Political Education and Grassroots Black Power Activism in Chicago, 1968-1983

This research probes the methods by which grassroots actors across the sprawling metropolis of Chicago, created innovative programmes and used direct-action policies to challenge threats to Black community life while also influencing Black empowerment across several inter-connected sites of activism. The intensity of the grassroots campaigns between the years 1968 and 1983 had a purposeful impact on Chicago’s political terrain. Here, inter-generational grassroots coalitions fought to improve Black community welfare, broker greater relations with the police department, initiate educational programmes designed for racial pride and uplift, and develop a truly local mobilisation for Black political empowerment through the ballot. Within this space, the transition from civil rights to Black power activism will be explored in the context of Chicago. Rather than adopting traditional tropes that consider each as diametrically opposed, this research is more concerned with viewing them as complimentary forces in the broader constellation of the historical Black Freedom Movement. Conversely, the rigid chronology that has defined both civil rights and Black power will be questioned in the context of Chicago’s activist scene. Through this exploration of local movements that were led from the bottom-up in opposition to robust institutional obstruction, Chicago’s storied Black activist past comes into sharper focus.