to the memory this service to the memory and life of Stokely Carmichael when we look at him through the lens of the media caricature. Disservice. A dashing, daring Stokely Carmichael before the evolution thatsissippi or before full of rage, full of anger that is the caricature. That is nowhere near the full complexity of the person. It does a complete disservice to him and what he had done for black people, for African People. To that momentk in 1965 when he enters into the county, it is important to understand the reason why he went. This was coming out of sissippi, coming out of mississippi is where he cut his teeth. He began to learn the process of organizing as a secretary, movement in the mississippi. Let the people decide. If you are going to embrace the idea, let the people decide. You have to let them decide. You have to abide by that reason. He says, let me go to a place. Here there is a clean slate practicecan put into what we think will work. This notion of building something independent of the Democratic Party. We are talking about the formation of an independent Political Party. This is critically important. What we are seeing is a critique of what they offered, this critique of the condition of american politics. Howas not just a matter of to get africanamericans involved in the political process. Party,the democratic american political system is broken. We dont simply want to replicate that. It is not enough just to move africanamericans into the political system is the political system is inherently broken. How can we then create an apparatus that would allow africanamericans to participate in the political process in a way that serves them democratically . Along with creating or being a part of building this independent Political Party, we see this effort to create a radically Democratic Political party. With a focus and emphasis not just on Voter Registration before and after the 1965 Voting Rights act, its about political education. That is a quickly aspect that critical aspect that speaks Lowndes County to the organizer and the team he was inking within lowndes count Lowndes County. To inform andow educate so that they can make informed decisions about who might want to run for office. Was taking seriously this notion that in a new political era being the post Voting Rights era, that the goal was not ation, theck particip goal was black political empowerment. Those are two fundamentally Different Things. To junefastforward 1966 and the call for black power and this focus and arounds, media hysteria what black power means, part of the fear was that this is about slicing up a piece of pie that we thought we did not plan on sharing with you at all. That becomes problematic. If black power is defined as we moving to the Democratic Party to do with lbj once, theres no problem. Black power is offering something different. Stokely carmichael is quite clear, you are not defining what black power means. It is what we did in Lowndes County, alabama. Creating an independent Political Party were africanamericans have the majority. Where black folk are not necessarily in a majority to enterogether so they can a coalition from positions of strength and their voice will not be lost. That is what he was talking about. We see it on the ground. The beauty of understanding Stokely Carmichael in this , as anlar moment organizer, as part of his political evolution, he is pragmatic come in a sense. In terms of what he is attempting to do. This is not just theory. He says, lets make this happen and we can make it happen, so lets do it. We have to separate what he was actually able to do, focus on wasunderstand it, what he able to do from what others want to project onto him as what he was thinking about and what he may have meant and all these other things. When we separate the theoretical from the concrete or bring the two together, i think we get a fuller picture of Stokely Carmichael at this particular time. His experiences and like jeffrey afterwards. Life trajectory afterwards. Not embracing rhetoric for the sake of rhetoric. Anger. Was suddenly my thats fueled by anger. It was part of an experiential evolution. Evolveould continue to politically based upon the experiences that he would have even afterward. I ask this question because there was so much attention paid how does the selma demonstration of different when you look at it through the lens of Stokely Carmichael . It is important to locate selma on this continuum as it relates to activists. When stokely leaves mississippi, he does not go to Lowndes County , alabama, he goes to selma. Withists are partnering sclc activists. I enjoyed the movie selma. Of dont get a full picture what activists were doing on the ground in selma. They go in and they are partnering and working together but there is no ideological split. An there is an ideological split. What can we do to empower people on the ground versus trying to engage in just mobilizing organizing versus mobilizing. Empowering people versus just rang to get them out to participate in marches and demonstrations, get them on the books temporarily. They were strategic differences. It is important to understand that these tactical differences wereemerged in selma activists were saying we dont need to march through montgomery. It is too dangerous. Weve been marching long enough. Is going tohat happen after bloody sunday, we will support it. And then organize in the wake of it when the march goes through alabama, organizing in the wake of it, returning to Lowndes County because it was a blank slate. Not just from mississippi, but also from alabama. One of the things that distinguishes Stokely Carmichael is that they were willing to go to those places that other civil Rights Groups and organizations were unwilling to go. Like mississippi. Like Lowndes County, alabama. Made where sclc had had backed out of. They said lets go there because we know the organizations will not go. We can do the things we want to do, we dont have to worry about mobilizing, we can focus on organizing and we conceive we can build toward a different kind of political future. Buildcan see if we can toward a different kind of political future. Historyportant to the and we dont get a full picture of that in the movie selma. If you do put it in its proper context, you see that it is important as a launching pad for coming into alabama and moving out of selma into Lowndes County and the rest of the rural black belt. This is for ashley farmer. Your Research Highlights the centrality of women in the black Power Movement. Rolesu talk about what Stokely Carmichael played . Aboutt of what we know Stokely Carmichael stems from after freedom summer at the wavelength conference. There are several papers product about the direction, the position on women. Everybody is hanging out and stokely makes a joke. Oft has become the soundbite the sexism in the black Power Movement. Move beyondhat we that moment and talk about Stokely Carmichael that does not begin with that moment. Where did he grow up . What were his foundational influences . Theimself is saying formative presence for me in the beginning for women was women in that continues to be true. Ive been surrounded by women, educated and protected by them. Come became an organizer also nurtured and taught by them. We do a disservice to Stokely Carmichaels legacy cannot talk to not talkr about ella baker. We do a disservice when we dont talk about the women in Lowndes County as well. I also want to emphasize, speak toimself, if you these women and set of soundbite out of context, he was one of the most responsive to the concerns of women. He continued to emphasize the revolutionary egos of women, the quality of women. Ethos of women, the equality of women. Less of whatt women were doing to combat that or how women might have shaped his thinking on that. I hope we will talk more about how to talk about his legacy is to talk about intellectual influence of women. The influence of Women Organizers and to talk about how he was shaping how women thought on the ground as well. Thank you. , your research investigates a Transatlantic Network of black revolutionaries across the 20th century. What do we learn when we consider Stokely Carmichael and black power in the transnational context . Thank you. Good afternoon, everybody. Thank you all for coming out. Cobb and honor brother other revolutionaries and Freedom Fighters in the audience who were on the ground organizing. I look forward to hearing your perspective when we open up the roundtable to further discussion. I want to thank professor jeffries. I grew up on highway 80 in Lowndes County. When i was coming up as a kid, i heard a lot about the black Panther Party, i heard a lot t them, but nothing too in depth. I had discussions as an undergraduate when i was trying to investigate black power. I was the one voice in the room who said its not all about burn baby burn. One of your former colleagues, niki taylor, put your dissertation in my hands. Remarkably important book. Thank you so much for your work and for reframing our conversation about black power and selfdetermination. Brother cobb, you started off by theng Stokely Carmichael hisnizer, to address question on transnationalism and Stokely Carmichael, i would about stokely. Armichael the socialist i was at the National Civil rights museum. We were watching a compilation of his speeches. When of the own brothers asked us to say what Stokely Carmichael means to us. Immigrant, antiimperialist was not part of that