A CONSIDERATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN IDEOLOGY AND

ACTIVISM IN THE BLACK NATIONALIST MOVEMENT: A CASE STUDY OF THE

RISE AND FALL OF THE GREENSBORO ASSOCIATION OF POOR PEOPLE

THESIS

SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF ATLANTA UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL

FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF
ARTS

BY
CLAUDE W. BARNES, JR.
DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
DECEMBER, 1981

DEDICATION
This thesis is dedicated to my mother Florence Barnes, my uncle John T. Brookshire and
my aunt Elizabeth D. Brookshire

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This thesis, like any research effort is the product of collective labor.
Unfortunately I cannot list the contributions that every individual made to the content and
completion of this project. However, I will always be grateful for the assistance of those
unnamed people.
While working on this research I received timely guidance and inspiration from
Professor Picard. The final product is remarkably improved because Professor Picard
provided unrelenting but always helpful criticisms of my work. Dr. William Boone served
as the second reader for this thesis and his sensitive comments also helped make this
project more worthy. Moreover, the faculty, staff and students at Atlanta Universitys
Department of Political Science must be credited with establishing both high academic
standards and the intellectual atmosphere essential for the completion of this research.
A great part of the documentation and analysis in Part Two of this thesis was made
possible through the tireless efforts of Lewis Brandon of Uhuru Bookstore in Greensboro,
North Carolina. Brandons familiarity with the intricate details of the Black Movement in
North Carolina and my discussions with him were a tremendous aid. The discussions I
had with Nelson and Joyce Johnson also provided valuable information even though they
disagreed with the overall analysis contained in this study.
Lastly, I with to thank Donna Nevins and Lawrencine Smith for typing early drafts
of this research and Allan Cooper for typing the final draft.

ABSTRACT

BARNES, CLAUDE W., Jr.

B.A. North Carolina A & T State

University, Greensboro, North

Carolina, July, 1979

A Consideration of the Relationship Between Ideology and Activism In the Black
Nationalist Movement: A Case Study of the Rise and Fall of the Greensboro Association
of Poor People
Advisors:

Thesis dated:

Professor Earl Picard

Dr. William H. Boone

December, 1981

The Greensboro Association of Poor People (GAPP) was one of the most
influential Black political organizations to emerge from the Contemporary Black
Nationalist Movement of the late 60s and early 70s. Unfortunately, post-civil rights
literature barely recognized the organizations existence. This study fills a void in the
literature by presenting an analysis of the impact of conflicting ideologies on the rise and
fall of GAPP as an integral component of the movement. The major finding of the study is
that the struggle for ideological hegemony between Black Power, Pan-Africanism, and
Marxism prevented the consideration of theoretical and philosophical problems in the
movement and therefore contributed significantly to the demise of post-civil rights
activism.
In order to access the impact of conflicting ideologies on the rise and fall of GAPP
the study examines the ideological structure of the Contemporary Black Nationalists
Movement and then traces the organizations development under the guidance of three
different ideological perspectives.
Data for this study was gathered through an extensive review of the literature on
the Contemporary Black Nationalist Movement, a review of the GAPP files in
Greensboro, North Carolina, and through ten open ended interviews with leaders and

regular members of the organization. These materials were supplemented with a review of
the newspaper files of the Carolina Peacemaker of Greensboro, North Carolina.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter
I.

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

II.

An Overview of the Ideological Structure of the

Contemporary Black Nationalist Movement: Focus

On the Radical Trend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

III.

Black Power, Black Activism and the Rise of the

Greensboro Association of Poor People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

IV.

Pan-Africanism, Marxism-Leninism
and the Fall of the Greensboro Association
of Poor People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

V.

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
APPENDICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

PART I
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION AND STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
In the post 60s era, Black intellectuals and activists are confronted with a number
of perplexing questions that must be addressed if satisfactory explanations are to be

provided. Without satisfactory explanations of our recent history the Black Movement in
the coming decades is destined to repeat the same errors made earlier and we will continue
to be accomplices in our own oppression. As we enter the new decade of the 1980s a
new wave of activism seems to be on the horizon. But before we plunge headlong into the
abyss of spontaneity Black intellectuals and activists should first clarify several
fundamental questions regarding our recent past.
One of the most basic questions to be addressed should be: Why, after almost
thirty years of intense activism, have the material conditions of life for the overwhelming
majority of Afro-Americans continued to deteriorate?28 Put another way, despite the noble
efforts of the Civil Rights Movement, the sacrifices of the urban rebellions, the militancy of
the Black Power Movement, the promises of the Great Society and despite the purity of
Pan-Africanism and/or Marxism/Leninism, Black people are still on the bottom of
American Society.
I do not wish to imply that the accomplishments of recent Black social upheaval
are negligible. Without question the period from 1954 to 1974 represents one of the most
important eras in the history of Black people in America. During this period Black
activism was sustained for more than thirty years. This period saw the rise and fall of two
tremendous social-political movements: The Civil Rights Movement and the Black
Nationalist Movement. These movements, of course, left an undeniable impact on the
social structure of America. The Civil Rights Movement, for example, played a critical

28

Cf. William A. Darity, Illusions of Black Progress, The Review of Black Political Economy, Vol. 10,
No. 2 (Winter 1980), pp. 153-167. Thaddeus Spatlen, The Record and Rhetoric of Black Economic
Progress, The Review of Black Political Economy, Vol. 4, No. 3 (Spring 1974), pp 1-30. Victor Perlo,
The Economics of Racism (New York: International Publishers, 1975). Paul Baran and Paul Sweezy,
Monopoly Capital (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1966). See Chapter Monopoly Capitalism and
Race Relations, pp. 249-280. U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, The Social and
Economic Status of the Black Population in the United States: An Historical View, 1790-1978, Current
Population Reports Special Studies Series, p. 23 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1979).

role in the destruction of Jim Crow segregation in the South, 29 while the Black Nationalist
Movement forced the so-called Negro question into the realm of legitimate cultural and
political considerations.30 In the aftermath of the Civil Rights Movement Black people
(especially its elite sector) have acquired a more visible presence in the state apparatus and
in civil society. By the same token, because of the Black Nationalist Movement it is no
longer a crime to be identified as Black, Afro-American or African. But again, the larger
question for Black intellectuals and activists remains: Are the gains of the more than thirty
years of intense activism commensurate with the amount of time, effort and sacrifice?
While the explicit promise of recent Black activism (its stated goal) was a better
life for the masses, in fact the gains of the period went almost exclusively to the Black
elites or petty bourgeoisie.31 So, there is a tremendous gap between the promise of Black
activism and the actual results. Those among us who propagate the myth of Black
progress are engaging in a pretentious self-serving celebration of the 60s at best and
misleading the Black Movement at worst. Consequently, another question for the
intellectual and activists is why did the expected results of recent Black activism fail to
materialize? Put another way, why did the immense majority of participants in the
movement receive so little if any benefits?
LITERATURE REVIEW

29

C. Vann Woodward, The Strange Career of Jim Crow (New York: Oxford University Press, 1974).
The 60s and early 70s generated an explosion of social science literature on the race question or the
status of Blacks in America. Literary works by and about Black people also increased dramatically. The
Black student movement which was an integral part of the nationalist movement led to the creation of
Black Studies Programs at most of the major universities in the U.S. A survey of the literature and a
discussion of the Black Studies phenomena is provided by the following articles: Ernest Kaiser, Recent
Literature on Black Liberation Struggles and the Ghetto Crisi, Science and Society, Vol. 33 (Spring
1969), pp. 168-196. James McGinnis, Towards a New Beginning: Crisis and Contradiction in Black
Studies, Black World, Vol. 22, No. 5 (March 1973), pp. 27-35.
31
Adolph Reed, Black Particularity Reconsidered, Telos, No. 39 (Spring 1979), pp 71-93. Manning
Marable, Black Nationalism in the 1970s: Through the Prism of Race and Class, Socialist Review, Vol.
10, Nos. 2 and 3 (March-June 1980), pp. 94-96. Lester Thurow, The Zero-Sum Society: Distribution and
the Possibilities for Economic Change (New York: Penquin Books, 1981), pp. 162-163.
30

In order to address these two basic questions - what happened to the movement
and what caused the gap between promise and results - obviously we must examine very
closely the trajectory of the movement itself. The literature on the Civil Rights Movement
more than adequately provides a data base for the development of high quality analysis.32
However, the literature on the Contemporary Black Nationalist Movement is problematic
in several respects.
One serious shortcoming of the literature on the Black Nationalist era is the
absence of a comprehensive analysis of the role of the Black Nationalist organizations that
come out of the Greensboro-Durham Axis or what I term the North Carolina Nationalists
(N.C.N.). When we examine the literature on the Contemporary Black Nationalist
Movement we find a wealth of material on such organizations and personalities as:
Malcolm X and his Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU); Elijah Muhammad and
the Nation of Islam; Huey P. Newton, Bobby Seal, Eldridge Cleaver, et. al. and the Black
Panther Party; Ron Karenga and the U.S. organization; Amiri Baraka (Leroi Jones) the
Black Arts Movement and later the Committee for a Unified Newark (CFUN), and the
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE); the Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement
(DRUM); James Foreman and the Black Workers Congress (BWC).33 The literature on
32

One of the most lucid and critical evaluations of the Civil Rights Era can be found in Alex Willingham,
Black Political Thought in the United States: A Characterization (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation,
University of North Carolina, 1974). See especially Chapter Four, The Impact of the Civil Rights Era,
pp. 147-174.
33
Cf. Malcolm X, Autobiography of Malcolm X (New York: Grove Press, 1964). George Breitman (ed.),
The Last Year of Malcolm X (New York: Grove Press, 1969). C. Eric Lincoln, The Black Muslims in
America (Boston: Beacon Press, 1961). Theresa Brockenberry Chambliss, The Nation of Islam:
Continuity and Change (Unpublished Masters Thesis, Atlanta University, Atlanta, Georgia, 1979). The
Black Panther Party Its Origin and Development as Reflected in its Official Weekly Newspaper, the Black
Panther Black Community News Service. A staff study of the Committee on Internal Security, House of
Representatives, Ninety-first Congress, Second Session, Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office,
1970); Ron Karenga, Kawaida and its Critics: A Sociohistorical Analysis, Journal of Black Studies, 8
(December 1977); Ron Karenga, The Quotable Karenga (pamphlet) (Los Angeles: U.S. Organization,
1967); Imamu Amiri Braka, Kawaida Studies: The New Nationalism (Chicago: Third World Press, 1972).
Unity and Struggle-History of Revolutionary Communist League (M-L-M), Forward, No. 3 (January
1980); Imari Abubukar Obadele I, The Struggle of the Republic of New Africa, The Black Scholar, Vol.
3, No. 6 (February 1972); August Meier and Elliott Rudwick, CORE: A Study in the Civil Rights

these and other personalities and organizations is quite extensive and useful but the paucity
of literature on the role of the North Carolina Nationalists is a serious problem.
At one point in the Black Nationalist Movement, Greensboro and Durham were
considered to be the center of the Black Power Movement in the South. 34 Several
important nationalist organizations were created and received direction from the area
including: The Student Organization for Black Unity or later the Youth Organization for
Black Unity (SOBU/YOBU) and its newspaper The African World, The Foundation for
Community Development , Malcolm X Liberation University (MXLU), the North Carolina
Black Assembly, The African Liberation Support Committee (ASLC), the Revolutionary
Workers League (RWL), and the Greensboro Association of Poor People (GAPP).
The North Carolina Nationalists (NCN) involved such well know personalities as
Howard Fuller (Later as Owusu Sadaukai), Nelson Johnson, Mark Smith and Lewis
Brandon. Howard Fuller was one of the prime movers behind the establishment of
Malcolm X Liberation University and African Liberation Support Committee. Nelson
Johnson and Mark Smith were active in the creation of the Student Organization for Black
Unity and later the Revolutionary Workers League.35 Lewis Brandon has been one of the
most active people in the Black Movement in Greensboro and in North Carolina for
almost twenty years and played a key role in the Foundation for Community Development
and more importantly the Greensboro Association of Poor People.
Some of the lesser known personalities in the collective leadership of the NCN
include Joyce Johnson, who was an active behind the scenes leader in SOBU, GAPP,
Movement, 1942-1968 (Urbana: The University of Illinois Press, 1975); and James Foreman, The
Making of Black Revolutionaries (New York: Macmillan, 1972).
34
William H. Chafe, Civilities and Civil Rights: Greensboro, North Carolina and the Black Struggle for
Freedom ( New York: Oxford University Press, 1980), p. 312; Phil Hutchins, Report on the ALSC
National Conference, The Black Scholar, Vol. 5. No. 10 (July-August 1974).
35
See Appendix is for a graphic illustration of the progression and links between organizations and
personalities in the NCN grouping.

RWL, and later the Communist Workers Party (CWP). Milton Coleman, the first editor
of the African World Newspaper, played a key role in SOBU during its Pan-African phase.
Jim Lee was Director of Operations at MXLU and played a leading role with F.C.D. and
the North Carolina Black Assembly. We might also mention Sandra Neely (later Sandra
Smith) who was active in SOBU, RWL, and Communist Workers Party. Barbara Kamara
served as one of the first chairpersons of GAPP and was active in the N.C.B.A. Finally,
we should point out the crucial roles of Frank Williams, one-time Director of Field
Operations for SOBU, Chuck Hopkins and Bertie Howard who helped establish MXLU.
While this is not meant to be an exhaustive listing of the main personalities and
organizations in the NCN, we can begin to get some idea of the structure and function of
this grouping within the radical section of the Black Nationalist Movement.36 I wish to
emphasize here that unless more comprehensive data are generated on the role of the
North Carolina Nationalists our analysis of the trajectory of the Contemporary Black
Nationalist Movement will suffer from superficial and inconclusive treatment. The present
project will hopefully begin the process of filling this void in the literature.
Another major deficiency in the literature that purports to examine recent Black
activism is the preponderance of works from white custodians of the Black experience37
White liberal scholars despite their honorable intentions almost always begin the
conceptualization of Black activism as epiphenomena. According to the white custodians
36

Alex Willingham alludes to the role of the NCN in the Black Nationalist turn to ideology after 1969
(approximately) but he does not offer an examination of the components of the Black Nationalist
Movement. The rapid spread of Black power ideology and later the rise of Neo-Pan-Africanism was
fueled by a number of factors (we will explain some of these in the next chapter) but on the east coast and
in the South the organization and personalities associated with the NCN were key actors in the
popularization of both Black Power and Neo-Pan-Africanism. See for example, Alex Willinghan, The
Impact of Activism on Political Thought in Black America: Focus on the Sixties, Unpublished paper
presented at the Symposium on Race Politics and Culture held at Howard University, October 7-8, 1977,
p. 18.
37
White custodians is a term used to describe white scholars who have appointed themselves guardians
and interpreters of Black social thought. See Mack Jones and Alex Willingham, White Custodians of the
Black Experience, Social Science Quarterly, Vol. 51, No. 1 (June 1970), pp. 31-36.

nationalist responses to the oppression of Black people in the United States are an
extremist fantasy because the underlying values of American society guarantee the gradual
extension of rights and privileges to all elements of society. Radical transformation of
American society is automatically filtered out as a viable alternative by this particular
paradigm. The works of Meier, Rudwick and Chafe are typical examples of this liberal
democratic bias in the literature.38 I do not mean to suggest that the works of white
custodians are useless. Certainly white liberal scholars have provided us with much
needed information and documentation of black activism. However, these works are
fundamentally flawed because they restrict the range of legitimate theoretical speculation
within the study of black thought and at the same time these works tend to deny Black
thought autonomous existence.39 I might also add that this dependency of Black thought
on the dominant theoretical productions of white American Scholarship is not a new
phenomena. The relationship between black social thought and American scholarship has
been problematic and inglorious since the founding of the United States. 40
Similar observations can be made in regards to Marxist literature concerned with
Black activism. While Marxist and Neo-Marxist do not scorn the need for radical
transformation of American society they nevertheless impose equally devastating
constraints on Black thought. 41
38

Cf. August Meier, Elliot Rudwick and Francis L. Brodrick, Black Protest Thought in the Twentieth
Century (New York: Bobbs-Merrill Co., Inc., 1977 ) ; August Meier and Elliott Rudwick, From Plantation
to Ghetto (New York: Hill and Wang, 1976 ); Chafe, op. cit., pp. 332-335. See also Woodward, op. cit., p.
199.
39
See Willingham, Ph.D. dissertation, op. cit ., pp. 1-74. See also Willingham, Prudence, Dependency,
Volition: Changing Themes in Approaches to the Study of Black Political Thought, (Unpublished paper,
Atlanta University, 1980) , pp. 1-34.
40

41

Ibid., p. 4.

Cf. Michael T. Martin and Howard Cohen, Late Capitalism and Race and Neo-Colonial Domination:
Discontinuities in Marxist Theory, Pressence African (Third Quarterly, # 15, 1980 ) ; Nigel Young, An
Infantile Disorder: The Crisis and Decline of the New Left ( Boulder,Colorado: Westview Press, 1978 );
and Harold Cruse, The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual (New York: William and Marrow, 1967 ) .

Historically and in the present period, Marxists have consistently subordinated the claims
of Black activism to working class unity or postponed the demands of Black nationalism
to some future state. It is therefore not surprising that Marxist organizations have been
unable to sustain a widespread following in the Black community. A large part of the
problem here stems from Marxist theory itself:
If Marxism postulates unity based upon a common working-class experience
which overrides racial identities, working-class racism will be relegated to the
status of an epiphenomenon. Subjective and cultural differences within the
working-class may then be attributed to a state of false consciousness fostered by
bourgeoisie in its own interest... These logical steps of argument may
inadvertently legitimate working-class racism...42
Obviously, if the guiding theories of Marxist organizations do not capture the reality of
Black peoples position in the United States then we could hardly expect good results
from their activism. New Left organizations proceeding from faulty premises have in fact
made a significant contribution to the decline of Black activism.

43

The literature on this

particular problem is scarce but enlightening. The works cited do provide some useful
analyses of this problem, but we will return to this theme in more detail in the next chapter.
Despite the two major shortcomings in the literature on recent Black Nationalism
several important insights emerge and deserve some commentary before we discuss the
specific focus of the present study. One of the most illuminating studies of this subject is
Robert Allens Black Awakening in Capitalist America.44 Allens work describes the social
context which helped fuel the explosion of Black Nationalism in the late 60s:
42

Martin and Cohen, op. cit., p. 54.

cf. Adolph Reed, Scientistic Socialism: Notes on the New Afro-American Magic Marxism, Endarch ,
Vol. 1, No. 1 ( Fall 1979) , pp. 21-39. And Adrew Feenberg, Paths to Failure: The Dialectics of
Organization and Ideology in the New Left, in Adoph Reed, ed., The Circle and Spiral : Crictical Essays
on Race, Politics and Culture in the 60s and Beyond (Louisiana : Louisiana State University Press,
Forthcoming).
43

44

Robert Allen, Black Awakening in Capitalist America: An Analytic History ( New York: Doubleday,
1969).

