Why this history matters — and why it’s here:
Electoral politics offer one lens on Black civic power — but it's not the only one. As you scroll from the first graphic into the Five Currents of Black Politics, you’re entering a broader archive: one that traces how Black communities have built, defended, and sustained civic infrastructure beyond the ballot box.
These five currents emerged in dialogue and tension with one another — each shaped by region, ideology, and historical moment:
- Southern nonviolent integrationism: Rooted in church networks and moral appeals, this current defined the early 1960s through sit-ins, voter registration drives, and mass mobilization — especially across Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia.
- Northern unarmed self-defense and community control: In cities like New York, Detroit, Newark, and Chicago, organizers built neighborhood patrols, tenant unions, and cultural centers to protect Black life and assert autonomy — often outside formal politics.
- Armed self-defense and mass demonstrations: From Monroe, NC to Lowndes County, AL, this current challenged the myth of passive resistance and insisted on the right to defend Black communities — while organizing mass marches, boycotts, and political education campaigns.
- Revolutionary Black nationalism: Drawing from all the above, this current built schools, clinics, newspapers, and international alliances — reframing Black struggle as part of a global fight against colonialism and capitalism.
- Institutional stewardship and cultural organizing: As the 1970s gave way to the 1980s and 1990s, many activists turned to building durable infrastructure — from school boards and credit unions to music collectives and nonprofit networks — preserving civic power in the face of retrenchment and surveillance.
This is the heart of our rebuild: to create a public, searchable record of movements, leaders, activists, and organizations that emerged between the 1970s and the 1990s — the period right before the internet, and right after the high-profile, well-documented era of the 1960s. These decades are often overlooked, yet they hold the key to understanding how Black civic power was preserved, reimagined, and passed forward.