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schools, and black history classes for children, its behavior terrified Whites.
The media and FBI and other law enforcement groups— which ultimately
killed about 30 Panthers—convinced Americans that the party was representa-
tive of Black thought and thus effectively frightened Whites and smeared the
entire African American movement. By 1967, when Heavyweight boxing
champion Muhammad Ali refused induction into the army to protest Vietnam,
and Blacks in Detroit, Newark, New Jersey, and dozens of other cities staged
violent uprisings to protest local cases of police abuse and racial discrimina-
tion, Whites were only too willing to believe the worst about Black America.
Adding to the distance between the races was the emergence of cultural
nationalism and internationalism. “Black Power” became not just a political
movement but a statement of racial identification and pride as well. African-
Americans, as soul singer James Brown would express it, should “Say It Loud,
I’m Black and Proud.” Sam Cooke wrote a soulful, and hopeful, ballad, “A
Change is Gonna Come.” Nina Simone continued to perform powerful songs
about racial issues. Black men and women started wearing their hair in natu-
ral “afros” and often were clad in African-style dashikis. Universities, often
pressured by African American activists and students, established Black StudiesFIGuRE 8-10 Tommie Smith and John Carlos raising their arms in a Black
Power salute at the 1968 Olympics