Nottingham Contemporary

On a hot Mississippi night in June 1966, Willie Ricks and Stokely Carmichael, chairman of the Student Non-Violent Co-ordinating Committee, stood in front of a large crowd in Greenwood and shouted to their energised listeners, “We want Black Power!” Four months later, the slogan and demands reached the west coast of the U.S. when the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense formed in Oakland, California, making similar calls for Black Power. Throughout the 1960s, the Black Power Movement continued to captivate America through its militant dress code, the promise of revolution and demands for equality. But today, 50 years later, the Black Power Movement is often ignored in favour of the well-known Civil Rights Movement.

Join the Centre for Research in Race and Rights as we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Carmichael’s infamous slogan with a Black Power Film Festival. We will screen Black Panther Party: The Vanguard of the Revolution(an award-winning 2015 documentary that charts the rise and fall of the Black Panther Party); The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 (an award-winning 2011 film that examines the evolution of the Black Power Movement in American society); and Revolution ’67 (a award-winning documentary detailing the six-day revolt against poverty and police brutality in Newark, New Jersey in 1967). We also will have brief introductions to the films and a public conversation at the end of the last screening.

Programme:

11.00am - Welcome

11.15am - The Black Power Mixtape

1.15pm - Revolution '67

3.15pm - The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution

5.15pm - Public discussion

In collaboration with the Centre for Research in Race and Rights (C3R) and the Research Priority Area in Rights and Justice at the University of Nottingham.