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Saying It Loud

1966—The Year Black Power Challenged the Civil Rights Movement

Read by JD Jackson

About The Book

Mark Whitaker “writes with the eye of a journalist and ear of a poet” (The Boston Globe) to tell the story of the momentous year that redefined the civil rights movement as a new sense of Black identity, expressed in the slogan “Black Power,” challenged the nonviolent philosophy of Martin Luther King, Jr. and John Lewis.

In “crisp prose” (The New York Times) and novelistic detail Saying It Loud tells the story of how the Black Power phenomenon began to challenge the traditional civil rights movement in the turbulent year of 1966. Saying It Loud takes you inside the dramatic events in this seminal year, from Stokely Carmichael’s middle-of-the-night ouster of moderate icon John Lewis as a chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to Carmichael’s impassioned cry of “Black Power!” during a protest march in rural Mississippi. From Julian Bond’s humiliating and racist ouster from the Georgia state legislature because of his antiwar statements to Ronald Reagan’s election as California governor riding a “white backlash” vote against Black Power and urban unrest. From the founding of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland, California, to the origins of Kwanzaa, the Black Arts Movement, and the first Black studies programs. From Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.’s ill-fated campaign to take the civil rights movement north to Chicago to the wrenching ousting of the white members of SNCC.

Deeply researched and widely reported, Saying It Loud offers brilliant portraits of the major characters in the yearlong drama and provides new details and insights from key players and journalists who covered the story. It also makes a compelling case for why the lessons from 1966 still resonate in the era of Black Lives Matter and the fierce contemporary battles over voting rights, identity politics, and the teaching of Black History.

Appearances

MAY 17
15:00:00
in person
Politics & Prose
In Person
3pm ET, moderator: Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post and MSNBC
5015 Connecticut Ave NW Downstairs
Washington, DC 20008
MAY 19
19:00:00
in person
Enoch Pratt Free Library
In Person
7pm ET, moderator: Michael Fletcher from ESPN
400 Cathedral St
Baltimore, MD 21201
MAY 20
18:30:00
in person
Schomburg Center / NYPL
In Person
6:30pm, moderated by Linda Villarosa from New York Times Magazine
515 Malcolm X Blvd
New York, NY 10037

About The Author

© Jennifer S. Altman
Mark Whitaker

Mark Whitaker is the former editor of Newsweek and the first African American to lead a national newsweekly. He then served as Washington Bureau Chief for NBC News and Managing Editor of CNN Worldwide. Whitaker’s memoir My Long Trip Home was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. His social histories Smoketown: The Untold Story of the Other Great Black Renaissance and Saying it Loud: 1966—The Year Black Power Challenged the Civil Rights Movement were both named among the best nonfiction books of the year by The Washington Post.

About The Reader

JD Jackson

Product Details

  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio (February 7, 2023)
  • Runtime: 12 hours and 25 minutes
  • ISBN13: 9781797151373

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