Excerpt from "The Basis of Black Power," 1966
Reprinted from "Takin' It to the Streets:" A Sixties Reader, 2003; also available online at www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/387.h tml

"Negroes in this country have never been allowed to organize themselves because of white interference. As a result of this, the stereotype has been reinforced that blacks cannot organize themselves."

On February 1, 1960, four black students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College sat down at an...