The Black Power Movement And American Social Work

The Black Power movement has often been portrayed in history and popular culture as the quintessential "bad boy" of modern black movement-making in America. Yet this impression misses the full extent of Black Power's contributions to U.S. society, especially in regard to black professionals in social work. Relying on extensive archival research and oral history interviews, Joyce M. Bell follows two groups of black social workers in the 1960s and 1970s as they mobilized Black Power ideas, strategies, and tactics to change their national professional associations. Comparing black dissenters within the National Federation of Settlements (NFS), who fought for concessions from within their organization, and those within the National Conference on Social Welfare (NCSW), who ultimately adopted a separatist strategy, she shows how the Black Power influence was central to the creation and rise of black professional associations. She also provides a nuanced approach to studying race-based movements and offers a framework for understanding the role of social movements in shaping the non-state organizations of civil society.

The Black Power movement has often been portrayed in history and popular culture as the quintessential Òbad boyÓ of modern black movement making in America. Yet this image misses the full extent of Black PowerÕs contributions to U.S. society, especially in regard to black professionals in social work. Relying on extensive archival research and oral history interviews, this study follows two groups of black social workers in the 1960s and 1970s as they mobilized Black Power ideas, strategies, and tactics to change their national professional associations. Comparing black dissenters within the National Federation of Settlements (NFS), who fought for concessions from within their organization, and those within the National Conference on Social Work (NCSW), who ultimately adopted a separatist strategy, this book shows how the Black Power influence was central to the rise of black professional associations. It provides a nuanced approach to studying race-based movements and offers a framework for understanding the role of social movements in shaping the nonstate organizations of civil society.

At the height of the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements, Black social workers, frustrated by the slow pace of social action and social change in America, organized a national movement of Black social activists willing to confront racism in America and the day-to-day injustices experienced by members of the Black community. Progressive, militant and unapologetic for their persistent dedication and commitment to addressing the pressing social needs of Black America, this book tells the story of the movement and the people involved.

Tells the stories and documents the contributions of African American women involved in the struggle for racial and gender equality through the civil rights and black power movements in the United States.

This new collection of essays, contributed by scholars and former Panthers, is a ground-breaking work that offers thought-provoking and pertinent observations about the many facets of the Party. By placing the perspectives of participants and scholars side by side, Dr. Jones presents an insider view and initiates a vital dialogue that is absent from most historical studies.

Explores business development in the Black power era and the centrality of economic goals to the larger black freedom movement. The Business of Black Power emphasizes the centrality of economic goals to the larger black freedom movement and explores the myriad forms of business development in the Black power era. This volume charts a new course forBlack power studies and business history, exploring both the business ventures that Black power fostered and the impact of Black power on the nation's business world. Black activists pressed business leaders, corporations, and various levels of government into supporting a range of economic development ventures, from Black entrepreneurship, to grassroots experiments in economic self-determination, to indigenous attempts to rebuild inner-city markets in thewake of disinvestment. They pioneered new economic and development strategies, often in concert with corporate executives and public officials. Yet these same actors also engaged in fierce debates over the role of business in strengthening the movement, and some African Americans outright rejected capitalism or collaboration with business. The ten scholars in this collection bring fresh analysis to this complex intersection of African American and business history to reveal how Black power advocates, or those purporting a Black power agenda, engaged business to advance their economic, political, and social goals. They show the business of Black power taking place in thestreets, boardrooms, journals and periodicals, corporations, courts, and housing projects of America. In short, few were left untouched by the influence of this movement. Laura Warren Hill is assistant professor of history at Bloomfield College. Julia Rabig is a lecturer at Dartmouth College.

This volume offers an examination of the history of racism and White supremacy in the profession of social work, current efforts to address and repair the harms caused by racism and White supremacy within the profession, and forward-thinking strategies for social work to be part of a broader societal movement to achieve an anti-racist future.

An eloquent document of the civil rights movement that remains a work of profound social relevance 50 years after it was first published. A revolutionary work since its publication, Black Power exposed the depths of systemic racism in this country and provided a radical political framework for reform: true and lasting social change would only be accomplished through unity among African-Americans and their independence from the preexisting order.