During the civil rights era, Memphis gained a reputation for having one of the South s strongest NAACP branches. But that organization, led by the city s black elite, was hardly the only driving force in the local struggle against racial injustice. In the late sixties, Black Power proponents advocating economic, political, and cultural self-determination effectively mobilized Memphis s African American youth, using an array of moderate and radical approaches to protest and change conditions on their campuses and in the community.
While Black Power activism on the coasts and in the Midwest...