...The Civil Rights phase of the Black liberation struggle was drawing to a
stalemated conclusion, and in its wake, followed the urban revolts, sparked by
stagnating conditions in the ghettos; new leaders, such as Robert Williams and
Malcolm X, who were the cutting edge of an embryonic nationalist movement,
had been destroyed before they could organize an effective and continuing cadre
of followers; and finally, the Vietnam War and other developments in the Third
World were having an increasing impact on Black militant thinking in the U.S.45
The elements of the social context highlighted by Allen certainly do not close the
discussion of what caused the rapid proliferation of Black Nationalist consciousness but
his explanation does identify specific social forces at the roots of this movement. More
importantly, Allens analysis exposes some of the sources of the equally rapid decline of
the Black Nationalist Movement. For example, his discussion of the role the corporate
elite and the Black elite reveals how co-optation becomes a winning strategy for those
opposed to the more radical elements in the Black Nationalist Movement. Corporate and
government involvement in movement activities reached new heights through the efforts
of the Ford Foundation, the National Alliance of Businessmen, the Urban Coalition, Job
Corps, Community Action Programs, and various Black capitalist ventures.46 In short,
Black Power was equated with Black capitalism and funds were made available to
employ Black power militants in every major city in the country.
Where the co-optation strategy failed to achieve results, government repression of
Black groups and individuals proved to be quite effective. The governments repression
strategy grew out of efforts to contain the Civil Rights Movement but became particularly
sinister and violent in the wake of the urban riots that swept across the country in the late
1960s. In 1967 for example, government agencies recorded over 164 civil disturbances
which resulted in 89 deaths, insured property damage and indirect economic losses of over
45

Ibid., p. 23.
Ibid., pp.193-245. Also see Samuel F. Yette, The Choice: The Issue of Black Survival in America (New
York: Berkeley Publishing corporation, 1971) .
46

500 million dollars.47 At the core of this massive program to destroy Black activism was
the F.B.I.s COINTELPRO program.48 Black leaders were assassinated, jailed and exiled.
Black organizations were victimized by smear campaigns and police terror tactics.
Government repression was therefore a very significant cause of the decline of the Black
Nationalist Movement. According to Allens research both Government repression and
Corporate-Government cooptation are the twin strategies used by the ruling elements to
crush the Black Nationalist Movement.
Allens work is supported by recent studies completed by Piven and Cloward. 49
Piven and Cloward provide convincing evidence and arguments that the co-optation
strategy was successful largely due to the role of the Black political elite. The authors
describe the role and function of the black elite in the post Civil Rights superstructure as
follows:
...When Blacks won the vote in the South and a share of patronage in the
Municipalities of the North in response to the disturbances of the 1960s,
Black leaders were absorbed into electoral and bureaucratic politics and became
ideological proponents of the shift from protest to politics.50
Obviously the Black elite had come to play an enlarged managerial role after the urban
revolts in the expanded welfare apparatus. Piven and Cloward amplify this connection as
follows:
The antipoverty program was only one of a number of Great Society programs in
47

A massive program to combat Black unrest was put into place by federal, state and local governments.
Millions of dollars were made available to state and local governments and law enforcement efforts were
centralized.
48

See Dwight B. Mullen , A Documentary Analysis of the F.B.I.s Counterintelligence Program Against
Black Political Activities 1968-1971(Unpublished Masters Thesis, Atlanta University, Atlanta Georgia,
1979).
49

Frances Fox Piven and Richard A. Cloward, Poor Peoples Movements: Why They Succeed, How They
Fail( New York: Vintage Books, 1979).
50

Ibid . , p. 32.

which Blacks came to play a role. Elementary and Secondary Education Act was
another, as was the Model Cities program. Each helped to integrate the
leadership stratum of the Black Movement (and each also provided the services
and benefits which helped to quiet the Black masses.51
In short, the Black elite (Black elected officials, Black businessmen, Black professionals)
formed an integral component of the ruling elements co-optation strategy and played a key
role in the decline of Black activism. Demands for Black liberation were soon replaced
with demands for Black equity. Increasingly, militant protests and demonstrations were
replaced as a preferred tactic with more institutional adjustments such as voting for Black
elected officials. Under the blows of co-optation and repression the Black Nationalist
Movement fell apart and rescinded into history.
Allen, and Piven and Clowards thesis on the roots of the decline of the Black
Nationalist Movement is also supported by the research of Manning Marable.52
Marables work documents some of the more important internal developments of the
Black Nationalist Movement. Marable informs us that the high-water mark for Black
nationalism during the decade (1970s ) was the founding of the National Black Political
Assembly at Gary, Indiana, March 10-12, 1972.53 I would add that the formation of the
African Liberation Support Committee and its subsequent activities were of equal
significance.54 In fact, the dynamics between ideology and activism played out in these
two organizations show us the problems and promise of Black Nationalism. However, the
analysis suggested by Marable leads to gross oversimplification of complex processes. In

51

Ibid. , p. 255. Also see Willingham, The Impact of Activism... p. 13.

52

Marable, op. Cit., pp. 57-108.

53

Ibid ., p. 77.

54

Ronald Walters, The New Political Culture, Black World , Vol. 21, No. 12 (October 1972 ), p. 5.

his description of the decline or failure of the radical nationalist elements to sustain its
activism he asserts:
Ultimately, the fundamental reason for the failure of left nationalists was its
inability to sustain the confidence of black workers, students, and the
unemployed. Because of their constant lack of funds, and the absence of a
grassroots style, permanent national organization, the left nationalists were unable
to present themselves as a viable or realistic alternative to the shop worn but
reliable integrationist elites.55
Marables analysis here does not go beyond the level of description of events. All of the
problems identified by Marable here were real concerns and they no doubt had an
important impact on the flow of the Black Nationalist Movement. However, when one
speaks of fundamental causes of the decline of Black activism then the major question to
be addressed is why did these problems occur? Why were nationalists unable to present
themselves as a viable or realistic alternative to the political program of the black elites?
Marables analysis illustrates a common feature or basic tendency of the literature on the
contemporary Black Nationalist Movement - superficial analysis.
By way of summary, we should point out that the more useful literature
concentrates its analysis on broad socioeconomic and political factors such as shifts in the
political economy and social structure in the U.S. since World War II. Piven and Cloward,
for example, inform us that it was the economic modernization of Southern agriculture
and the mass migration of Blacks from agriculture to industry in the Northern and
Southern cities that formed the objective basis for the rise of Black activism in the 60s
and 70s.56 Allen and Marable inform us that co-optation and repression and the
inadequate response of the radical elements within the Black Nationalist Movement were
the major factors responsible for the decline of Black Nationalist activism. While an
55

Marable, op. Cit., p. 91.

56

Piven and Cloward , op. Cit., pp. 189-258.

appreciation of these conditional factors are indispensable to a thorough analysis of the

two questions posed at the beginning of this introduction (Why, after an almost unbroken
thirty year span of intense activism have the life conditions of most blacks continued to
deteriorate? Why did the expected results of recent Black activism fail to materialize?)
Nevertheless, the more useful literature does not pay sufficient attention to the internal or
ideational sources of Black Nationalist activism. Reed captures the essence of what I am
suggesting here when he observes that:
...Repression and co-optation can never fully explain the failure of opposition and
an exclusive focus on such external factors diverts attention from possible
sources of failure within the opposition, thus paving the way for the reproduction
of the pattern of failure. The opposition must investigate its own complicity.57
More specifically, the literature which purports to examine Black activism in the 60s and
70s does not adequately explore the relationship between the guiding ideas of the
movement and the resultant activism. Put another way, the literature suffers from a lack of
theoretical self-consciousness. There is a critical need for more works that examine the
theoretical basis for the trajectory of the Black Nationalist Movement.
I do not wish to imply that there are no important works which adequately treat
the problem of ideology and activism in the Black Nationalist Movement. The previous
works cited by Willingham, Reed, Young, Martin and Cohen provide valuable insights into
this question. Gouldner, addressing himself to the overall response of radicals in the New
Left also makes similar analysis in another context:
The profound transformation of society that many radicals seek cannot be
be accomplished by political means alone ; it cannot be confined to a purely
political embodiment. For the old society is not held together merely by force
and violence, or expedience and prudence. The old society maintains itself also
through theories and ideologies that establish its hegemony over the minds of
men...58
57

Reed, Black Particularity..., op. Cit., p.77.

58

Alvin Gouldner, The Coming Crisis of Western Sociology (New York : Basic Books, 1970), p. 5.

There are important works that address the crucial problem of the role of theories and
ideologies in the evolution of the Black Nationalist Movement but these works are scarce
in comparison with the magnitude of this problem. As Reed suggests, we can neither
simply confine the analysis of recent Black nationalism to overt political actions such as
co-optation and repression nor can we be content with analysis that merely chronicles the
events that took place. In my view, the most important and the most neglected mode of
analysis concerns the dynamics between ideology and activism. Once we have probed
deeply into this particular problem then it becomes clear that those responsible for
opposition to the status quo also played a significant role in the decline of Black activism.
The purpose of the present study, therefore, is to uncover exactly how these dynamics
unfolded in one particular nationalist organization.

RESTATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM AND METHODOLOYGY

At least two major voids exist in the literature on the Contemporary Black
Nationalist Movement. First, there is an absence of materials that examine the role of the
North Carolina Nationalist and secondly, there are only few works which examine the
theoretical basis for the evolvement of the movement. While these two problems might
seem like separate questions they are in fact integrally related. The North Carolina
Nationalist played a crucial role in the spread of different ideological perspectives in the
movement. If we examine the activities of the North Carolina Nationalist we can also
uncover some insights into the relationship between ideology and activism in the evolution
of the movement. An analysis of this group is sorely needed but such a project would be
beyond the scope of one study. As a contribution towards filling the voids in the literature

I have decided to construct a case study - guided by a theoretical focus - of one of the
major components of the North Carolina Nationalist group.
By theoretical focus, I mean that the study is guided by concern for elaborating the
relationship between Black political thought in the late 60s and the political activism that
flourished from about 1968 to the demise of the African Liberation Support Committee in
1974. Also, ideology is used here in the sense that Mills defines the term as a component
of political philosophy.59 Ideology as used in this study refers to any set of ideas which
order reality according to a particular frame of reference. Even more, ideologies are neat
summaries of complex ideas, theories and concepts which explain the manifold social,
political and economic phenomena of the world and provide a program of action for
agents of either the status quo or the opposition.60 In the study of the Black Nationalist
Movement there were at least three major competing ideologies - Black Power, PanAfricanism and Marxism. Finally, I should point out that activism as used in this study
refers to the political actions and programs implemented by various nationalist
organizations and personalities during the period under consideration (about 1968 to
1974). With these preliminary remarks stated we can now proceed to more detailed
discussion of the specific focus of the study.
Simply stated, the problem we are concerned with is as follows: What was the
impact of competing ideologies on the rise and fall of the Greensboro Association of Poor
People (GAPP)?
59

60

C. Wright Mills, The Marxist (New York: Dell Publications , 1962 ).

Cf. Louis Althusser, Lenin and Philosophy and other Essays (London: New left Books, 1971); Karl
Mannheim, Ideology and Utopia ( New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1946); Robert K. Merton, Social
Theory and Social Structure (Glencoe: Free Press, 1957) ; Karl Marx and Fredrich Engels, The German
Ideology ( New York : International Publishers, 1974 ) ; Alvin W. Gouldner, The Dialectic of Ideology and
Technology: The Origins, Grammar and Future of Ideology (New York : Seabury Press, 1976 ).

GAPP was chosen for study for several interrelated reasons. GAPP was one of the
most important components of the NCN grouping mentioned earlier. GAPP was one of
the first Black Nationalist organizations in North Carolina. A number of the leading
personalities in the NCN group were brought into the movement and trained as organizers
through the activities of this organization. A study of GAPP would therefore give us
valuable insights into the inner workings of the Greensboro-Durham Axis and at the same
time shed some light on this groups impact on the movement as a whole. Secondly,
GAPP was chosen for study because it made a significant political impact on the city of
Greensboro, State of North Carolina, the south and the nation. For example, GAPP
organized large segments of the Greensboro Black community to respond to the excessive
use of force by the local police and national guard during the 1969 rebellion;61 GAPP
organized broad united fronts around a number of issues important to Black people such
as housing, welfare and police brutality; GAPP provided leadership and expertise for a
series of Black workers strikes such as the Blind Workers Strike (Fall 1970), the
Sanitation Workers Strike (Summer 1970) , and the Cafeteria Workers Strike ( Spring
1970 ) and GAPP provided leadership in a number of national and statewide coalitions
such as the African Liberation Support Committee and the Free the Wilmington 10
Campaign.
Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, GAPP was chosen for study mainly because
the organization (through its leadership) was a vigorous participant in the great
ideological debates of the period. GAPP produced extensive ideological position
papers, held seminars and discussions in a variety of settings to explain and refine the body
61

North Carolina State Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights, Trouble in
Greensboro: A Report of an Open Meeting Concerning the Disturbances at Dudley High School and North
Carolina A&T State University, NCCACUSCCR, March 1980.

of ideas guiding its work. As the movement changed directions reflecting the struggle for
ideological hegemony, GAPPS official ideological perspective moved through at least
three major changes: 1) Black Power, 2) Neo-Pan-Africanism and 3) Marxism. A study of
how these shifts in ideological orientation impacted the development of GAPP would
therefore help clarify the relationship between ideology and activism in the Contemporary
Black Nationalist Movement (CBNM).62
Our ability to successfully address the central concern of this study will of course
turn on our ability to address a number of interrelated questions. Some of the more
important questions include the following: What was the ideational basis of the CBNM
and what caused the rapid ideological shifts among the Black Radicals? What were the
major stages in GAPPS evolution and what specifically caused the shifts in ideological
direction? What were the major political, economic and social issues for the Black
community of Greensboro and how did GAPP address these concerns in its various stages
of development? What was GAPPS relationship to the NCN? The answers to these and
similar questions will allow us to provide a satisfactory explanation to the central question
posed by this study.
To facilitate a systematic analysis of the relationship between the rise and fall of
GAPP and the impact of conflicting ideologies, this study is divided into two major parts
and five chapters. Chapter One presents an introduction to the subject and defines the
major problem to be investigated along with some brief discussion of the major questions
related to the central concern. Chapter Two in part one of this study will present a critical
overview of the ideological structure of the CBNM. This chapter tries to set the context
which operated during the period under consideration which will allow us to see how

62

I am especially grateful to Lewis Brandon for giving me access to primary documents in the GAPP files.

GAPPS development was influenced by developments on the national level. This

chapter will focus on the response of the radical element within the Black Nationalist
Movement and explain those national developments which had a direct impact on the
evolution of the organization. Part Two of the study is concerned with the specific
analysis of the evolution of GAPP. Chapter Three traces the history of GAPP from its
creation in 1968 and examines the transition from Black Power to Pan-Africanism (19701973) and covers the impact of Marxism (1973-1975). The study presents some
concluding remarks in Chapter Five.
Data collection for this study was carried out from March 1980 until January 1981.
Data was obtained through three major sources. First, an extensive review of the
literature on the CBNM provided the data for Chapter One and Chapter Two. Secondly, a
review of GAPP files contained at Uhuru Bookstore in Greensboro, North Carolina
provided much needed primary sources such as correspondence, position papers and
evaluations. This review of the GAPP files was supplemented with a review of ten years
of the Carolina Peacemaker. The Carolina Peacemaker is a Black owned weekly
newspaper that supposedly presents the Black perspective on local and national events
and the issues between 1968 and 1978 contain coverage of GAPPS activities. Most
importantly, data for this study was compiled through ten open ended interviews with both
leadership and rank and file members of GAPP. These oral sources proved to be
extremely valuable because they provided links and explanations of gaps in the written
literature.
Finally, the analysis presented in this study is influenced by the authors role as a
critical observer and participant in the Black Nationalist Movement. I have been a
member of most of the organizations constructed by the North Carolina Nationalist and

hence my views obviously reflect the impact of the experience described in these pages.
Although some would consider my involvement as a contamination of this research
project, I would argue on the contrary, a more sensitive and engaged treatment of this
subject will result. I do not make false claims to objectivity here and no apologies will
be offered for the shortcomings of this project. By making the reader aware of my
experiences and bias I believe a more critical and fair treatment can be maintained.

CHAPTER 2
AN OVERVIEW OF THE IDEOLOGICAL STRUCTRURE
OF THE CONTEMPORARY BACK NATIONALIST MOVEMENT:
FOCUS ON THE RADICAL TREND

In order to generate an analysis of the impact of competing nationalist ideologies

on the rise and fall of the Greensboro Association of Poor People, this study must first
provide an appreciation of the ideological structure of Black Nationalist Movement. Such
an evaluation will show how the broader structure of the movement provided certain
options and constraints on the constituent parts of the movement. Put another way, any
useful analysis of the Black Nationalist movement should proceed from at least two
vantage points: from the whole, and from the parts. In this manner, I think the dynamic
character of the movement can be conveyed and a more accurate reading of the
relationship between ideology and activism presented. Therefore, in this chapter, I will
present a rather brief overview of the main contentious ideologies in Contemporary Black
Nationalist Movement. This chapter will round out Part One of the study. The next
section will examine more closely the other side of the dialectic or look at the
metamorphosis of one of the movements parts. I am not interested in all of the ideologies
that emerged during this period because they are not of equal significance. This study is
particularly interested in those ideologies, personalities and organizations that had a more
or less direct impact on GAPPS evolution. Finally, it should be clear from what has been
presented thus far that the analysis that will follow is not innocent but reflects a definite
point of view. I am not interested in celebrations or apologies because these proliferate
the literature and are of dubious value. This study is guided by what could be termed as a
critical perspective. By critical, I mean there is an unrelenting concern for uncovering
mystification, weaknesses and inconsistencies in the ideologies and practices that will be
examined in this study.

Several related questions guide the discussion of the ideological structure of the
Black Nationalist Movement, including: How did Black intellectuals respond to the
multiple dilemmas and evaporation of Civil Rights activism? How did the Black Power
Movement develop as a specific response to the limitations of the Civil Rights
Movements? What were the basic components of Black Power ideology? Why was this
movement superseded by Neo-Pan-Africanism? What was the impact of the so called
ideological struggles in the movement? What was the role of Scientific Marxism in
the decline of the movement? This chapter will present an analysis of these questions by
following the progression of the struggle for ideological hegemony in the movement that
occurred between 1966 and 1974. I am specifically concerned with the response of the
Black radicals because their activism contained an appreciation of the need for
fundamental changes in the status quo. This chapter will show that the radical trend was
dominated first by Black Power ideology, then Neo-Pan-Africanism and finally Marxism.
1

Although this study is primarily concerned with nationalist ideologies, it should be

pointed out that the nationalist response was a reaction to the dilemmas of the Civil Rights
Movement. Some commentary on the transition from Civil Rights to Black Power
therefore is necessary before we examine the Black Nationalist ideologies.
First of all, the theoretical justification for the Civil Rights Movement relies on an
almost complete acceptance of what has been termed variously the Civil Rights

The three categories of ideologies in the CBNM that I employ here are certainly not the only categories
that could be used to classify the different trends in the movement. Turner, Willingham and Reed, for
example, have employed more categories. However, for the limited focus of this study the three categories
listed should provide sufficient basis for the analysis that follows. Cf. James Turner, Black Nationalism:
The Inevitable Response, Negro Digest, Vol. 15 ( January 1971 ); Alex Willingham, California
Dreaming : Eldridge Cleavers Epithet to the Activism of the Sixties, Endarch , Vol. 1 No. 3 ( Winter
1976) , pp. 1-23; Adolph Reed, Jr., Marxism and Nationalism in Afro-America , Social Theory and
Practice, ( Fall 1971 ).

