The Defeat of Black Power - by Leonard N Moore (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

For three days in 1972 in Gary, Indiana, eight thousand American civil rights activists and Black Power leaders gathered at the National Black Political Convention, hoping to end a years-long feud that divided black America into two distinct camps: integrationists and separatists. While some form of this rift existed within black politics long before the 1968 assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., his death--and the power vacuum it created--heightened tensions between the two groups, and convention leaders sought to merge these competing ideologies into a national, unified call to action. What followed, however, effectively crippled the Black Power movement and fundamentally altered the political strategy of civil rights proponents. An intense and revealing history, Leonard N. Moore's The Defeat of Black Power provides the first in-depth evaluation of this critical moment in American history.

During the brief but highly charged meeting in March 1972, attendees confronted central questions surrounding black people's involvement in the established political system: reject or accept integration and assimilation; determine the importance or futility of working within the broader white system; and assess the perceived benefits of running for public office. These issues illuminated key differences between integrationists and separatists, yet both sides understood the need to mobilize under a unified platform of black self-determination. At the end of the convention, determined to reach a consensus, officials produced "The National Black Political Agenda," which addressed the black constituency's priorities. While attendees and delegates agreed with nearly every provision, integrationists maintained their rejection of certain planks, namely the call for a U.S. constitutional convention and separatists' demands for reparations. As a result, black activists and legislators withdrew their support less than ten weeks after the convention, dashing the promise of the 1972 assembly and undermining the prerogatives of black nationalists.

In The Defeat of Black Power, Moore shows how the convention signaled a turning point for the Black Power movement, whose leaders did not hold elective office and were now effectively barred access to the levers of social and political power. Thereafter, their influence within black communities rapidly declined, leaving civil rights activists and elected officials holding the mantle of black political leadership in 1972 and beyond.

Review Quotes

Important, timely, and necessary, The Defeat of Black Power offers critical and fresh insights into the way in which a highpoint of Black political radicalism became the ironic touchstone for the movement's decline as a national political force. Essential reading.--Peniel E. Joseph, author of Waiting 'Til the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America

Moore has created an incredibly rich, nuanced, and thoughtful study of the challenges of Black Power in electoral politics. The most thorough exploration of the 1972 National Black Political Convention, this book adds new understanding and insight to a range of historical figures, from Carl Stokes to Floyd McKissick and Shirley Chisholm, who helped forge new political spaces and discourses in debates over black political engagement in the Black Power era.--Jeffrey O. G. Ogbar, author of Black Power: Radical Politics and African American Identity and Hip-Hop Revolution: The Culture and Politics of Rap

About the Author

Leonard N. Moore is the George Littlefield Professor of American History at the University of Texas at Austin, and author of Black Rage in New Orleans: Police Brutality and African American Activism from World War II to Hurricane Katrina and Carl B. Stokes and the Rise of Black Political Power.