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Stokely Carmichael Interview

A field secretary of SNCC discusses the importance of maintaining political power inside communities at the county level.

A discussion with Stokely Carmichael, field secretary of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in Lowndes County, Alabama. As an organizer of the Lowndes County Freedom Organization (LCFO), also known as the Black Panther Party, Carmichael discusses the importance of maintaining political power inside communities at the county level and of remaining outside of the Democratic Party to avoid compromises that would harm African Americans. The interview is conducted by Terence Cannon, editor of the West Coast newspaper of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. For information on Stokely Carmichael, see Peniel E. Joseph, Stokely: A Life (New York: Basic Civitas Books, 2014). For information on the Lowndes County Freedom Organization, see Hasan Kwame Jeffries, Bloody Lowndes: Civil Rights and Black Power in Alabama?s Black Belt (New York: New York University Press, 2009).