Not available / text

American Political Thought has presented somewhat of a challenge to many because of the conflict between the ideals found within the "American Creed" and the reality of America's treatment of ethnic and social minorities. The various forms of marginalization and oppression facing women, blacks, Native Americans, and Asian-Americans have been as much a part of the story of America as have been natural rights and the Constitution. Taking this into account, this thesis is an effort to argue that the radicalism on display in the Black Panther Party, a group that emerged in the turmoil of the 1960' s, was a direct descendant of the ideas found within the Black Power movement. It will be argued that these militant critiques of American society were radical, but were not so radical as to be viewed as outside of the context provided by the ideals found in the American Creed. In order to do so, it will be necessary first to present and analyze the various approaches toward explaining the content and nature of the American Creed. The Creed will be presented as separate from American political reality, as an ideal type. As a result it appears to be a rather amorphous tool which can be used both by supporters of a more robust realization of the Creed's ideals and those who wish to limit the scope of these ideals. Having discussed these approaches toward the American Creed, a discussion of radical political ideas will serve to introduce the Black Power movement and the later Black Panther Party. It will be argued that the radical ideas on display were born out of a frustration with American society, but were at the same time an endorsement of the American Creed. It will be concluded that the American Creed is a powerful force acting upon American political thought, so powerful that even those who should rationally reject the Creed forcefully embrace it.

The thesis seeks to develop a more sophisticated view of the black power movement in twentieth century America by analysing the movement’s cultural legacy. The rise, maturation and decline of black power as a political force had a significant impact on American culture, black and white, yet to be substantively analysed. The thesis argues that while the black power movement was not exclusively cultural it was essentially cultural. It was a revolt in and of culture that was manifested in a variety of forms, with black and white culture providing an index to the black and white world view. This independent black culture base provided cohesion to a movement otherwise severely lacking focus and structural support for the movement’s political and economic endeavours. Each chapter in the PhD acts as a step toward understanding black power as an adaptive cultural term which served to connect and illuminate the differing ideological orientations of movement supporters and explores the implications of this. In this manner, it becomes possible to conceptualise the black power movement as something beyond a cacophony of voices which achieved few tangible gains for African-Americans and to move the discussion beyond traditional historiographical perspectives which focus upon the politics and violence of the movement. Viewing the movement from a cultural perspective places language, folk culture, film, sport, religion and the literary and performing arts in a central historical context which served to spread black power philosophy further than political invective. By demonstrating how culture served to broaden the appeal and facilitate the acceptance of black power tenets it is possible to argue that the use of cultural forms of advocation to advance black power ideologies contributed significantly to making the movement a lasting influence in American culture – one whose impact could be discerned long after its exclusively political agenda had disintegrated.