Perspective or the Protest Paradigm.2 The contours of this body of thought were first
shaped during the Classical period of Afro-American political thought, that is, the period
between 1890 to 1915. Of course the major poles of this thought were represented by the
protest ideology elaborated by W.E.B Dubois, on the one hand, and the accomodationist
ideology of Booker T. Washington on the other. 3 Civil Rights ideology and philosophy
derives its inspiration from the rediscovery of the Dubiosian protest tradition.
In my view the most distinctive character of this body of thought is its acceptance
of American Liberal Democratic theory as a valid reduction of reality. According to this
theory the oppression of Black people can be eliminated by the progressive extension of
the so-called rights and privileges contained in the American Constitution.4
Also, the problem of black oppression can be eliminated by appealing to the moral fiber
of the nation which is allegedly based on democratic and egalitarian principles. There is no
need to press for fundamental change in American society, and the optimal strategy
involves protest against inequality and discrimination as well as a reliance on the present
political arrangements to make the appropriate adjustments. Integration, cultural
2

I wish to acknowledge here that the theoretical perspective that emerges in this chapter is mainly drawn
from the works of the Endarch writers. The Endarch writers are associated with the short lived journal
that was produced by the Atlanta University Department of Political Science. Although the Endarch
writers are motivated by a variety of perspectives they are united around a concern for critical selfconscious theoretical speculation. Further, the Endarch writers are explicitly concerned with the
philosophical and epistemological basis of Black social thought. The approach of the Endarch writers is
useful because it allows one to develop long range analysis and theories that have the benefit of knowledge
of antecedent and aggregated Black social thought.
3
Cf. August Meier, Negro Thought in America 1880-1915: Radical Ideologies in the Age of Booker T.
Washington (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1971); W.E.B. Dubois The Souls of Black
Folk(Chicago: A.C. McClury, 1903); Booker T. Washington (ed), The Negro Problem ( New York: J. Pott,
1903). Also see Alex Willingham, The Development of Political Analysis Among Black Thinkers: An
Overview, Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N.C., 1974, pp.
74-109.
4
The most articulate representation of the Civil Rights Perspective can be found in the works of Martin
Luther King ,Jr. See some of the following: Stride Toward Freedom (New York: Harper & Row, 1968);
Why We Cant Wait ( New York Harper & Row, 1964); Equality Now: The President Has the Power,
Nation ( March 3, 1962), pp. 91-95. Also see Roy Wilkins, Wither Black Power? The Crisis ( August
-September 1966), p. 354; and Samuel Dubois Cook, The American Liberal Democratic Tradition, The
Black Revolution and Martin Luther King, Jr., in Hanes Walton Jr., Political Philosophy of Martin
Luther King, Jr. ( Westport: Greenwood Publishing Co., 1971), pp.19-25.

assimilation and reform are the basic strategies for the elimination of Black oppression
according to this view:
...Integration is the only programmatically sound option open to Black people.
Other assumption in this network include the view that the crucial political
questions relative to the Black struggle are tactical ones; that when dealing with
race problem fundamental political questions about the nature of society can be
omitted; that the important political option for black people is choosing among
various civil rights organizations; and that nationalistic are inherently escapist.5
The above constitutes a brief summary of some of the basic ideas contained in the
Protest Paradigm. Although I will not attempt to provide a detailed analysis of this
perspective, it is problematic because it is at variance with the reality of Black life.
American Liberal Democratic theory was employed to rationalize the brutality of a
developing Capitalist system in the United States which had as a distinctive feature slave
labor as a source of capital accumulation.6 It must be remembered, liberal democratic
rhetoric notwithstanding, that this country was established on the extermination of the
original inhabitants and on the subjugation of the vast majority (especially the slaves).
Secondly, to embrace liberal democratic theory is to embrace the existing social,
economic, political, and cultural status quo. I would suggest that the status quo is
precisely the source of Black emiseration and a body of thought that does not recognize
this problem as a starting point is very misleading. Lastly, the cultural assumptions of the
Civil Rights Perspective lend credence to European cultural superiority and does not
appreciate the unique and necessary culture of Afro-American people. For the above, as
well as other reasons, the Civil Rights Movement ideology was destined to run into a dead
end.
5

Mack H. Jones and Alex Willingham,White Custodians of the Black Experience, Social Science
Quarterly, Vol. 51, No. 1 (June 1970) p.32.
6
The contradictions between the ideals of capitalism and the underlying socio-economic and political
realities are discussed in C.B. Macpherson, Democratic Theory: Ontology and Technology, in David
Spitz (ed), Political Theory and Social Change (New York: Atherton Press, 1967). Also see, Eric
Williams, Capitalism and Slavery (New York : Capricorn, 1966).

Although the Civil Rights Movement was able to play a leading role in the
destruction of the Jim Crow segregation system in the South (this is its greatest
accomplishment), the dilemma posed by the basic philosophical and ideological
assumptions of the movement were evident as early as the 1963 March on Washington.
John Lewis, the spokesperson for SNCC, was forced to omit the following from his
speech:
In good conscience we cannot support the Administrations Civil Rights Bill,
for it is too little, and too late. Theres not one thing in the bill that will protect
our people from police brutality...What is in the bill that will protect homeless
and starving people of this nation? What is there in this bill to insure the equality
of a maid who earns $5 a week in the home of a family whose income is
100,000 a year?7
From this brief quote we can see the basic shortcomings of the Civil Rights Movement
and it becomes clear that a nationalist reaction was appropriate. In other words, even
though the Civil Rights Movement was successful in breaking down certain legal barriers
to public accommodations these changes did not radically impact the political economy of
the U.S. and therefore the position of Black folk in the country continued to decline.
More importantly, the so-called gains of this new access went almost exclusively to the
more affluent blacks - the Black elite.8
In summary, one of the most important sources of the dilemma of the Civil Rights
Movement was its reliance on the protest paradigm that was first developed by Dubois
during the Classical Era of Afro-American political thought. The failure of the Civil Rights
thinkers to address the unsettled theoretical questions posed by Duboisian Protest thought
meant the movement proceeded without benefit of self-critical reflection. The danger that
this abdication of philosophical and epistemological responsibilities poses is that the
7

Cited in Joanne Grant (ed), Black Protest: History, Documents and Analysis: 1619 to the Present
(Greenwhich, CT: Fawcett, 1968), p.375.
8
See the works cited in footnote 4 in the previous chapter. See also Manning Marable, Anatomy of
Black Politics, The Review of black Political Economy, Vol. 8, No.4 (Summer 1978), p. 377.

movement will not be able to rise above the dominant explanations of reality and will
become trapped into accommodating oppression. In the aftermath of Civil Rights
Movement this is exactly what happened to the Black elite as they were integrated into the
mainstream, or what some observers call the Post Civil Rights Social Structure.
So despite the mass involvement characteristic of the Civil Rights Movement the
dilemmas of this activism had become painfully apparent by 1966 when the movement was
eclipsed by Black Nationalism. The rumblings of this nationalist explosion were heard in
the relative success of the Nation of Islam but the most important development in this
regard was the rise of Malcolm X as recognized spokesperson for the new nationalist
trend. The ideas of Malcolm crystallized the potential of this movement to solve a number
of the pressing theoretical and practical problems associated with the Civil Rights
Perspective. In my view his most important contribution was to point out the structural
causes of Black oppression and therefore discredit one of the fundamental assumptions of
Liberal democratic Theory:
The system in this country cannot produce freedom for an Afro-American. It is
impossible for this system, this economic system, this political system, this social
system , this system period. Its impossible for this system, as it stands, to
produce freedom right now for the Black man in this country.9
Through his writings and speeches Malcolm X was able to clarify the systematic causes of
Black exploitation. In contrast to the Civil rights Perspective, Malcolm propagated the
idea that Black people cannot appeal to the moral authority of the United States because
the history of the country revealed its moral bankruptcy. Instead of integration (before
Malcolm broke with the Nation of Islam in 1963 he would refer to integration as crawling
back on the plantation), Malcolm promoted the idea that Black people should control their
own communities, institutions and political economy. Afro-Americans formed an
9

Gorge Breitman (ed), The Last Year of Malcolm X (New York: Merit,

oppressed nation according to Malcolm and could only achieve freedom with the
destruction of capitalism. At the same time he was able to shatter the cultural
assimilationist assumptions contained in the Civil Rights perspective and promote AfroAmerican culture.10 It must also be pointed out that Malcolms ideas were formative,
some contradictory and they were not elaborated into a comprehensive nationalist theory
that would be self-conscious about its antecedents. While Malcolm was clear capitalism
would not be able to provide a solution to the dilemma of the Black man in America he
was less clear on what would replace this system. Simply pointing to some kind of
nebulous socialism as Malcolm did (during the last years of his life) only adds to the
confusion. Malcolms views on women were heavily influenced by his religion. Women
were to be submissive and supportive according to Malcolm. These views are of course
unacceptable because they support the oppression of women and therefore retard the
development of the movement from within. In fact, Malcolms philosophical and religious
outlook needs to be subjected to rigorous criticism in order to rescue the more positive
contributions of his theories and practice. Unfortunately, his untimely death in 1965 meant
one of the important thinkers in recent history was not able to bring his ideas to fruition.
The assassination of Malcolm X brought about a situation where every nationalist
organization in the country would try to pimp off his political legacy.11
Malcolms death and the decline of mass Civil Rights activism served to usher in a
new movement that was to establish hegemony over Black Activism from 1966 until its
decline in the early 1970s. The first phase of this nationalist upsurge was the so-called
Black Power Movement. Although the Black Power slogan and concept was first put
10

Malcolm X, On Afro-American History ( New York: Pathfinder Press, 1970 ).

Cf, Carl Ogleby (ed), Introduction to Malcolms I Dont Mean Bananas, In The New Left Reader
( New York: Grove Press, 1969) ,pp. 207- 208. See also, Alex Willingham, Chapter Four of his
dissertation,op. Cit.,p. 165.
11

forward by Adam Clayton Powell in 1965, it was not until Stokely Carmichael and his
side-kick Willie Ricks shouted the Black Power chant on the Meredith March Against
Fear that it became widely popular.12 Almost overnight Black power moved from a
vague undefined slogan to an ideology expressing the viewpoints of almost every trend in
the Black Activist Movement. Both old and new organizations embraced the new concept
including the Student Non-Violent Coordination Committee, the Congress of Racial
Equality (CORE), the Black Power Conferences, the U.S. organization, the Black Panther
Party and the North Carolina Nationalists.
By 1967 Stokely Carmichael and Charles V. Hamilton set forth what they
considered to be the basic tenets of Black Power:
It is a call for Black people in this country to unite, to recognize their
heritage, to build a sense of community. It is a call for Black people to
begin to define their own goals, to lead their own organizations and to
support those organizations. It is a call to reject the racist institutions and
values of this society.13
The vagueness of the above definition was both a source of strength and weakness.
Defining Black Power in these terms meant that the new concept was flexible enough to fit
almost any nationalist program. This flexibility allowed for a great deal of independent
thinking and action as local organizations sought to realize their particular understanding
of this concept. A tremendous amount of grassroots activism was generated in this fashion
and thousands of Black Power organizations sprang up all around the country. Also
following Malcolms example the advocates of Black power began to critique the cultural
imperatives of the existing social order. The assimilationist stance was severely criticized

12

Robert Allen describes how the Meridith March became the launching pad for Black Power in Black
Awakening in Capitalist America (New York : Doubleday, 1969),pp. 21-22.
13
Stokely Carmichael and Charles V. Hamilton, BlackPower: The Politics of Liberation in America (New
York: Vintage Books, 1967) , p.44.

and once again the nationalist trend in the historical development of Black thought had
achieved hegemony (at least temporarily).
As pointed out earlier, though, the amorphous character of Black Power as a body
of social thought was a source of serious problems. The loose definition of this concept
allowed opportunist and reactionary elements to also claim to be advocates of a particular
brand of Black Power. This problem became particularly acute in the hands of cultural
apparatus and pretty soon we were treated to: You can be Black and Navy too, Say it
loud, Im Black and Im Proud, Smoke Newports like the Brother in the Blue Dashiki,
the Mod Squad and the whole series of Black exploitation films. In other words, being
Black was in fashion and Blackness was quickly turned into a hot commodity. In the
political arena we saw the co-optation strategy in Nixons Black Capitalism14 and in the
resurgence of the Revolving door Negro phenomenon.15
The rapid rise of the Black Power Movement obscures the fact that in many
respects the political positions of the movement actually represented a retrogression from
some of the more advanced positions articulated by Malcolm X. For example, we can
note the following statements by Carmichael and Hamilton:
The concept of Black Power rests on a fundamental premise: Before a group can
enter the open society it must first close ranks. By this we mean that group
solidarity is necessary before a group can operate effectively from a bargaining
position of strength in a pluralist society.16
This statement reveals the influence of modern liberal democratic theory on the thinking of
these Black Power advocates. Carmichael and Hamilton adopt the latest vogue in
14

Allen, op. cit., pp. 228-232.

Revolving door Negro was a phrase coined by spokesmen of the Black Power Movement to describe
the practice of governments, corporations and institutions that would hire one Black person to break down
a series of racial barriers in one department, company, or school. One representative Black would be
chosen to become the first Negro to hold some succession of appointments or positions. A popular novel
of the times that played on this hypocritical practice was Sam Greenlees The Spook Who Sat By the Door
(New York: Bantam Books , 1969).
16
Carmicheal and Hamilton, op. cit., pp. 44-45.
15

American Political Science - the pluralist conception of society.17 Without getting into a
detailed critique of this concept suffice it to say that it was derived from a long list of
liberal democratic rationalizations which serve the same purpose as the Civil Rights
Perspective noted earlier.18 The assumption that America is a pluralist society obscures the
structural stratification of the American political economy and therefore mystifies the
position of Blacks in the process.
But what is more disturbing is that the above quote is not an isolated instance of
theoretical backwardness. When we examine the content of Carmichaels and Hamiltons
comprehensive summation of the ideology of black Power, we can uncover a systematic
utilization of modern American ideology. This dependency can be seen in their reliance on
the theories of Banfield, Key, Morganthau, and Apter to explain what they mean by Black
Power. Need to insert a footnote here Although making use of the concepts contained in
another theoretical tradition is an acceptable practice this methodology must be
accompanied by a thoroughgoing epistemological critique. Failure to critique the
particular biases of theories leads to the unconscious absorption of the values of those
theories. This point can be illustrated by taking the example of David Apters contribution
to the ideology of Black Power.
The advocates of Black Power suggest that the theory of political modernization
developed by David Apter can be used to help solve the so-called race problem.19 But it
should be pointed out here that Apters theories on political modernization help form the
basis of American neocolonial policy in Africa. The specific purpose of this theory is was
17

Useful critiques of the pluralist conception of society can be found in Ralph Miliband, The State and
Capitalist Society (New York: Basic Books, 1969), pp. 1-48; Nicos Poulantzas, Political Power and Social
Classes (London: New Left Books, 1975), pp. 104-114; Michael Parenti, Power and the Powerless (New
York: St. Martinss Press. 1978); and Floyd Hunter, Community Power Succession: Atlantas PolicyMakers Revisited Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1980).
18
MacPherson, op. cit., pp. 203-220.
19
David E. Apter, The Politics of Modernization (Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1965).

to justify the exploitative relations between the advanced capitalist nations and the socalled underdeveloped world. Against this background one would have to raise serious
questions about the emancipatory potential of this pro-imperialist concept. Consequently,
the use of this concept and others by CarmichealCarmichael and Hamilton in the
explication of Black Power ideology reveals the theoretical poverty and dependence of
Black Power ideology on a Liberal Democratic interpretation of reality.
Predictably, the initial attempts to elaborate the meaning of Black Power produced
theoretical confusion and it comes as no surprise that two years later Carmichael and
Hamilton have both rejected this eclectic conception for Pan-Africanism. But before we
analyze this later development some summary statements are necessary. When we look at
the rise of Black Power as a particular expression of Nationalism the subsequent
absorption of this particular movement by the American state can be understood. Here I
would suggest four considerations:
1) Black Power as a concept and ideology was amorphous from the start and
lacked an appreciation of the problematics contained in previous Black
thought.
2) Black Power as a body of ideas did not present a comprehensive critique of the
Civil Rights Perspective and therefore a tendency to rely on dominant analysis
was fatal.
3) Black Power thinkers did not concern themselves with critical self-conscious
theoretical activity therefore did not appreciate the necessity of philosophical
and epistemological speculation.
4) The abdication of these theoretical responsibilities lead to a search for an
ideological solution.
The implications of the above observations should be clear - the internal basis for the
cooptation of the Black Power Movement can be traced to a particular reduction of reality
that was ultimately based on liberal democratic thought. Later, we will examine how this
process unfolded in Greensboros case.

