Stokely Carmichael
By the mid-1960s, many civil rights campaigners were becoming frustrated and impatient at what had been achieved through the use of non-violent methods. Stokely Carmichael was one of these campaigners.
Carmichael joined the Student Non-violent Co-ordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1960 after it was formed in April of that year and took part in the Bus rides taken in 1961 by African American and white civil rights activists through the Southern states of America, where federal laws banning the segregation of public buses were being ignored. These protest rides provoked violent reactions from local citizens and police forces but succeeded in raising awareness of the situation worldwide. in 1961. He was arrested several times and at one point served 49 days in prison in Mississippi.
By 1963, Carmichael began to call for stronger action against the racism and violence experienced by black people in the south.
In addition, he also called for all white people to be removed from the SNCC.
Carmichael believed that black people needed to take control of their own future by using their right to vote.
In March 1965, he went to Lowndes County in Alabama, to urge African Americans to register to vote. He did this in a number of ways:
- He told them that the only way to improve their area was to take part in the political process.
- He increased the number of registered voters in Lowndes from 70 to over 2600.
- He set up an all-black political party, the Lowndes County Freedom Organisation.