Black Power Exhibition Resource Guide: Coalitions

The Black Power movement had a radical impact on grassroots organizing in poor communities of color and many white progressive circles. Grounded in the Black Panther Party’s core was its leadership in the international revolutionary proletariat struggle, a deep affinity for forming coalitions and alliances that transcended race and class, and a commitment to community service programs (survival pending revolution) as a fundamental element of human rights.

These groups demonstrated by way of their bold confrontational methods the egregious contradictions of American democracy and a shared vision of a society that valued humanity over wealth. Such facts are highlighted by the various conventions and conferences organized during the Black Power movement, including the 1967 National Conference on Black Power in Newark, New Jersey; The United Front Against Fascism Conference that took place in 1969 in Oakland; The Revolutionary People’s Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1970 and the National Black Political Convention of 1972 in Gary, Indiana.

-Jakobi Williams, Indiana University Bloomington