Radical elements within the black Power Movement reacted to the dilemma of the
movement by distinguishing themselves from the vulgar and co-opted notions. Instead of
providing a radical and comprehensive critique of Black Power and coming to terms with
the liberal tradition in Black thought the radicals simply called for a new ideology:
Those who were responsible to carry on radical protest had now
come to assume that the most important characteristic of their
own was the correctness of their ideology which was now to be
found fully articulated ( should I say prefabricated ) in sources
extrinsic to the praxis followed, the relevant commentary on
that praxis or its own heavy contradictions.20
Neo-Pan -Africanism evolves as specific response to the dilemma faced by the black
Power radicals and by 1972 nearly all to the former Black Power organizations and
advocates were converted ( as in religious conversion ) to the new gospel.
The hegemony of Neo-Pan-Africanism was ushered in by both old and new forces.
Stokely Carmichael and his All African Peoples Revolutionary Party, the North Carolina
Nationalist (this conglomeration included Owusu Sadauki, Nelson Johnson, the MXLU,
GAPP, SOBU and African World Newspaper) , and Imamu Baraka of the Congress of
African People, were the major forced responsible for the elaboration and rapid spread of
the new ideology across the country.21 However, at the precise moment that this particular
ideological conception achieved dominance with the coming into being of the National
Black Political Assembly and the African Liberation Support Committee a rapid decline set
in and by 1974-1975 the new movement was fractured into a number of insignificant sects.
Again, the question is posed: What happened? With all the potential, undying love and

20

Alex Willingham, The Impact of Activism on Political Thought in Black America: Focus on the
Sixties, unpublished draft prepared for presentation at the Symposium on Race, Politics and Culture,
Howard University, Washington, D.C., October 7-8 1977, p.17.
21
Cf. Ronald Walters, The New Black Political Culture, Black World, Vol.21, no.12 (October 1972 ),
pp.4-17; Imamu A. Baraka, Toward the Creation of Political Institution for All African Peoples, Black
World ,Vol. 21, No. 12 (October 1972), pp. 54-78.

resources, why did Neo-Pan-Africanism experience a fate similar to the Civil Rights and
Black Power Movement?
Although the Neo-Pan-African trend in the contemporary Black Nationalist
Movement was expressed a variety of forms, from cultural nationalist xenophobia (Haki
Madhubuti, the East, AAPP) 22 to semi-socialist Nkrumahism, my approach here is to
examine the latter variety. The focus on Nkrumahism is justified because it was the most
comprehensive elaboration and it has been the most influential trend.
According to Stokely Carmichael, Nkrumahism is the ideology that all African
people should live by because it is supposed to be a totally Black creation. The argument
is that because Marx was a white boy and he dealt primarily with European reality our
concern should be to locate and utilize an ideology that is concerned with the African
experience.23 Also, because we are all African people our primary concern should be the
liberation of Africa. These concerns have been expressed repeatedly in a number of
contexts:
We (AAPRP) are Nkrumahists, thats our ideology, our objective is PanAfricanism. We define Pan-Africanism as the total liberation and unification of
Africa under scientific socialism. We understand that when this objective
is achieved, the black man will be free all over the world and Africa will play
a powerful force in world socialist revolution.24
Several points need to brought out here. While propagating African consciousness is a
positive accomplishment of the Neo-Pan-Africanist Movement it must be pointed out that
four centuries of existence in the western hemisphere has given birth to a cultural
particularity that has both African and American aspects. Simply declaring that we are an
22

Jennifer Jordan dissects two varieties of cultural nationalism in the 60s in her instructive article,
Cultural Nationalism in the Sixties: Politics and Poetry, found in Adolf Reed Jr. (ed) , The Circle and
the Spiral..., op. cit.
23
Stokely Carmichael, Marxism-Leninism and Nkrumahism, Black Scholar, Vol. 4, No. 5 (February
1973), p. 42.
24
Stokely Carmichael, Position Statement of Stokely Carmichael: Of the All African Peoples
Revolutionary Party The African World.Vol. 4, No. 5 (July 1974 ), P. 9.

African people does not erase our specific historical existence. The Neo-Pan-Africanists
and the Nkrumahists would have us ignore this question and abdicate our responsibility to
struggle for a better existence in the U.S. Thus, by definition the Neo-Pan-Africanist
ideology begins and ends in an escapist dialogue that mystifies the Black experience in
America.25
Related to the escapist nature of Neo-Pan-Africanist thought is its conception of
what constitutes theoretical work. Ideological struggle is seen as the basic content of
theoretical work:
It is extremely important that we develop ideological clarity through
serious study and work: 1) because on-going ideological struggle, constant
inner reflection, continuous self-criticism, though reappraisal of our conduct, and
unending re-evaluation of our revolutionary maturity within the Party, we enable
our positive practice to triumph over negative action, 2) because ideological
clarity guards us against reactionary ideologies and also ideologist whose
intentions are to destroy, misinterpret and adulterate Nkrumahism.26
The above explanation reveals one of the basic sources of failure for the Neo-PanAfricanist paradigm: a very narrow and superficial conception of what constitutes Black
theoretical work. Theoretical work in the context of Black social thought should be
concerned with the articulation of a precise critique of the American social formation from
the standpoint of culture, economics and politics. This work should locate Black folk in
the U.S. historically and contemporarily from the standpoint of structural or systemic
analysis. In order words, theoretical work should concern itself with all the phenomena
that are responsible for the exploitation of Black people in the U.S. and elaborate
programs of action based on these concrete analyses. However, what we get from NeoPan-Africanism is Black political narcissism or what Willingham has termed Black
25

Adolf Reed Jr., Pan-Africanism-Ideology for Liberation, Black Scholar , Vol 3 No. 1 (September
1971) , pp. 2-13.
26
Nkrumahism- Ideology of the All African Peoples Revolutionary Party, Leaflet published by AAPRP,
Atlanta, Georgia, 1980.

incest.27 It is this narcissism and incest that is at the root cause of the decline of NeoPan-Africanism as a trend in the contemporary Black Nationalist Movement. The socalled struggle for ideological purity leads to factionalism, the abdication of theoretical
work, and the wholesale burning out of cadre. 28
Neo-Pan-Africanism had a significant following among the Black radicals in the
CBNM from about 1971 until about 1974. Although the ideational sources of the rise and
fall of Neo-Pan-Africanism have been discussed above, we should also point out the role
of the great debate in this process. The great debate, of course, refers to the so called
ideological struggle in the U.S. Many coalitions of activists, intellectuals and students
were brought together as a result of ALSCs program and yearly demonstrations. In fact,
ALSC chapters were started in over 50 major cities in the U.S. and with representatives in
Canada, the Caribbean and Tanzania. The organization can be appreciated if we examine
its composition:
The formation of the ALSC was a significant development in the Black
Liberation Movement, as it brought together many different forces around the
common goals African liberation and Black liberation... It included a whole
spectrum of Pan-Africanist and nationalist forces, including Malcolm X
Liberation University (Greensboro, N.C.), Peoples College (Nashville Tenn.),
Youth Organization for Black Unity (YOBU), Congress of Afrikan Peoples,
Stokely Carmichaels All Africkan Peoples Revolutionary Party (AAPRP) , the
Pan Afrikan Peoples Organization (San Francisco), the Pan-African CongressUSA, the Family NTOTO (Oakland) and others.30
ALSCs composition gives only a partial indication of the importance of this organization.
We can also look at the impact of the organizations activities to get a more complete
picture. ALSCs yearly African Liberation Day demonstrations mobilized thousands of
27

Alex Willingham, Ideology and Politics..., op. cit.

Manning Marable, Black Nationlism in the 1970s : Through thePrism of Race and Class, Socialist
Review, Vol. 10, Nos. 2 & 3 (March-June 1980) , pp. 83-91.
30
Unity and Struggle - History of the Revolutionary Communist League (MLN), Forward, No. 3
(January 1980), pp. 81-82.
28

Afro-Americans to support African Liberation Movements and the anti-imperialist and

anti-racist struggle. In May 1972 more that 60,000 demonstrated in the nations capital.
Decentralized demonstrations were held in 1973 and over 100,000 people participated in
cities across the U.S., in the Caribbean and in Tanzania. ALSC also waged nationwide
campaigns against the Byrd Amendment and against the spread of the South African gold
coin (the Kruggerand). In between these activities the group sponsored fund raising
campaigns, held seminars on the African Liberation Movements and held local
demonstrations around local issues. These activities contributed to an increased
awareness among Afro-Americans of the importance and link between the African
liberation struggle and the Black Liberation Movement.
It should be recalled that Neo-Pan-Africanism assumed hegemony over radical
elements in the CBNM in the most uncritical fashion. The new theoreticians of PanAfricanism (Stokely Carmichael, Owusu Sadakai, Imamu Baraka ) simply declared Pan
Africanism to be the highest expression of Black Power and vanquished all the internal
inconsistencies and unsolved theoretical problems in one sweep. But while this change in
ideological positions was accomplished rather openly, the same cannot be said for the
change from Pan-Africanism to what some observers call the New Magic Marxism.31
The first signs of this change came from the NCN or more precisely from the leading
personalities associated with MXLU, YOBU, and GAPP.32 However, the most significant
development in this regard was the organizational consolidation of left nationalist within
31

Cf. Adolf Reed. Jr., Scientistic Socialism: Notes on the New Afro-American Magic Marxism,
Endarch, Vol.1 (Fall 1974), pp. 21-39. Abdul Alkalimat, A Scientific Approach to Black Liberation:
Which Road Against Racism and Imperialism for the Black Liberation Movement? Pamphlet published
by Peoples Collge, Nashville, Tenn. (June1974); and see Abdual Alkalimat and Nelson Johnson, Toward
the Ideological Unity of the African Liberation Support Committee: A response to Criticism of the ALSC
Statement of Principles, Peoples College Press, Nashville, Tenn. and Greensboro, N.C., 1974.
32
See the revealing confession of Imamu Baraka in Why I Changed My Ideology, Black World(July
1975), pp. 30-42. See also Owusu Sadaukais speech to the 1974 ALSC Conference on the Future of the
Black Liberation Movement, Position Statement of Owusu Sadaukai, The African World (July 1974),
pp.11-14.

the ALSC. Around 1973 these left nationalists from YOBU, MXLU, GAPP, Peoples
College, a collective of former Kawaida Nationalists from New Jersey, the Lynn Eusan
Institute (Houston, Texas), the Black Workers Organizing Collective (Bay Area,
California), formed a secret Black-Pre-Party organization.33
This left faction operated as a secret organization within ALSC for almost two
years: from about 1973 until 1975. During this time the other elements ideological
tendencies within ALSC speculated that the left forces had achieved some measure of
organization but the cultural nationalist and Pan-Africanist could not produce proof of any
unprincipled activity. Instead, the Pan-Africanist and cultural nationalists resorted to wild
accusations and slander. An example of the confusion and ill feeling can be seen from an
article that appeared in one of the Pan-Africanists newsletters:
A Southern strategy has been used to disenfranchise the Pan-African Nationalist
communities of the North and Midwest and the result has been a whitenizing of the ALSC
apparatus. The brothers behind this southern strategy are Dawolu Gene Locke (Texas),
Owusa Sasaukai (North Carolina), Nelson Johnson (North Carolina), and Alkalimat
(Tennessee). These brothers have began to move the African Liberation
Support Committee down the Marxist-Leninist road. 34
Along with the above charges, rumors were circulated that the leading personalities and
organizations were being duped by white left money and white left women.35 Thus,
several factors are responsible for the violent and sectarian character of the subsequent
ideological struggle within ALSC and in the Black Nationalist Movement as a whole:1)

33

The terms left faction and left nationalist are used to described those elements in ALSC whose
self-perception corresponds to these categories. Whether these elements have anything in common with
Marxism is open for debate. At any rate, the left faction that formed in ALSC around 1973 had the
benefit of internal organization, national contacts, and considerable resources. Relevant documents
include some of the following: Overview, unpublished internal evaluation of the left faction,
Greensboro, N.C. (August 1974); Political Statement 1974: The Black Liberation Movement and
Marxism-Leninism, unpublished draft, Nashville, Tenn., 1974; May Day, Monthly Journal of the
Revolutionary Workers League (RWL), Nos. 1-5 (Summer 1974-Spring 1975). See also ,Supra, pp. 5 and
n 7.
34
Jitu Weusi, African Liberation Day - Which Way Now ? Black News (June 1974).
35
Nelson Johnson, taped interview, Greensboro, North Carolina, October 22, 1980. See also, Mark Smith,
op. Cit., p. 50.

the unprincipled and dishonest method of operation of the left faction,2) the rumors and
slander propagated by the cultural nationalist and 3) the vulgar ideological catechisms of
both the left faction and the Pan-Africanist/cultural nationalists faction.
Marxist ideological and organizational hegemony in the ALSC was assured before
the May 1974 ALSC National conference. The 1974 Conference was really the
culmination of a process of change in ideological disposition among the NCN and their
allies that had begun as early as late 1972. More importantly, I wish to stress that the
change from Neo-Pan-Africanism to Marxism was accomplished in the most mechanical
way possible. At the risk of oversimplification I think the basic process can be described
as follows: first, certain key leadership elements would be convinced of the superiority of
the new ideological perspective; next, a limited amount of discussion would take place
among the rank and file members of the various organizations; and then the new ideology
was declared the most correct for those who considered themselves revolutionary. What
little theoretical reflection and struggle that was carried out took place on the leadership
level. After the declaration of Marxism or more specifically scientific socialism as the
new ideology then it was merely a matter of organizational consolidation and bureaucratic
maneuvering that would ensure the dominance of this ideological perspective in ALSC.
This view of how Marxism achieved dominance in ALSC is confirmed by Owusu Saiuakai
in an interview held in 1980:
...I think the critical error that was made when those of us began to take up the
study of Marxism and tried to just come in there and just change everything. And
instead of really trying to figure out a way to broaden we really were pushing
people out, which was a real mistake...
Really, quite frankly what happened was that people got out-organized. I
meanpeople like Baraka, Haki, they got out-organized. So when they (the PanAfricanist/ Cultural Nationalist ) came to Frogmore it was really you know, it was
cut and dried ...We had every ALSC chapter, you know, wired up. They were all
SOBU people...so any kind of vote there was no winning... But I think the manner

in which the shit was done, instead of building unity caused a whole lot of disunity
and did not allow for people who could have developed to progress.36
The impact of these sectarian maneuvers and the manner in which the ideological
struggle was conducted of course caused a fatal split in ALSC and the organization
promptly vanished from the scene almost as quickly as it had come into being. By May
1975 there were three or four different African Liberation Day demonstrations put on by
different splinters from the original African Liberation Support Committee and from white
left groups such as the Revolutionary Union (RU) and the October League (OL). What
began in 1972 as a mass based Black movement had degenerated into a squabble among
various sects on the new left.
Again, I wish to point out the internal character of this degeneration, which can be
traced to the narrow, vulgar and positivist conception of Marxist ideology propagated by
the left faction. Although I will not discuss all the aspects of the vulgar Marxist
ideological perspective here, a few comments on the basic content of this paradigm are
necessary. First, the left factions conception of Marxist ideology was a fatal illusion.
Marxism was perceived as a flawless science which had the power to explain all
phenomena and solve all problems if applied correctly.37 The problem of social
transformation simply awaited the optimal convergence of circumstances because the
revolutionaries had the correct application of Marxist-Leninist Principles, scientific
methodology and proletarian styles of work. Only the passage of time and the gaining of
experience stood in the way of socialist revolution in the United States. In other words,
the left faction was guided by a positivist vision of Marxism as the science of revolution
and an appeal was made to the power of scientific method:

36
37

Owusu Sadaukai, taped interview by Akbar Muhammad Ahmad, Atlanta, Georgia, December 1980.
Alkalimat, op. cit., pp. 3-6, 11-12.

A scientific analysis always reveals the class contradiction as the essence of all
problems within capitalist society... The only revolutionary nationalists today are
those that are guided by the science of the working class...38
Of course the result of the left factions view of Marxism was to turn that particular body
of knowledge into a useless dogma.39 The problem with the radicals viewpoint of science
is that it promotes the most vulgar empiricism and reduces the role of human agents and
consciousness to mere epiphenomena. Marxism is presented as a series of steps and rules
which will ensure anticipated results if applied correctly. Thus philosophical and
epistemological speculations are seen as useless enterprises because one need only concern
himself with understanding and applying the objective laws of science.40 This view of
science is not new but has its philosophical roots in the positivism of the Enlightenment. 41
From a positivist epistemology it is quite easy to leap into a mechanical materialist
view of the sources of consciousness. Thus, it should not be surprising that the left faction
would interpret Marxs dictum on social being determining social consciousness in a most
dogmatic fashion. According to the left faction the most important element in determining
social consciousness is ones material circumstances. Revolutionary consciousness or
proletarian consciousness can only be the product of the working class and if one
wanted to be a revolutionary then first and foremost one must be a worker. I might be
accused of exaggerating the mechanical and vulgar character of the Marxist ideology that
guided the development of ALSC and a significant portion of the Black Nationalist
Movement, however, a consideration of their own words should prove the contrary:
We are moving to consolidate and build a proletarian organization, a task that involves
three aspects:
38

Ibid., p. 11.
Reed, no. 1, op. cit., p. 36.
40
Ibid., p. 31.
41
Cf. Alvin Gouldner, op. cit., pp. 6-22; Max Horkheimer, Critical Theory (New York: Herder and Herder,
1972); Karl Korsch, Marxism and Philosophy (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1970); and George
Lukacs, History and Class Consciousness: Studies in Marxist Dialectics (Cambrigde: MIT Press, 1971).
39

1.
2.
3.

Sink Deep Roots in the working position of the proletariat by getting

working class jobs.
Immerse ourselves in the study of science of Marxism-Lenininsm - the
ideology of the proletariat
Build a Black pre-party communist organization of the proletariat. Ours is
a transitional organization leading to a multinational communist party,
guided by a universally valid science ,as the advanced staff of a united
multinational working class. 42

The result of this particular vision of Marxist ideology was the rather rapid death of the
left faction. Black Liberation and the Race Question took a back seat to the lofty goal
of multi-national unity with the working class. Although the vulgar Marxists would
always insist that the condition of Black people in America had to be analyzed from the
standpoint of class and race contradictions, in actual practice attention to racial questions
were eliminated.43 In fact, previous activism in the Black Movement was termed bourgeois
nationalism and proposals were advanced to destroy the ALSC and other Black
Nationalist organizations such as the Greensboro Association of Poor People.44
In short, the basic content of Marxist ideology as perceived by the left faction was
founded on empiricist and positivist philosophy. These philosophical and intellectual
currents are hardly revolutionary and they certainly have limited utility for understanding
the Black predicament in America. However, because our magic Marxist did not confront
the theoretical problematics contained in Marxism a radical critique of the American social
formation that would penetrate or go beyond the limits of American liberalism was not
forthcoming. More importantly the turn to Marxist ideology did not clarify or develop a
cogent and useful analysis of the objective position of Black people in America. Political
solutions were confined to building a revolutionary organization capable of
overthrowing the present status quo. Cultural problems were no longer considered
42

Introducing May Day: Our Current Task, May Day ( May-June 1974), pp. A-3.
Alkalimat, op. cit., p. 3. Also see Alkalimat and Johnson, op. cit .,p. 50.
44
Proposal for Our Future Work with ALSC, May Day (July-August 1974), pp. 2-9.
43

important enough for systematic work while economic praxis was confined to the most
banal and petty wage demands. At the bottom the new Marxism was simply another
version of escapism: the back to Africa solution was replaced by the myth of a
revolutionary proletariat.
While the foregoing analysis is somewhat schematic, I believe sufficient data has
been provided to posit a few preliminary hypotheses. First, Black intellectuals and
activists have failed to provide a cogent analysis of the antecedent dilemmas contained in
Black social thought. The results of this failure can be seen in the absence of critical
historical perspective in the ideologies and activism of the post Civil Rights Era. Further,
the previous overview reveals that Black intellectuals and activists have refused to engage
substantial philosophical and epistemological questions from the standpoint of an exploited
Black people. Black social thought and more particularly Black political thought is
therefore underdeveloped and tends to rely on the existing dominant explanation of reality.
The underdevelopment of Black political thought has provided the basis for the continued
reliance on aggregated ideologies which do not explain or clarify the fundamental nature
of Black existence in America. Consequently, Black political thought has been unable to
generate a system of ideas and programs that would be capable of sustaining a liberating
thrust.45
When we examine the trajectory of the CBNM it becomes clear that the most
fundamental problem has been what Reed calls the Department Store Approach to
ideology. The leading activists and theorists of the CBNM changed ideological
perspectives like one would change pampers on a baby. Willingham summarizes what I am
suggesting here when he asserts:
45

This observation is not new. Harold Cruse, speaking of a different era, made similar observations and
developed the tripartite method of analysis. See for example Harold Cruse, The Crisis of the Negro
Intellectual (New York: Morrow, 1967).

