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Background information
"The 1967 'Life' magazine essay 'Whip of Black Power' by Gordon PARKS is a nuanced profile of the young and controversial civil rights leader Stokely Carmichael. As chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Carmichael gained national attention and inspired media backlash when he issued the call for 'Black Power' in Greenwood, Mississippi, in June 1966. The US-American photographer, on contract with 'Life', shadowed him from the fall of 1966 to the spring of 1967, as Carmichael gave speeches, headed meetings and promoted the growing Black Power movement. The photos and writing addressed Carmichael’s intelligence and humor in equal measure, presenting the whole man behind the headline-making speeches. In his finely draw n sketch of a leader and a movement, Gordon PARKS reveals his own advocacy of 'Black Power' and its message of self-determination and love.
Content
The photo volume 'Stokely Carmichael and Black Power' delves into the groundbreaking presentation of Carmichael by Gordon PARKS, and provides a detailed analysis of his images and accompanying text about the charismatic leader. Essays by Lisa Volpe and Cedric Johnson shed critical new light on the subject: Volpe explores the complex understanding of the movement and its leader by Gordon PARKS, and Johnson frames 'Black Power' within the heightened social and political moment of the late 1960s. Carmichael’s own voice is represented through a reproduction of his important essay 'What We Want' from September 1966." (© Steidl Verlag, 2022)