Stokely Carmichael

(1941 - 1998)

The Trinidadian-born Stokely Carmichael emigrated to New York City in 1952 and graduated from Howard University in 1964. Initially a supporter of Martin Luther King Jr.’s nonviolent protest techniques, Carmichael became increasingly frustrated with the civil rights movement during the 1960s after witnessing the beating and murder of several prominent civil rights activists. In 1966, he coined the phrase “black power” during a Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee march (SNCC) in Mississippi, calling for greater racial pride, self-determination, and economic and political power. He left the U.S. in 1969 and moved to Guinea, West Africa, where he died in 1998.