...The main problem here has to do with the capacity to distinguish between
ideology and effective social theory. What we have seen in the past and
especially in the evolution during the 60s through Duboisian Protest, Black
Power, Black Nationalism, Pan-Africanism, intercommunalism or MarxistLeninism is the tendency to select already defined ideology and stipulate the Black
theoretical task as one of taking it to the people.46
Obviously, Black intellectuals and activists will not be able to provide meaningful direction
unless they confront the problem of subordinating Black social thought to the ideological
fad of the moment. This brief overview of the ideological structure of the CBNM shows
that the Black radicals simply did not concern themselves with the necessary substantial
questions within Black Political Philosophy. Thus, the larger questions that would
challenge the dependency of Black political thought on the liberal American paradigm
were never raised. Until these larger theoretical questions are appreciated and clarified, it
would seem one logical consequence is a continued inability to sustain Black political
activism. More importantly the activism that does develop is likely to be effectively
administered by the new Black elites and the status quo. In reality these developments are
already in place.
The previous overview of the ideological structure of the CBNM shows that in the
post Civil Rights Era, Black activism has been guided by uncritical ideological
perspectives that do not contain systematic critique of the previous Black social theory nor
do they contain an effective critique of American Liberalism. Black activism has therefore
unwittingly aided the American state in its quest to manage authentic opposition. Again
we are left with the same dilemma Harold Cruse analyzed at the beginning of the 60s:
Black intellectuals simply refuse to perform the obligatory task of developing critical
Black social theory. The absence or paucity of Black social theory has meant the
revolutionary project has been postponed indefinitely.
46

Willingham, Ideology and politics..., op. cit., p. 11.

Finally, I should point out the absence of profound theoretical grounding meant the
CBNM was ultimately enslaved to the superficial utterances of movement superstars.
With this type base, it is easy to see that when the going got tough the movement fell
apart from within. The rise and fall of the thousands of Black nationalist organizations
during the period of radical hegemony is a telling example of the inability of Black
intellectuals and activist to go beyond cute slogans.

PART 2

CHAPTER 3
BLACK POWER, BLACK ACTIVISM
AND THE RISE OF THE GREENSBORO ASSOCIATION OF POOR PEOPLE

The previous section presented a critical discussion of the ideological structure of

the Black Nationalist Movement from 1966 to the effective demise of the African
Liberation Support Committee in 1974. This brief overview was not meant to be
exhaustive because the focus was the response of radical Black activists and intellectuals.
Nevertheless, such an overview does provide a theoretical lens or frame of reference for
the analysis that follows. Again, the basic thesis of this study is that the ideological
structure of the movement provided contextual constraints on the activism of the
Greensboro Association of Poor People and hence the direction or evolution of the
organization was in large part determined by the content of the guiding ideological
perspective. Consequently, this section will track the evolution of GAPP by presenting a
recapitulation and analysis of some of the most important activities of the organization.
Before we proceed, several caveats should be taken into consideration. First, the
periodization of GAPPs history that I employ in this section is somewhat arbitrary
because it is impossible to impose hard and fast lines of demarcation on a process that was
essentially fluid and contentious. In GAPPs history there were conflicting ideological
perspectives existing simultaneously despite the overall hegemony of one particular
viewpoint. The dominance of one ideological perspective does not mean that every action
will be guided by that perspective; on the contrary, particular kinds of actions will be
motivated by a variety of concerns including previous ideological dispositions. GAPP was
never able to make a complete break from its original ideological disposition as a Black
Nationalist or more specifically a Black Power organization. Nor was the organization
able to escape the influence of the dominant societal ideological and cultural assumptions.

Hence the periods of ideological hegemony that I outline in this section must be seen as
relative points of demarcation that characterized the period as a whole.
Along with the above note of caution, it should be clear that the forces of
cooptation and repression also had an important impact on the evolution of GAPP.
Although cooptation and repression are not the main focus, the study will examine some
specific examples of this problem where appropriate.
Lastly, whereas the previous section was mainly theoretical, this section will look
more closely at the specific activities and programs of GAPP during its most popular and
successful period: GAPPs Black Power phase which covers the period of its creation
until about 1970. This period was characterized by a very intense level of activism and the
organization was able to make a significant impact on the political climate of the area.
While this study will not look at all the activities of the organization, it will highlight and
evaluate some of the more significant events. The determination of what to include here is
primarily based on interviews with leading and rank and file members of GAPP.1
GAPP developed in a state that cultivates a progressive image (a New South
state) to hide the underlying reactionary social structure. North Carolina ranks 12th in the
country in terms of population - about 5 million - but only four cities have populations
over 100,000 people.2 North Carolina is blessed with the dubious distinction of having the
lowest rate of unionization and the lowest industrial wage in the country.3 At the same
time the state has more prisons that any other state in the country. The present ruling
elites in the state are composed of banking, utilities, textiles, trucking, tobacco and real
estate interests. V.O. keys description of the ruling interests in the state still holds true
today:
1

See the interviews conducted by the author with ten key members and supporters of GAPP. Appendix II.
Micheal Myerson, Nothing Could Be Finer (New York: International Publishers, 1978) , p.141.
3
Ibid., p. 146.
2

An aggressive aristocracy of manufacturing and banking centered around

Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Charlotte and Durham, has had a tremendous stake in
state policy and has not been remiss in protecting and advancing what it visualizes
as it interests. Consequently, a sympathetic respect for the problems of corporate
capital and of large employers permeates the states politics and government.4
Textile, in particular, exercise a significant influence over the states socio-economic and
political climate. Almost 300,000 workers are employed in the mills of North Carolina
which are mainly located in an industrial belt called the Piedmont 5 Greensboro is located
in the gateway of the states industrial and urban complex.
Two factors stand out in the historical development of the social structure of North
Carolina and Greensboro. The states history is characterized by an almost unbroken
legacy of racist terror and reaction. Since the institution of slavery the state along with
racist groups like the Ku Klux Klan have played an active role in the subjugation and
persecution of Black people, poor people and progressive activists. The states all -out
effort to convict and jail the Wilmington 10 and its complicity in the acquittal of Klansmen
and Nazis murderers are contemporary examples of a racist legacy that cannot be covered
up with the New South public relations rhetoric.6 In fact, as Myerson observes, the
effect is like rouge on a corpse. In contrast, the second most distinguishing factor in the
states history is the almost unbroken struggle of Black people in the state to improve their
conditions of life. The sit-in movement, for instance originated in Greensboro when four
freshman from North Carolina A& T State University (formally, College) refused to leave
Woolworths when refused service. Also in 1969 the most successful rebellion in the
country unfolded as the Black community along with A & T students fought local police
and national guard troops for several days (more on this later). Thus, it is not surprising
4

V.O. Key, Southern Politics (New York: Peter Smith, 1949) , p. 211.
Myerson, op. cit. , p. 122.
6
Cf. Myerson, op. cit. See also Paul and Sally Bermanzohn, The Greensboro Massacre (New York: Ceasar
Cauce Publishers, 1981).
5

that some of the most important organizations and leadership of the Black Nationalist
Movement would come from Greensboro, North Carolina.
Greensboro is the second largest city in the state with an estimated 1980
population of 166,300.7 Approximately one third of the citys population is Black (or
about 50,000). While the citys economy is relatively healthy, the majority of Black
residents do not share in the prosperity of the area. According to the 1970 census there
were twice as many black households as compared to white households living below the
poverty line.8 The median income for white families in 1970 was about $10,166 while the
median income for Black families was $6,563.9 Unemployment data for Guilford County
show that while Blacks make up 20.5 percent of the labor force, they make up over 30
percent of the total unemployed.10 Along with high unemployment rates and inadequate
income levels, Blacks in Greensboro are also victimized by poor housing, inadequate
government services, and ill-equipped schools. The severity of the housing problem is
captured somewhat by Chafes observations:
The three poorest census districts in Greensboro were in the Black community and
5,000 families in the city most of them Black - lived in substandard housing or
outright slums by 1969. More than 1000 of these units were in such bad condition
that they could not be repaired economically. Hortons row illustrated the
infamous conditions that existed in such neighborhoods. Presided over by an
absentee landlord who collected rents with a pistol on his hip, the dilapidated
shacks stood side by side, un-maintained, with broken glass all around, and
abandoned refrigerators in the backyards.11

Guilford County, Planning Department, Update, a Planning News Digest, Vol. 3, September 1972. See
also, Position Paper, unpublished report, NAACP Urban Crisis Committee, Greensboro, N.C., October
21 1980.
8
U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, General Social and Economic Characteristics,
North Carolina, 1970 Census of Population, No. PC(1)-C35, pp. 282, 303.
9
Ibid. , p. 254.
10
Ibid.
11
William H. Chafe, Civilities and Civil Rights: Greensboro, North Carolina and the Black Struggle for
Freedom ( New York: Oxford University Press, 1980), p. 224. See also, Housing Report Greensboro
Human Relations Commission, 1967, Human Relations Commission Papers, Greensboro, North Carolina.

In short, the late 1960s in Greensboro was a period of tremendous hardship for the citys
Black population. After a massive civil rights struggle in which it appeared that
fundamental changes would be forthcoming in reality only superficial changes in the status
quo were allowed.12
By the late 60s a number of factors both national and local were in place that
allowed for the creation of militant Black Nationalist organizations such as GAPP.
Nationally, of course, the Black Power Movement was sweeping the country as Stokely
Carmichael and H. Rap Brown inflamed audiences with the battle cry Black Power
and urged Black folks to organize and mobilize themselves for the attainment of political
and economic power. On the local level a Black Power Conference was held at the
University of North Carolina at Greensboro in early November 1967. 13 At the same time,
the Greensboro Redevelopment Commission was carrying out its Negro Removal or
urban renewal program. Redevelopment scattered thousands of people around the city
and forced many to give up homes for public housing.14 Police brutality and Klan terror
reached new levels and confrontations with Black residents escalated.15 Black workers
from diverse job sites were increasingly unwilling to submit to racist discrimination. Black
high school youth, college students and parents were also becoming intolerant of
inadequate funds and facilities for predominantly Black educational institutions. The
above developments and others combined to create a very explosive social context and
provided the objective condition for the creation of GAPP. A brief examination of exactly
how the organization was created is a question to be addressed below.

12

Ibid., pp. 212-214.

Revolutionary Activity, Carolina Peacemaker, November 18, 1967.
14
Lewis Brandon, personal interview, January 2, 1980, Greensboro, North Carolina.
15
Chafes book documents the resurgence of Klan activity in Greensboro during this period but the book is
strangely silent on the problem of police brutality. Chafe, op. cit., pp. 226-230, 10. See also, Violent
Outburst of Greensboro Black Community, Carolina Peacemaker, July 23, 1967.
13

In order to prevent militant student and community organizations from taking root
in North Carolina, Governor Terry Sanford sought financial and programmatic help form
the Ford Foundation. Subsequently, North Carolina was chosen as a test area for what
was to become later a national poverty program. The Ford Foundation made available
five million dollars which set up a program called the North Carolina Fund. Two
important organizational outgrowths of the North Carolina Fund were Youth Educational
Services (YES) created in 1963 and the Foundation for Community Development in
1967.16 The North Carolina Fund also brought Howard Fuller to the state to direct the
community organizing efforts of the Fund. Y.E.S. provided money for Black and White
college students to set up tutorial programs in Black and poor communities in the state.
F.C.D. was set up with an initial two year grant of $738,000 and conducted programs in
community organization and economic development.17 Both F.C.D. and Y.E.S. were
instrumental in setting up poor peoples organizations around the state.
Although Y.E.S. was viewed by many citizens as a beneficial program a number of
Black activists within the program began to question its utility in the long run. One of the
young Black activists would remark, What is it that created the need for Black children
to be tutored in the first place?18 These activities began to address broader concerns such
as poor housing and inadequate social services. Eventually, the Black students in Y.E.S.
began meeting among themselves and a decision was reached to terminate the organization
and use whatever resources were available to set up Black organizations. Thus, in the fall
of 1967 under the leadership of Frank Williams (the new director) and Nelson Johnson the
16

Cf. Nelson Johnson, personal interview, January 1, 1981;Proposal to the Ford Foundation, for
Community Development, Durham, North Carolina, February 11, 1970; John H. Strange, Community
Action in North Carolina: Maximum Feasible Misunderstanding? Mistake? Or Magic Formula?
Unpublished paper prepared for delivery at the meeting of the Southern Political Science Association,
Miami, Florida, November 1969. It is also interesting to note that Jesse Jackson was the first president of
Y.E.S.
17
Ibid., p. 2.
18
Interview, Nelson Johnson.

organization was voted out of existence at a board meeting where the Black students had
the majority.
Before Y.E.S. went out of business, Black activists in the Greensboro chapter had
succeeded in creating several neighborhood organizations in public housing projects.
Groups were formed in Hampton Homes, Morningside Homes, Smith Homes and Ray
Warren Homes. Before the close of 1967 these groups merged into one grass roots
organization called the United Neighborhood Improvement Team or U.N.I.T. The early
organizing activities of U.N.I.T. became the foundation for GAPP.
U.N.I.T.s activities brought together groups of people from the Black community
of Greensboro who thought that the ideas expressed in the Black Power Movement were
correct and should be implemented. Community control of institutions and self
determination were ideas that helped groups in the Black community form an ad hoc
committee to explore ways to create a viable city-wide Black political organization. The
ad hoc committee made contact with the Foundation for Community Development.
F.C.D. had embarked on an ambitious organizing campaign and had acquired Howard
Fuller as its Director of Training and Community Organization. The committee was
attracted to F.C.D. because of the work of the Training Director. Howard Fuller gave
speeches in Greensboro and around the state which advocated the type of strategy and
political ideas consistent with the concerns of the Greensboro activists. In one of Fullers
speeches, for example, he observed:
America is dominated by a racist system which equates rightness with
whiteness...America and North Carolina operates under a smokescreen of
Progressiveness...Black people live in houses unfit for dogs and public housing is a
brick concentration camp...The school which the majority of Black people attend
produces domestics, soldiers, and dropouts...You have been voting for dumb
whites, now start voting for dumb Negroes. You may be able to get more out of
him...Black people leading themselves must do things for themselves...Develop
power, Black power - the ability to make a person take a course of action that he

would not otherwise take...whites get what they want by power but the Negro has
resorted to conscience...19
The Greensboro activists developed a close relationship with Howard Fuller and F.C.D
and as a result the organization agreed to carry out a community organizers training
program in the area.
By the summer of 1968, F.C.D. sponsored a community organization internship
program that was designed to help the activists develop a solid organization. Six student
interns moved to Greensboro and began working on a full-time basis in some of the areas
where UNIT had completed earlier community organizing drives. By the end of the
program six neighborhood organizations were created and put into action. By September
1968 the community activists in Greensboro felt the time had arrived when a permanent
grass roots community-wide poor peoples organization could be formed. Representatives
of the six neighborhood organizations came together and decided to form the organization
that would consolidate previous efforts and before the end of September the Greensboro
Association of Poor People was brought into being. The structure and scope of the
organization was described in a proposal one year after the formation of the group:
GAPP represented six Black communities. The decisions for the group were made
by a Board of Directors which had three representatives from each of the
community groups, plus three at large members. After forming this city-wide
group, the six groups began to tackle the problems of re-development, housing,
recreation, and welfare as one group... 20
Even before the formal creation of GAPP efforts were under way to secure funds for the
new organization. Before the end of October 1968 GAPP received a $27,000 grant from
the Foundation for Community Development to carry out its program for one year.
Although some individuals within the new organization voiced concern over the possible
19

Howard Fuller, A Change is Going to Come, Carolina Peacemaker, February 3, 1968.

Proposal submitted to the Foundation for Community Development, GAPP Sept.1, 1969, Greensboro,
N.C. , p. 6. See also Appendix III & IV.
20

crippling of the organization by an over reliance on outside grants, this concern was not
taken seriously until the funds dried up two years later. During this period the ideological
direction of the organization was based on the militant wing of the Black Power
Movement. The political orientation of the group can be gleaned from the organizations
stated objectives at this time:
It is the opinion of GAPP that most poor people are poor because of laws, policies
and traditions which operate historically in the interests of property owners and the
wealthy...GAPP is designed to organize poor Black people around their immediate
problems in such a way as to create the power and determination sufficient to
affect change on the policy level. GAPP will attempt to break the apathy by
developing pride in self and race by working toward establishing a sense of
independence in the Black community.21
GAPP perceived itself as a Black political organization dedicated to making the changes
necessary to improve the everyday life conditions of the Black masses. As one of the first
organizers of GAPP would later remark:
Black people in order to have a decent life, had to control whatever portions of
this world that they lived in and to do that the people had to be organized, had to
be conscious, had to be use to fighting for what they wanted. 22
During this first phase GAPP saw the primary responsibility of Black activists as being the
struggle of Black people in the U.S. As a result of this orientation GAPP directed the
bulk of its activities to organizing campaigns around workers rights, welfare reform,
improving housing conditions, police brutality, and Black awareness. Thus, the first two
years of GAPPs history were characterized by intense political struggle and the
organization was able to mobilize large sectors of the Black community on a variety of
issues.

21
22

What is GAPP? Brochure and Fact Sheet, GAPP, Greensboro, North Carolina, 1969.
Interview with Nelson Johnson.

