Which activist popularized the slogan “Black Power” during the 1966 March Against Fear?

Stokely Carmichael popularized the slogan “Black Power” during the 1966 March Against Fear.

Carmichael, a prominent Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee organizer, became chairman of the group in 1966. During the march through Mississippi, he called for Black political power and community control after the original leader, James Meredith, was shot and wounded.

The phrase reflected growing frustration with violence against civil-rights workers, economic inequality, and the slow pace of political change. It did not have one single interpretation: some activists used it to mean independent Black political organization, while others connected it to cultural pride or self-defense.

Carmichael later adopted the name Kwame Ture and became associated with Pan-African politics. “Black Power” is sometimes incorrectly attributed to Malcolm X, who influenced the broader idea of Black self-determination but did not coin the slogan at the 1966 march.