Without question the housing issue was the most pressing concern of the Black
community from 1967 until about late 1969.23 The activities of the Greensboro
Redevelopment Commission were destroying both Black neighborhoods and Black
business. In the Washington II project, for example, people were led to believe that after
the redevelopment of their neighborhoods they would be able to resettle the area.
However, the Greensboro Redevelopment Commission rezoned the Washington II project
area from low cost housing (13,000 to 15,000) to 905 or high cost residential (minimum
cast $35,000).24 The new high cost housing was developed by a Housing Foundation
sponsored by the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce and local private developers. Some
of the concerns of the Black community were expressed as early as August 1968 in a letter
to Robert Barkley, Director of Redevelopment:
We the residents of the Washington II Project, are dissatisfied with the following
policies of redevelopment:
1. having to apply to public housing before receiving relocation payments.
2. being forced out of our communities without a guarantee of getting back into
our communities.
3. the fact that in most redevelopment areas houses, which are built can never be
afforded by persons who lived in the area...
4. we were not considered before plans were made.25
Although GAPP was not able to stop the destructive policies of redevelopment, it did
force the city council to hold several hearings on housing and redevelopment policies.
Hundreds of Black folk were mobilized to attend these meetings and one concession won
from the confrontations was better enforcement of the existing housing codes. 26 For a

23

Interview with Lewis Brandon. See also Richard Vission , Disgrace of Housing in Greensboro,
Carolina Peacemaker, February 17, 1968.
24
Letter to Robert Barkley, Director of Redevelopment, August 15, 1968, Greensboro, N.C.
25
Letter to Robert Barkley, Director of Redevelopment, August 15, 1968, Greensboro, N.C.
26
GAPP Proposal on Housing ,presented to Greensboro City Council Session on Housing, November 3,
1969, Greensboro, N.C. See also Gun toting Landlord Reacts to Meeting Invitation , Carolina
Peacemaker , July 22, 1968.

short period, some GAPP members would monitor the inspection of slumlord properties
by city officials to insure that needed improvements were being made.
While the impact of GAPPs early efforts in housing was limited two years later the
organization would lead a successful rent strike against the most notorious slumlord in
Greensboro. On January 2, 1970 more than 250 tenants of the AAA Apartment complexes
in Southeast Greensboro initiated what would become the longest rent strike in
Greensboros history. The tenants decided to go on strike to seek redress from intolerable
living conditions and to change the policies of AAA Realty Company.27 GAPP was
requested to help the tenants organize and its involvement proved to be one of the crucial
factors in the success of the strike.28
GAPP organizers and regular members worked closely with the strike committee
and residents of AAA apartments. GAPP secured legal representation for the strikers and
helped set up an escrow account. More importantly, GAPP was able to mobilize a broad
coalition of students, workers and professionals to support the efforts of the strikers.
Significant aid and guidance came from such diverse groups as the Greensboro Chapter of
the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the
Greensboro Citizens Association, the Black Ministers Forum, the student Government
Association of North Carolina A&T State University, the Student Government Association
of Bennett College, the Student Organization for Black Unity (SOBU)29 and various
church groups. The Tenants Union was able to hold several marches, produce propaganda
and mold public opinion in its favor.

27

Letter to AAA Realty Company, AAA Tenants Strike Committee, January 4, 1970, Greensboro, N.C.
Bob Barnes and Patrica Dunn, personal interviews, October 23, 1980, Greensboro, N.C. (former AAA
tenant organizers).
29
AAA Tenants Union, Press Release, April 3, 1970, Greensboro, North Carolina.
28

AAA Realty Company was managed and partly owned by Kay Agapion, a white
slumlord who was able to use relatives in key positions at the local sheriffs department, in
district court and in the local legal profession to abuse the striking tenants. She was
determined to break the strike by intimidating tenants with selected evictions, court
injunctions and padlocking. Whereas the strike began with about 250 participants, by
early March the active number of strikers had dwindled to 120.30 Despite these setbacks
the Tenants Union continued to enjoy broad support in the Black community and the
remaining strikers vowed to fight on until an equitable solution could be found. AAA
Realty Company continued to bargain in bad faith and employ terrorist tactics to break the
strike.31
During this critical juncture of the strike GAPP suggested that new tactics and
strategy be employed to revitalize the strike and bring it to a successful conclusion. Legal
action, marches, and similar forms for protest failed to produce acceptable results and it
was time to try a new approach to the problem. The strikers and their supporters decided
to respond to future evictions by destroying the unoccupied dwellings to prevent their
reoccupation and use by AAA Realty Company. A reporter for the Carolina Peacemaker
described the events that would follow eviction:
...Windows were smashed and kicked in, screens were torn out and large gaping
holes were kicked in walls. Crowds ran to other empty apartments...and they, too,
received the vent of the aroused angry crowd. Sinks and telephones were torn
from walls and water faucets were left wide open to flood the apartments... 32
In less than one week over fifty AAA apartments were methodically destroyed and over
$90,000 of property damage was recorded. The strike gained momentum and additional
30

The Present Strike Situation, Memorandum from AAA Tenants Union, March 14, 1970, Greensboro,
North Carolina.
31
Nowhere to Go: Blacks Padlocked in Greensboro, Carolina Peacemaker , March 14, 1970.
32
Ralph Jones, AAA Apartments Destroyed: Exploited Poor Retaliate, Carolina Peacemaker, March 28,
1970.

support from a few influential sectors of the white community. Other Greensboro realtors,
for example, began to pressure AAA Realty Company for a settlement. Although AAA
Realty Company had adamantly refused to negotiate with the strikers, suddenly they were
ready to come to terms with the concerns of the striking tenants. The strike came to a
successful conclusion with many of demands of the tenants satisfied.
GAPPs involvement with the AAA Rent Strike was one of the organizations most
important victories and culminated a very intense period in the organizations history. The
organization won a reputation for being a militant fighter for Black peoples rights and
continued to build on this perception. While the organizations earlier efforts in the area of
housing were less impressive and rather routine, the role of GAPP in the strike won the
organization a solid following in the Black community. The strike was one of the key
events that helped make the organization a serious political force in the Black community
and in the city of Greensboro. Thus, the strike victory confirmed in the minds of many
Black people in Greensboro that the ideology of Black Power as articulated by GAPP was
a valid set of ideas and guidelines for changing the status quo. 33
The organization achieved similar success and recognition around the combined
issues of community control, quality education, police brutality, and youth work. These
four broad issues would push the organization forward during the so-called A&T-Dudley
Revolt in May 1969.34
33

Rosella Jarell, personal interview, October 22, 1980, Greensboro, North Carolina.
The significance of the A&T-Dudley Revolt has not been properly recorded of evaluated. Although a
mass of material has been produced the majority of this material is written from the perspective of white
racist and apologist for the status quo. The articles which have appeared in the Greensboro Daily News
and the Greensboro Record are excellent examples of crass reporting and reactionary viewpoints.
Analytical and useful reports of this incident can be found in a special issue of the Carolina Peacemaker
of June 16, 1979. Useful analysis may also be found in Chafes book and in the report of the North
Carolina Advisory Commission on Civil Rights. CF. Dorothy Benjamin and Jo Spivey, Chief Defines the
Outsider, Greensboro Record, July 10, 1969; Chief Blames Public Apathy. Greensboro Daily News,
September 12, 1969; Elams Statement on Disorder, Greensboro Daily News, May 22, 1969; Scott
Agrees with Elam on Analysis of Disorder, Greensboro Daily News, April 12, 1970; Jo Spivey, Rebel
Students Are Reinstated, Greensboro Daily News, May 29, 1969; Robert Stephens, Whites Dont Have
to Explain Blacks Arms Purchases Were Legal-GAPP Chief, Greensboro Daily News, May 31, 1969;
34

A number of crucial concerns of Greensboros Black community were expressed in

the events of May 1969. Black people had finally reached a point where suffering
peacefully had become intolerable and an explosion of hostility was unleashed by the
convergence of broad socio-economic and political forces. Although the status quo would
explain away the May events by invoking the conspiracy theory, overwhelming evidence
suggests that the causes of the Black communitys eruption were much more complex.35
The observations of the North Carolina State Advisory Committee to the United States
Commission on Civil Rights are instructive:
Many persons apparently felt that there were no clear issues involved in the
controversy. The Committee believes that the issues involved were simple and
quite clear. The main issue was the unequal treatment of citizens of Greensboro
because of their race: discrimination in housing, employment, education, and the
delivery of services, coupled with institutional racism and the unresponsiveness of
the official system.36
These observations are closer to the truth than the wild accusations and rumors spread by
the managers of the status quo and their apologists but the situation involved more than
just simple race discrimination. Moreover, the so-called A&T-Dudley Revolt is a
misnomer because one is left with the impression that a student revolt transpired.
Participants in the revolt are quick to point out that in fact a significant portion of the
Black community in Greensboro was involved in the event and it would be more accurate
to describe the May events as a Black community uprising. Further, available evidence
suggests that the event was mainly a spontaneous eruption and for the most part was not
the result of conscious planning.

Dudley Hit By Walkout, Greensboro Record, May 16, 1969; The Day the National Guard Swept A&T:
Sniper Fire Curtailed, Greensboro Record, May 23, 1969. See also, Trouble in Greensboro, North
Carolina State Advisory Committee, United States Commission on Civil Rights, Greensboro, N.C., March
1970; and Chafe, op. cit.
35
Chafe, op. cit. , pp. 271-275.
36
Trouble in Greensboro, op. cit. , p.15.

In general, the May 1969 A&T-Dudley Revolt was the response of an exploited
Afro-American community and very similar to the hundreds of other urban rebellions that
swept across the country in the late 60s.37 However, the events that occurred in
Greensboro had at least two significant differences. Whereas in many of the other urban
rebellions large numbers of Black people were killed by police and National Guard troops,
this did not occur in Greensboro (despite the excessive use of force by the local
authorities). One student was killed by the police and several others suffered minor
wounds but given the intense level of gunfire exchanged during the event it is remarkable
that more casualties did not occur.38 Another major difference that the Greensboro May
1969 Revolt displayed was the widespread use of armed self-defense. While a number of
urban rebellions were characterized by isolated sniping incidents, the Greensboro rebellion
was characterized by armed warfare throughout the Black community. Armed
confrontations took place in almost every sector of the Black community. Of course, the
most intense confrontations took place on the A&T campus. For three days and nights
students battled the Greensboro Police and 650 North Carolina National Guard Troops on
May 21, 22 and 23. At the same time armed confrontations occurred in other sectors of
the Black community such as the Grove, Southside and Woodmere Park. I would
suggest that the widespread use of armed self-defense was one of the key factors that
prevented the police and National Guard from murdering more Black people. The other
key factors include the broad support enjoyed by the rebels, the internal organization of
the Black community, and a relatively unified response from the Black community.

37

Supra , pp. 9-10.

Unfortunately, to this day the killer or killers of Willie Ernest Grimes have not been brought to trial.
Despite eyewitness accounts and overwhelming evidence, the local police were able to avoid being
charged with the murder of Grimes. See for example, Eyewitness Says He Saw Police Shoot Grimes,
Carolina Peacemaker, June 28, 1969.
38

The so-called Dudley Controversy or as Chafe observes the Claude Barnes

controversy was the major evet that sparked the May Rebellion.39 Black students at all
Black James B. Dudley High School staged a series of demonstrations, boycotts and
meetings to protest the dictatorial practices of the Black school officials. Students and
parents were voicing concern over such diverse issues as the content and quality of the
educational processes, the absence of Black History courses, the unenlightened dress
code, and the preferential treatment of middle class students. However, the particular
event that sparked the students into action was the school officials refusal to permit the
winning candidate of a student council election to take office.40 School officials cited the
winning candidates subversive activities as the reason for his exclusion from office. The
content of the so-called subversive activities was the students association with a youth
organization affiliated with GAPP.
Protest at the school escalated in the face of official recalcitrance and violence
erupted when Greensboro Police attacked the dissident students. 41 When students fled the
campus to predominately Black North Carolina A&T State University the college students
were physically brought into the conflict. A&T students and participants in the first
national conference of the Student Organization for Black Unity (SOBU) pledged their
support and agreed to help the students find a satisfactory solution. Shortly after A&T
students escalated their involvement in the crises the Greensboro Police murdered Willie
Ernest Grimes on May 22, 1969. Violent confrontations erupted throughout the Black
community despite a curfew imposed on the city by Mayor Jack Elam. The rebellion came
39

The favorite explanation of Mayor Jack Elam, Police Chief Paul Calhoun, Superintendent of Greensboro
Public Schools, Dr. W.J. House and their propagandists at the Greensboro Daily News and the Greensboro
Record is that ...a group of not-too-bright Black students (were) being led astray by outsiders and
radicals. See for example, Trouble in Greensboro, op. cit., p. 8 and The Day the National Guard
Swept A&Ts Scott Hall, op. cit.
40
Cf. Trouble in Greensboro, op. cit.; Chafe, op. cit. ; and The Day the National Guard..., op. cit.
41
Chafe, op. cit., pp. 261-275; and the Carolina Peacemaker Special Edition, June 16, 1969.

to an end after a series of community meetings and court battles won the satisfaction of a
number of important demands raised by the rebels.42
Again, I wish to stress that the rebellion was the collective product of an exploited
Afro-American community. More importantly, the organization and swift response of key
sectors of the Black community was made possible through the development of broad
coalitions and support groups. GAPP played a major role in bringing these broad
coalitions together and providing the leadership necessary for an acceptable solution to the
crises. The composition of one of the coalition of one of the coalition was described in an
article in the Carolina Peacemaker:
As early as May 2nd Nelson Johnson and Walter Brame, organizers for the
Greensboro Association of Poor People...visited Dudley Principal Franklin J.
Brown.They had been working closely with several Dudley students and concerned
citizens. They urged Brown to meet with Black community leaders who had
convened to help resolve the rising tensions at Dudley High. Mr. Brown refused
to meet with the community leaders who included persons such as Rev. Cecil
Bishop, then of Trinity A.M.E. Zion Church; Mr. A.S. Webb and Mr.B.J. Battle of
the American Federal Savings and Loan Association; Mrs. Dorothy Johnson and
Lewis Brandon of the Greensboro Association of Poor People; Dr. George Simkins
and Attorney David Dansby of the NAACP; Mr. Herman Fox of the Citizens
Association; and the late Rev. Julius Douglas of the St. James Presbyterian Church,
among others... 43
Coalitions such as the one described above were above were instrumental in fashioning a
broad consensus of support for the activities of students and community activists.
Communications networks were established by the coalitions to inform the Black
community of the progress of negotiations and to combat the slander and distortions
presented in the daily media.44 In this manner, a very tight relationship between militant
42

See Appendix V. Also, see Carolina Peacemaker, June 16, 1969.

Total Community Involvement, Carolina Peacemaker, June 16, 1969, p.16.
44
GAPP would assist the various coalitions by providing technical help and resources for the production of
newsletters, mass mailings, posters, leaflets and press releases. See for instance, Morris Russel, President
of YUBS, open letter to the Black Community, Greensboro, N.C., May 21, 1969; To Our Moms and
Pops, From the Black Radicals, open letter to the Black Community, Greensboro, N.C., May 25, 1969;
Vince McCullough, President-elect, A&T Student Government, open letter to the Black Community,
Greensboro, N.C., May 30, 1969; Statement from the Dudley Student Body , Greensboro, N.C., May 10,
1969.
43

students and traditional Black leadership in the community was established and the
attempts by the local ruling elites to isolate a few individuals were thwarted.
In summary, the A&T-Dudley revolt provided GAPP the opportunity to further test
its ideas in the heat of conflict. The organization was able to meet with all the sides in the
conflict and generate a widespread consensus of support for the protesting students.
Moreover, GAPP was able to prevent the status quo from using a few individuals as
scapegoats and thereby divert attention away from the deeper causes of the rebellion. The
excessive use of force by the local authorities merely contributed to a more unified
opposition in the Black community.45 GAPP would emerge from the A&T-Dudley Revolt
as the most viable Black political organization in the area.
During the Black Power phase of GAPPs existence the organization also became
directly involved in the labor struggles of several groups of Black workers. The nationalist
orientation which guided GAPPs approach to the struggles of Black workers was voiced
by Tom Bailey, the Master Organizer of GAPP at that time.
We organize folks not because theyre workers, but because theyre Black. The
fact that they work is incidental, because all of their basic troubles stem from the
fact that theyre Black.46
Proceeding from this nationalist orientation and responding to requests for assistance
GAPP worked closely with the Cafeteria Workers Strike in the spring of 1970, the
Sanitation Workers Strike in the summer of 1970, and the Blind Workers Strike in the
fall.47

45

Cf. Citizens from Black Community Get Together, Carolina Peacemaker ,July 21, 1969, and Black
Community Press Statement, Greensboro, N.C. , August 12, 1970 and The Power That Power
Understands, Carolina Peacemaker, May 24, 1969.
46
Black Workers Betrayed, Carolina Peacemaker, July 18, 1970.
47
Cf. Cafeteria Workers Promised Salary increase, Carolina Peacemaker , May 23, 1970; City s Stand
Unjust? Unites Community, Carolina Peacemaker ,June 27, 1970; and Blind Workers Under Conditions
of Slavery, Carolina Peacemaker, September 12, 1970.

The Cafeteria Workers Association, led by Mrs. Sylvestine Jones, went out on
strike to protest low wages and poor working conditions in May 1970. Salaries for the
workers ranged from $1.20 per hour to $1.60 per hour. The workers did not have paid
holidays and did not have Accident and Workmens Compensation Insurance. A list of
twenty-six grievances was drawn up and presented to the Greensboro School Board for
positive action. Despite promises to the contrary, the Board refused to act on the
concerns of the workers and they did not view the efforts of the Cafeteria Workers
Association seriously. Consequently, the workers sought the aid of GAPP and voted to go
on strike. Marches and demonstrations were held at School Board Meetings and support
was mobilized in the Black community. Again, GAPP helped the workers put together a
strike committee composed of diverse representatives from the community. The strike
was brought to a successful conclusion during the end of May as School Board officials
capitulated to the demands of the striking workers.48
In contrast, the Sanitation Workers Strike was somewhat disappointing. On June
16, 1970 more than 100 mostly Black sanitation workers went out on strike to seek
needed improvements in wages and working conditions. The strikers were led by white
independent labor organizer Gene Gore of the North Carolina Labor Alliance. Gore
labeled GAPP a Black separatist organization and advised the workers to stay away
from the organization and follow his leadership exclusively. The white organizer
developed a somewhat close relationship with the Black workers by throwing parties,
using white women to entice the workers, making personal loans, and permitting some
workers to drive his corvette stingray.49 The strike was not organized properly and as a

48
49

Rosella Jarrell, interview.

Lewis Brandon interview; Black Workers Betrayed, op. cit.

result Black workers were put in a situation that compromised their efforts. Gore
subsequently fled the city and left the workers to fend for themselves.
Despite the accusations and ill feelings generated, GAPP stepped into the conflict
to try to turn the process around. City Manager John Turner threatened to fire the striking
workers if they refused to return to work. Again, GAPP mobilized a broad coalition and
raised over $2,000 to assist the workers in their efforts. Meetings and negotiations with
city officials, however, did not produce positive results. More than half of the striking
workers lost their jobs and those that were rehired lost seniority. Despite the failure of the
strike GAPP was able to secure other jobs for the majority of the fired workers. Rev.
Julius Douglas played a leading role in gaining support for the workers and commented on
Gores role in the strike: No amount of accusations or rationalizations can ever hide the
fact that he deserted his men.50 Although the Sanitation Workers Strike failed in its
objectives, GAPP continued to garner respect and encouragement from the Afro-American
Community.
Whereas the Sanitation Workers Strike concluded in defeat, the struggle of the
Blind Workers employed by Skillcraft Industry for the Blind closed with a major victory
for the workers and a strengthening of the internal organization of Afro-American
community. Skillcraft employed approximately 112 blind people at wages ranging from
$1.22 to $2.00 per hour. The overwhelming majority of the blind workers were Black and
victims of racist discrimination. On October 27, 1970 the Blind Workers led by Noddy
Hightower, Johnnie B. Jones, Katie Nixon, and William Bo Wilson voted to go on strike
to force changes in working conditions and increase salaries. Leaders of the strike
elaborated the causes of their unprecedented actions in a statement released to the press:

50

Blind Workers On Strike, Carolina Peacemaker, October 31, 1970.

For four years and six months we have been working in earnest to improve
working conditions, raise salaries, acquire job descriptions and classifications,
piece rate increases, a seniority program, an end to job and employment
discrimination against Black people ...51
Before going on strike the Blind Workers exhausted every other possible means to redress
their grievances including negotiations with management, appeals to government agencies,
and letter writing campaigns.52 The group finally decided to seek the assistance of GAPP
after a series of discussions with GAPP Board members WILLIAM Bo Wilson, Lewis
Brandon, and Master Organizer Thomas Bailey. Everyone agreed that the most
appropriate and effective tactic would be a strike even though hardships would be an
immediate result.
GAPP workers mobilized their student contacts from local high schools, colleges
and Malcolm X Liberation University to pass out leaflets in the community explaining the
actions of the Blind Workers.53 A strike fund was set up and contributions were solicited
from Black churches in the area. GAPP also helped the strikers mobilize people from the
community to participate in daily demonstrations at the industrial site. At one point more
than 300 supporters were participating in the daily demonstrations.54 Despite these
massive efforts the company refused to negotiate with the strikers and continued to blame
the strike on the efforts for outsiders and trouble makers.
By late November 1970 the Blind Workers Strike had not forced the company to
submit to the demands of the workers. One or two workers expressed a loss of hope and
decided to return to work. Morale was low and frustration was building. At this crucial
juncture GAPP workers advanced the idea that the Blind workers call for a selective
buying campaign during the Christmas holidays. A mass meeting attended by
51

Ibid. , p. 1.
Johnny B. Jones, personal interview, December 18, 1980, Greensboro, N.C.
53
Police Harass Striking Blind Workers, SOBU Newsletter, November 27, 1970.
54
Ibid., p. 1.
52

representative of dozens of community organizations, church groups, students and other

worker groups was held on December 3, 1970. The purpose of the meeting was to
announce the economic boycott and broaden support for the Blind Workers. Along with
the boycott of downtown merchants the campaign stressed the need for Black shoppers to
Buy Blackor patronize Black merchants.55 GAPP was able to create the first Black
Business Directory to aid Black shoppers in finding suitable alternatives for their usual
holiday shopping activities.
The Black Christmas Boycott was supplemented with a demonstration parade
through the Black community and through downtown Greensboro. Publicity and public
opinion in favor of the Blind Workers helped the boycott to be extremely successful. The
impact of the boycott was noted in the Peacemaker as follows:
...One store reported that its sales dropped two
hundred percent during the first week of the boycott.
Stores which ordinarily cleaned up on Black lowincome family purchases were put in a bind as the cry
of Buy Black echoed throughout the community...At
one chain store, managed solely by Blacks, sales
tripled during the boycott. Black community businessmen proudly displayed window signs printed by the
committee advertising Christmas gift certificates
for those who wanted to be in line with both the
spirit of the season as well as the current political
direction.56
In addition to the organizational effectiveness of the strike, it is significant to note that this
tactic was politically potent. Many of the members of the Board of Directors of Skillcraft
Industry of the Blind also owned several retail establishments in the Downtown area.
Thus, the collective impact of both the strike and the Black communitys boycott was
sufficient to bring the strike to a successful conclusion. While Board members were

55
56

Community, Blind Workers Call for Black Christmas Boycott, SOBU Newsletter, December, 19, 1970.
Boycott Brings Answer to Blind Workers Demands, Carolina Peacemaker, December 26, 1970.

willing to find methods to oppose the strike they were not willing to take the economic
losses that resulted from the economic boycott.
Finally, the strike was brought to an end at the height of the Christmas shopping
season.

The Blind Workers won across the board 15% wage increases, safety

improvements such as better ventilation in dusty areas, an on-duty nurse, and the right of
the Blind Workers Association to become the bargaining unit for the workers. In the
Black community there developed a general perception that Black people had the power
to impact public and private policy if they would employ the proper strategies and tactics.
Further, the Christmas Boycott demonstrated that this particular tactic could win results if
people would rely on their own efforts and refuse to succumb to oppressive conditions
without a fight. GAPPs reputation continued to grow and the local power structure
began to realize that the organization had become a powerful political force in the
community.57
Before closing this chapter I wish to point out that the activities of GAPP surveyed
here represent a small sample of some of the more consequential actions undertaken by the
organization during its Black Power phase from 1968 to 1970. By tracing the evolution of
this organization and highlighting some of its activities this chapter illustrated how the
Black Power ideology provided the guidelines for the activism of GAPP. However, the
organization was involved in a variety of actions not covered here. GAPP was also
involved in political education, economic development, communications, electoral politics,
and welfare work. The organization sponsored regular political education sessions which
would consist of presentations and discussions of current developments in the Black
Movement. Political education also involved seminars on Black history, literature and

57

Interview with Brandon and Jones.

culture. GAPP along with other black nationalist organizations (SOBU and later MXLU)
would sponsor noted speakers such as Stokely Carmichael, James Turner, Don L. Lee
(Haki Madabuti) and Howard Fuller. These activities were designed to get people to raise
their political consciousness and to keep up with the debates in the movement.
GAPPs involvement with economic development activities were somewhat
ambiguous and contradictory.

These activities essentially revolved around the

establishment of a Black bookstore and attempts to set up a Black day care center. The
organizations activities in this area stemmed from the influence of F.C.D. which had began
to propagate a peculiar notion called community capitalism. The basic thrust behind this
concept was explained in a document quoted earlier:
The F.C.D. plan for community capitalism represents conscious choice between an
economic system providing for the ownership - and thus control - of the means of
production by individuals (capitalism) and a system providing for the control
and/or ownership of the means of production by the state (socialism)...We
recognize that healthy injections of capital from outside the poor community are
necessary to achieve economic viability and that intensive ventures is essential.
However, the capital and assistance in planning and managing business which come
from outside the poor neighborhoods must be provided on a basis which allows for
decision making by the leaders which the poor select themselves. 58
Despite the appeal for independent action and decision making it is unlikely that such a
concept as community capitalism could serve as the basis for a liberating politics from
the oppressed Black community. In fact, the community capitalism concept is very similar
if not identical to Nixons infamous Black Capitalism scheme. The result of this type of
activity by GAPP was the promotion of an unhealthy and eventually self-destructive
dependency on grant and foundation money from outside the Black community. When
GAPP could no longer secure foundation monies because of its radical political activities,
the organization was forced to cut back on the level of its organizational activities.

58

Proposal to the Ford Foundation..., op. cit., p. 11.

Towards the end of 1970 the organization was faced with a severe financial crunch and
was forced to rethink the viability of its previous method of securing operating funds for
the organization. The organization resolved this dilemma by deciding to concentrate its
work on organizing the poor and finding alternative means for financial support such as
dues and fund raising programs.
Throughout the Black Power period, GAPP was able to create a relatively efficient
and effective communications network. Along with SOBU and later MXLU the
organization was able to develop a cadre of communications workers who could produce
a variety of materials to inform and help mobilize the Black community. These
communications workers became skilled at radio production, offset printing, graphic arts,
and newsletter production. In addition, a reliable network of contacts was established
throughout the community to aid in the gathering and dissemination of information.
GAPPs communications network proved to be a very capable tool in organizing and
mobilizing large numbers of people to respond to the different programs of the
organization.
Although the organization refused to endorse candidates for political office, it
sometimes would provide needed leg work for some progressive office seekers. The
1968 campaign of Henry Frye for the North Carolina State House of Representatives, for
example, received the benefit of GAPPs considerable organizational expertise and
manpower. Some observers would credit GAPPs tacit support of Fryes campaign as the
key element responsible for his victory in the November 5, 1968 elections.59

59

Brandon Johnson and Jarrell. Henry Frye was elected as the first Black to sit in the North Carolina
State House of Representatives since the Reconstruction Era. The key to his election victory was the
massive turnout of previously unregistered voters. GAPP played a major role in providing the logistical
support for this campaign and organizing people to vote. See A New Day Has Dawned, Carolina
Peacemaker, November 9, 1968.

In contrast the organizations efforts to change the form of city government were
narrowly defeated. GAPP along with organizations such as the NAACP, the Greensboro
Citizens Association, the Pulpit Forum, and other church groups mounted a serious and
massive campaign to change the existing council at large system to a ward or district based
system. Members of the coalition felt that a ward system would provide better
representation because it would assure that Black candidates would be elected from the
Black community. More than 7,000 signatures were collected to call for a special
referendum to change the form of city government.60 However, the Black coalition was
bitterly opposed by a powerful coalition of the status quo which included the Greensboro
Chamber of Commerce, the Greensboro Jaycees, and the Greensboro City Council. The
combined forces of the status quo were able to saturate the community with television,
radio and newspaper advertising and the campaign to change city government was
defeated by a few hundred votes. Although a powerful challenge was mounted the Black
community was not able to force a change in city government at that time. Commentators
such as John Marshall Stevenson (editor of the Carolina Peacemaker) would charge that
Black apathy was the cause of the defeat but a more plausible explanation is that the
political forces in the Black community miscalculated the response of the defenders of the
status quo. 61 Consequently, many Black leaders expressed the opinion that the next
campaign to change the citys form of government would be successful if the same forces
could by put into action. Unfortunately, as the next chapter will show, the level of
organization reached during the Black Power phase of GAPPs development would never
be approached again.

60

Black Apathy Spells Defeat for Plan B, Carolina Peacemaker, December 14, 1968.
Brandon and Johnson, op. cit.

61

Lastly, an equally important component of GAPPs activities revolved around work

to improve the delivery of social services to eligible recipients. The Social Service
Department of Guilford County or Welfare Department was managed by racist white
professionals who displayed tremendous contempt for their clients. If the purpose of
social services is to provide help for those in need then the people who managed the
welfare department were guided by a contrary assumption. The welfare workers would go
to great lengths to show disrespect for their clients and seemed to be intent on finding
every possible means to deny needed services to needy people. GAPP workers challenged
this method of operation by helping people obtain basic assistance for rent, medical
assistance and food. More importantly, GAPP workers fought against the racist attitudes
of white workers by staging demonstrations, exposing the inhuman practices of the
welfare system, and assisting welfare recipients. After it had become clear that the
organization would be involved on a routine basis with welfare problem, the racist
practices were somewhat ameliorated or discontinued altogether.
In short, GAPPs Black Power phase was a very intense period for the
organization and for the Black community in Greensboro. During this phase the focus of
the guiding ideology and the focus of the organizations activism was toward engaging the
everyday struggle of Black people for survival in these United States. This localized focus
was coupled with an appreciation of the need to radically change the existing status quo.
While the organization recognized the need for fundamental change, this realization did
not translate into a viable program that could accomplish this Herculean task.
Fundamental change, of course, would require the efforts of forces that would be national
in scope. 62
62

See Supra , pp. 30-35.

CHAPTER 4
PAN-AFRICANISM, MARXISM-LENINISM
AND THE FALL OF THE GREENSBORO ASSOCIATION OF POOR PEOPLE

After 1970 Neo-Pan-Africanism assumes hegemony as the guiding ideological

perspective of GAPP until the end of 1972. The ascendancy of Pan-Africanism is the
result of both internal changes as well as broad changes in the Black Movement as a
whole.1 Leading members such as the Master Organizer and youth members began
serious study of Pan-Africanism as early as late 1969. This initial study was prompted by
the cooptation of Black Power by the corporate-government apparatus and pettybourgeois politicians such as Floyd Mckissick and Roy Innis. SOBU in particular was the
first organization among the North Carolina Nationalist to proclaim Pan-Africanism as the
most correct and most comprehensive ideological viewpoint.

By 1972 the so-called

most correct ideological perspective was beginning to be challenged by leading cadre in

SOBU and MXLU who had begun to study Marxism-Leninism.3 Marxism-Leninism
became the dominant ideological perspective among the North Carolina Nationalists from
the end of 1972 until the end of 1974 or 1975. After 1974-1975 both the North Carolina
Nationalist and GAPP in particular were no longer significant and the Black Nationalist
Movement had practically disappeared and/or was reduced to a few warring isolated sects.
Whereas the Black Power period of GAPPs development was characterized by a
furious level of activism the post Black Power period saw the decline and disappearance
of the Black Nationalist Movement. Moreover, GAPPs political activism dissipated
rapidly as the organization began to change both its ideological perspective and focus of
work. The present chapter will therefore explore the organizations programs and work in
the post Black Power period. In addition, this chapter is concerned with exactly how
1

Supra, pp. 36-42.

Cf. Ideological Paper, Student Organization for Black Unity, Greensboro, N.C. , September 1969;
An Analysis of the Black Movement, Student Organization for Black Unity, Greensboro, N.C. ,
September 30, 1970; and Victor Bond, General Principles of Community Organization (Within the
Context of Pan-African and Self-Reliance) , Greensboro, N.C.
3
Nelson Johnson, personal interview, Greensboro, N.C., January 2, 1981, and Osusu Sadaukai, taped
interview by Muhammad Ahmad, Atlanta, Georgia, 1980. See also, Supra , pp. 45-50.
2

these major ideological shifts occurred and the resulting effects on the organization and the
movement. I wish to emphasize here that the shifts in ideological perspective did not
cause the decline of the organization but the manner in which these abrupt changes took
place certainly had an adverse effect on the viability of the organization and the movement.
Some might object that the analysis that follows is based on hindsight and that there were
not other available options or decisions that could have been implemented given the
specific circumstances. However, I would suggest that there were alternative courses of
action even within the constraints of the period and the mistakes that were committed
cannot be so easily dismissed or rationalized.
As pointed out earlier GAPPs move to Pan-Africanism was primarily internally
generated but it is important to note the role of external influences. The role of Stokely
Carmichael, for example, was one of the most effective forces in this regard. Stokely
Carmichael was the acknowledged symbol of the modern Black Power Movement and
therefore wielded tremendous authority among Black activists in the U.S. and abroad.
Stokely left the United States in January 1969 and spent eleven months in Guinea,
supposedly under the tutelage of Kwame Nkrumah and Sekou Toure. 4 From 1966 until
his departure Stokely provided direction for many movement organizations through his
many speeches and discussions with groups around the country. Stokely had particularly
close ties with the North Carolina Nationalist through Cleveland Sellars, formerly of the
leadership of SNCC, SOBU and Howard Fuller of MXLU.5 When Carmichael returned to
the U.S. he began to hold discussions and give speeches on his new perspective. At the
end of April 1970 Carmichael came to Greensboro and announced:
4

Stokely Carmichael, Stokely Speaks: Black Power to Pan-Africanism (New York : Random House,
1971), p. 186.
5
Stokely sent a speech to Howard Fuller that was delivered by Fuller at the opening ceremony of Malcolm
X Liberation University in October 1969. See Message from Guinea, in Ibid, pp. 175-182. Also,
Cleveland Sellars, The River of No Return (New York : William Morrow, 1973).

I say that the highest expression of Black Power

is Pan-Africanism. The political unification of
Mother Africa and the Unity of Africans around
world should be our primary concern...6
While Stokelys message was not new the effect of his embracing Pan-Africanism was to
help propel both the leadership and rank and file to the new ideological position.
However, despite Carmichaels efforts many rank and file members of GAPP had serious
doubts about the viability of the new perspective.7 Rank and file members of GAPP were
concerned about the new focus of Pan-Africanism and wondered what would it mean for
grassroots politics and the everyday struggle for survival in America. These concerns
were never addressed forthrightly because the rank and file members of GAPP (as well as
the other North Carolina Nationalist Organizations) maintained a blind faith in the
leaderships ability to steer the organization.
Without question the most substantial influence in GAPPs move to PanAfricanism was the leadership of SOBU and the move of MXLU from Durham to
Greensboro in August 1970. SOBU became consolidated around a Pan-African
ideological perspective shortly after its creation in May 1969. Pan-Africanism according
to SOBU stressed the need to organize Black people in the U.S. to attain political power
and to help Mother Africa. Although African culture and history were emphasized as
necessary to free Black peoples minds from European cultural domination, this cultural
perspective served more an auxiliary function. According to the SOBU version of PanAfricanism the most fundamental component of Pan-African ideology is its comprehensive
and rigorous analysis which could be translated into a valuable organizing tool:
We are faced with systematic problems therefore we
must have systematic ways and methods of solving
6

Carmichael Speaking New Tune: Unify Africa Instead of Killing, Carolina Peacemaker , May 2, 1970.
Rosella Jarrell, personal interview, October 22, 1980, Greensboro, N.C., and Lewis Brandon, personal
interview, January 2, 1980, Greensboro, N.C.
7

them. Our analysis must be scientific, and cognizant

of, but not dependent on, or determined by, subjective
feelings or attitudes...
Organization is a science (and needs analysis). Political
organization is a science and an art therefore a cogent
scientific analysis is of the highest importance.8
This type of Pan-Africanism appealed to GAPP because its emphasis on the need
to confront real political problems head on in the U.S. This version of Pan-Africanism
was certainly different from the uncritical retreats into traditional African culture that
characterized Amiri Barakas Congress of African People and more useful than Haki
Madhubutis cultural nihilism.9
More importantly GAPP and SOBU developed a very close working relationship.
While GAPP concentrated its efforts in the community SOBUs main focus was on college
campuses and the organization provided student manpower for many of the campaigns
waged by the community organization. Both organizations shared leadership and joint
projects were frequently undertaken. At one time, for instance, Nelson Johnson served as
both Master Organizer of GAPP and Chairman of the Student Organization for Black
Unity (from April 1969 until July 4, 1970). As a result of the close working relations of
leading members the ideological evolution of one organization tended to parallel or follow
the direction of the other. Thus, when SOBU became more explicitly a Pan-Africanist
organization it was logical and only a matter of time before GAPP would follow in its
footsteps. This is not to suggest that the process was automatic, but conflicts were rarely
antagonistic because both organizations were committed to maintaining unity. In
retrospect the desire for unity muted opposition to the new ideological perspective. At

8
9

Bond ,op. cit., pp. 1-2

See for example Jennifer Jordan, op. cit.

any rate, it is clear that the close working relationship between SOBU and GAPP was a
major factor in the latters adoption of the Pan-African perspective.
Another crucial factor underlying GAPPs adoption of Pan-Africanism was the
move of Malcolm X Liberation University to Greensboro in August 1970. MXLU was
created in the spring of 1969 as the consequence of a Black student struggle for relevant
Black education at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. Howard Fuller left his
position at the Foundation for Community Development to become the director, or
H.N.I.C., of the new Black university.10 After one year of operation in Durham it was
decided to move the school to Greensboro because of the more favorable political climate
and the potential for greater support. The presence of GAPP and SOBU with their many
contacts and influence in the Greensboro Black community proved to be a major
consideration for the move. GAPP mobilized all of the resources at its disposal to create a
favorable atmosphere for the survival of MXLU. A broad coalition of community
activists, businessmen, students, workers, church groups and Black political organizations
were assembled to welcome the new school to the Greensboro Black community.11
SOBU and MXLU advocated similar versions of Pan-Africanism. Both
organizations asserted that Black revolutionaries should first work for the liberation of
Africa and wage a struggle for Black survival in the U.S. Black survival in the U.S. was
seen as dependent on Black peoples ability to create and sustain independent Black
institutions. Owusu Sadaukai, for instance, would repeat this message in speeches and to
the press:
Obviously not everybody can go to Africa. For people who arent going, its a
question of where their minds are. Hopefully, its in the development of Black
10

H.N.I.C. was a title inherited from the Black Power era and it means Head Nigger In Charge. Later
under the influence of Pan-African ideology this title was changed to Mwalimu, which means great
teacher. Howard Fuller also changed his name to Owusu Sadaukai.
11
Black Community Welcomes MXLU to Greensboro Carolina Peacemaker, September 5, 1970.

economic enterprises and Black institutions .12

This version of Pan-Africanism appealed to GAPP leaders and members whose past
activism could not be reconciled with versions of Pan-Africanism that did not provide at
least verbal recognition of the substantial nature of Black peoples struggle in America.
GAPP was therefore drawn closer to MXLU and SOBU through everyday work and
through a common ideological perspective. In fact, by the end of 1970 all organizations
under the control of the North Carolina Nationalist made the conversion from Black
Power to Pan-Africanism.
According to the Pan-African vision employed by the North Carolina Nationalist,
Black people in the U.S. could not force a radical change in the status quo and armed
confrontations was seen as suicide.13 Further, the Pan-Africanists did not see the
possibility of forming viable coalitions with disaffected white people because of the legacy
of racism and European cultural domination. Black people should prepare themselves with
technical skills and proper ideology to serve the African Liberation struggle and build
institutions to help survive in America.14 This vision of Pan-Africanism had the effect of
changing the focus of everyday work and long range programs. GAPPs intense pace of
activism and its confrontation style of political mobilization faded into the background
under the guidance of the new perspective.
GAPP declared Pan-Africanism to be its guiding ideology near the end of 1970 and
the leadership began to translate the new perspective into long range programs and
everyday work. The focus of GAPPs work was consciously shifted away from grassroots

12

Peter Leo quoting Owusu Sadaukai , Controversial School Comes of Age, Part I, Greensboro Record ,
November 24, 1971.
13
Owuwu Sadaukai, The Condition of Black People in the 1970s (Chicago: Institute of Positive
Education, 1971). See also, Alex Willingham, The Impact of Activism..., op. cit., pp. 17-19
14
Cf. Sadaukai, op. cit. Also see Stokely Carmichael, Pan-Africanism, found in Carmichael, op. cit.,
pp. 208-210

concerns such as welfare, housing, jobs, and racism. Fewer requests for assistance were
accepted and the pace of activity began to slow down as the organization turned inward
looking. More time was devoted to study, self-criticism, and cultivating a correct
ideological perspective.15 This change in the focus of GAPPs work did not occur without
serious opposition but in the end the prestige of the leadership, if not the logic of the
argument, would prevail and the new directions were implemented. Many rank and file
members of GAPP continued to raise the need for direct community involvement and this
became a major source of friction between members of GAPP and members of MXLU.
Unfortunately, a full discussion of the implications of the new perspective rarely filtered
down throughout all levels of the organizations controlled by the North Carolina
Nationalists. 16 As result of changes in direction, GAPP allowed itself to become drawn
away from the pulse of the community and its influence began to wane. These
developments did not take place all at once but gradually over the progression of weeks,
months and years.
Again, the emphasis of the Pan-African perspective, for everyday work, and
programs, centered on creating and maintaining institutions. SOBU concentrated on
publishing its newspaper the African World and conducting seminars in Pan-Africanism.
MXLU isolated itself from the community and devoted its attention to training people
who had both correct ideology and technical skills. GAPP became more involved in
economic development activity and withdrew from grassroots activism.17 The
organization created the Uhuru Bookstore on February 5, 1972. 18 By 1971 the
organization defined itself more in terms of a service providing agency rather than a
15

Lewis Brandon, personal interview, Greensboro, N.C. , January 2, 1980, and Rosella Jarrell, personal
interview, Greensboro, N.C., October 22, 1980.
16
Brandon and Jarrell, personal interviews, op. cit.
17
See, for example, Proposal for Interim Grant for Economic Development, GAPP, February 1971
18
Uhuru Bookstore Celebrates Anniversary, Carolina Peacemaker, January 27, 1973.

militant, fighting poor peoples organization. This major shift in orientation led to the
creation of a Community Services Center:
The development of the Community Service Center,
under the auspices of GAPP, represents an attempt
to develop and extend basic services to the broad
masses of Black people in Greensboro, and to channel
the human and material resources of Black people
into development of a viable, strong and enduring
mass-based community organization.19
As a service provider GAPPs program began to reassemble any other social welfare
agency. Instead of mass struggle and agitation, the main context of the work of the
organization became job referral, housing information, clothes for the poor, tutorial
services, and a radio program.20 These programs were accompanied by African
Awareness Sessions and a Childrens Story Hour. Overall the impact of GAPPs shift in
ideological and programmatic direction caused many supporters and members to slowly
drift away from the organization.
Despite the declining stature of the organization and in spite of the change of
ideological direction, several grassroot issues were able to command its attention during
the Pan-African period. GAPP was able to mount a campaign against integration of all
Black James B. Dudley High School, led a campaign against police brutality and played a
leading role in the attempts to establish a state-wide Black political organization.
After the A&T-Dudley Revolt, Greensboro public school officials were ready to reexamine its segregated school policy as a result of pressure from the Black community for
more control over predominately Black institutions.21 While GAPP was able to pull
19

Community Service Center, Program explanation, GAPP, Greensboro, N.C., December 1971, p. 1.
See also, Communtiy Service Center, Program Fact Sheet, GAPP, Greensboro, N.C., January 1972;
Dalibi Mai Galaba, Community Services Center, Community House, Progess Report, GAPP,
Greensboro, N.C., February 1972; and Dalibi Mai Galaba, personal letter to author, July 1980.
20
GAPP Holds Open House, Carolina Peacemaker, December 4, 1971.
21
Chafe presents an alternative account of the events that led to the massive integration of the public
schools in Greensboro. According to Chafe the local officials submitted to pressure from the H.E.W. and
local efforts by the Chamber of Commerce and integrated citizens groups. See for example William H.

together a Coalition for Quality Education to oppose the plans of the school board, it
was not able to organize a broad enough constituency to defeat the integration forces. In
fact, the school desegregation issue split the Black community because many civil rights
veterans and older community people tended to support the NAACPs call for
integration.22 GAPP and the Coalition for Quality Education made the argument that
integration of the public schools would result in the loss of what little influence the Black
community had at predominately Black institutions. Also, it was asserted that integration
would mean the loss of Black administrators, Black teachers and Black social institutions
(homecoming would lose its meaning for Black students and parents). In spite of these
arguments the NAACP, the Chamber of Commerce, the Greensboro School Board,
Positive Leadership for Education (Plea), Americans Concerned About Today and
Concerned Citizens for Schools (CSS) were able to out organize the North Carolina
Nationalists and their supporters on this crucial issue. I would suggest that the defeat of
the nationalists on the integration issue was partly the consequence of the confusion and
lack of clarity from the struggle over the ascendancy of Pan-Africanism. Initially, there
was some hesitation on the nationalists part to engage this issue with full force. After a
clear decision was reached to fight the issue the nationalist were already outflanked by the
considerable resources and organization of the integration forces
Although GAPP and the nationalist were caught off guard and defeated on the
issue of public school integration, fortunately they were able to turn the tables on the issue
of police brutality. Repression and police brutality were certainly not new issues in the
Black community. During the Civil Rights Movement, the excessive use of force to
Chafe, Civilities and Civil Rights: Greensboro, N.C and the Black Struggle for Freedom (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1980), pp. 312-332.
22
Cf. John Marshall Stevenson, Are We Doomed to Relive Our Past? Carolina Peacemaker, June 5,
1971; Members of Black Community Discuss School Dilemma, Carolina Peacemaker , May 29, 1971.

suppress the A&T-Dudley Revolt, and in many individual instances, the Black community
had made attempts to curtail police brutality in Greensboro. 23 However, the December
28, 1971 beating of an elderly Black woman by Greensboro Policemen, inflamed the Black
community and sparked a massive effort to eliminate police brutality in Greensboro. 24
GAPP was instrumental in the formation of Black Citizens Concerned with Police
Brutality (BCCPC) to fight the growing problem of police misconduct. The purpose and
composition of the group was outlined as follows:
The Black Citizens Concerned with Police Brutality
Committee was formed to investigate the numerous
Complaints of police malconduct that have been
Occurring in the southeastern and southwestern
Sections of GreensboroThe wide spread concern
of other Black citizens resulted in the following
organizations becoming a part of BCCPB: NAACP,
GAPP, MXLU, SGA of A&T State University, SOBU,
Guilford Federation of the Blind, Postal Alliance,
SGA of Bennett College, Greensboro Citizens
Association, Hampton Homes Tenant Council,
Greensboro Postal Auxiliary, NAACP Youth Council, and
EOC/Greensboro Advisory Council.25
This broad coalition under the leadership of GAPP and the North Carolina Nationalists
was able to conduct investigations into incidents of police brutality, compile data, offer
legal assistance, issue publications, and conduct a series of hearings which culminated in a
Peoples Court trail of the Greensboro Police Department, Greensboro City Council, the
Greensboro Human Relations Commission, and District Attorney, Douglas Albright.26
23

See, for example, Trouble in Greensboro, North Carolina State Advisory Committee, United States
Commission on Civil Rights, Greensboro, N.C. , March 1970.
24
See, Blacks Move Against Police Brutality, Carolina Peacemaker, January 15, 1972.
25
Trouble in Greensboro Continued: Police brutality, BCCPB, Greensboro, North Carolina, February,
1972, pp.1-2.
26
The peoples Court was a mock trial by jury conducted by the members of BCCPB on March 5, 1972.
Prior to this unprecedented event hearings were held in three sections of the Black community to gather
evidence and mobilize public opinion in favor of the efforts to curtail police malconduct. Hundreds of
Black people participated and attended the event and it was a tremendous success. Greensboro city
officials were extended formal invitations but they refused to participate. The defendants were given a
court appointed defense but the chief prosecutor for the people-Owusu Sadaukai-was able to convince the
jury that the Greensboro were guilty on all counts. See , Black Community Trial Renders Guilty
verdict, Carolina Peacemaker, March 11, 1972; Public Trial on Police Brutality, BCCPB, Greensboro,

BCCPB through its many activities was able to promote public awareness of this
issue and prompt the police department to hire more Black policemen and step up its
community relations efforts. BCCPB was not able to stop incidents of police brutality but
more people were willing to report and challenge police malconduct as a result of the
efforts of the coalition.27
GAPP and the North Carolina Nationalist were also active in two extraordinary
attempts to establish a state-wide Black political party. The first endeavor was the
creation the Black Peoples Union Party (BPUP) on November 22, 1971. 28 Frank
Balance, temporary Chairman of BPUP explained the reason for the new organization:
The major reason for beginning a new political party
is because whites are in complete control of the two
major parties in this State and are concerned mainly
with white voters.29
In other words, BPUP was created to provide Black people in the State with an alternative
to the existing two parties. More importantly, BPUP was to be a multipurpose
organization that would compete in electoral politics and work on issues such as housing,
welfare, education, economic development, employment, and health care. 30 BPUP was
to be a statewide Black political organization patterned after GAPP. The new
organization brought together activists and community people who had come into contact
with the North Carolina Nationalists through some past activity or Political campaign
Initially, the organization began with twenty chapters from different areas of cities in the
state.31 While this organization showed great promise it would prove to be unable to
North Carolina, March 1972; and , Press Statement, BCCPB, Greensboro, North Carolina, January 23,
1972.
27
The efforts of BCCPB are praised and acknowledge by the North Carolina Criminal Justice Task Force.
See for example, The Greensboro Report, Greensboro North Carolina, August 12, 1972.
28
See, Black Peoples Union Party Formed, Carolina Peacemaker, December 11, 1971.
29
Charles R. Jones, NCs Black Peoples Union Party Drops Demos, GOP, Carolinian, Raleigh, North
Carolina , November 27, 1971.
30
Black Peoples Union
31
See, BPUP Urges Political Divorce, Carolina Peacemaker, December 25, 1971.

endure beyond a few months. The main support and guidance for BPUP came from the
NCN and when the later changed its priorities, the former faded out of existence.
Approximately three months into this project the NCN decided to cut back its involvement
and the young party died from neglect.
A similar dynamic unfolded when the NCN became interested in creating a statewide political organization as outgrowth of the Gary Convention.32 After the Gary
Convention the NCN and their supporters set up the North Carolina Black Assembly on
July 22,1972. Over 400 people participated in the founding of the NCBA. The purpose
of the organization was identical with that of the BPUP.33 GAPP in particular, devoted a
significant amount of its resources and personnel to help make the organization a success.
However, after a few months this organization also folded when the NCN withdrew their
support.
Unfortunately, the attempts to set up these two independent political parties were
in conflict with the NCN work in the African Liberation Support Committee. 34 Member
organizations of the NCN gave ALSC work top priority because their Pan-African
perspective stressed the importance of African Liberation support work. At the same time,
some leading individuals in the NCN grouping were beginning to study Marxism-Leninism
and began to raise questions about the utility of efforts like the NCBA and BPUP. In the
final analysis, both of these attempts at independent political parties failed due to neglect
from the creators and movers of these formations--the North Carolina Nationalists.

32

The Gary Convention refers to the National Black Political Convention held march 10-12, 1972 in
Gary, Indiana. See, Supra, p. 36, No.21; Bill Strickland, the Gary Convention and the Crisis of
American Politics, Black World, Vol.21, No.12 (October, 1972), pp. 19-25; and the Gary Conference
Report, Black World, Vol.21, No.12 (October, 1972), pp.27-31.
33
See, Building the Black Assembly, African World, August, 1972.
34
See, Supra,pp. 40-45. GAPP for example, mobilized more than 250 people to attend the first African
Liberation Day. See also, Why Black People Must Support the Liberation Struggle in Southern Africa,
Leaflet, GAPP, Greensboro, North Carolina, April,1972.

Before closing the discussion on GAPP during its Pan-African period, I wish to
clarify why it was necessary to examine the organizations activities in the context of the
work of the North Carolina Nationalists. The very high degree of coordination and
similarity of ideological perspective was not accidental. Shortly after the arrival of
MXLU, regular meetings between the leadership of the component organizations began to
take place. These initially informal meetings of the leadership soon became known as the
Greensboro Collective and within a short period of time major policy decisions and
coordination of strategy were being inplemented.35

Thus, the relatively unified political

leadership of the North Carolina Nationalist exerted tremendous influence over the fate of
political activism in the city of Greensboro, the state of North Carolina, and in the broader
nationalist movement.
Whereas the hegemony of Pan-Africanism was established in GAPP through
discussions and open consultation, the hegemony of Marxism proceeded in the opposite
manner. Pan-Africanism rose to the guiding perspective through internal and external
discussions. However, when we look at how Marxism-Leninism came to dominate the life
of the organization it is more accurate to describe the process as undemocratic and more
or less forced. There were three salient developments that help explain how PanAfricanism was replaced by Marxism-Leninism among the North Carolina Nationalists:
First, Owusu Sadaukais trip to Africa and his discussions with leaders of African
Liberation Movements; Secondly, the evolvement of what would be called the
Revolutionary Workers League (RWL), and lastly the political line or program pursued by
RWL. This most critical period in GAPPs history began near the end of 1972 and
concludes with the virtual disappearance of the organization by 1975.

35

Nelson Johnson, taped interview, Greensboro, North Carolina January 3, 1981.

During the summer of 1971, Owusu Sadauki was allowed to visit parts of liberated
Mozambique and held discussions with Samora Michel of FRELIMO. The basic contents
of the discussions revolved around the question: How could Africans living in America
(Afro-Americans) best contribute to the success of African Liberation Movements?
Samora Michel and other leaders of African Liberation Movements suggested that Black
people in America could best aid the struggle in Africa by contributing to the defeat of
United States imperialism.36 When Owusu returned to the United States the idea for
African Liberation Day was born and the African Liberation Support Committee was
created. Moreover, a number of the previous assumptions of Pan-Africanism were
challenged. Two years later at the 1974 ALSC conference Owusu would explain the
impact of his trips to Africa as follows:
I used to have the same position as Kwadwo; that weve
got to liberate Africa and then we will be free.
It was revolutionaries in Africa who brought me
to see that that wasnt true. It was my discussions
With people in Mozambique and progressive
People in Tanzania, that convinced me that this
was a mystical analysis at best and that the
liberation of Africa would come only through two
processes.
The first is the process of outright struggle
against imperialism, of which we are a critical
part.
The secondis that revolutions come about
because of indigenoust movements of the people
towards revolutionary struggle.37
Owusu began to hold discussions on the significance of his travels through Africa and the
limitations of the Pan-African perspective were somewhat elaborated. As a result of these

36
37

Owusu Sadaukai, Personal interview, April 16, 1981.

Owusu Sadaukai, Position Statement, African World, July, 1974.

initial discussions the Greensboro Collective or the leading body of the NCN, began to
seriously study Marxism-Leninism.38
The Greensboro Collective transformed itself into a Marxists-Leninist study group
near the beginning of 1973. Moreover, it began to close its rank and place limits on who
could belong to the study group. Several leading members and most of the rank and file
of GAPP were not asked to become a part of the Marxist study circle even though
decisions were being made that affected all organizations controlled by the NCN. The
embryonic Marxist organization felt that most of the membership of GAPP was too
committed to previous ideological dispositions to perform effectively in the new
organization. Furthermore, the existence of the organization was supposed to be a well
kept secret.39 Leadership of the new organization felt that many past supporters could not
appreciate Marxism and therefore the existence of the organization was not publicly
acknowledged until early 1975.40
Even though the Marxist organization was not public many past supporters of the
North Carolina Nationalists began to drift away. Many rank and file members of GAPP
for example, knew that something was going on and many felt manipulated.41
After the formation of the organization it was recognized that the manner in which the
organization was formed was a serious mistake. As early as June, 1974 the organization
would admit:
38

Supra, pp.46-50.
The organization was created through two levels of simultaneous developments. In Greensboro, the
organization was composed primarily of members of YOBU the organization established contact with
similar Black Marxist elements and formed a left faction within ALSC. A national Black Marxist
organization with local chapters in several cities was formed through the secret merger of YOBU, MXLU,
Peoples College, and the Lynn Eusan Institute. See for example, The Organizations Current Task,
May Day, #1 ( May-June, 1974), Greensboro, North Carolina.
40
Cf. Resolution on Public Existence of the Organization, May Day, #3 ( January , 1975) and
Revolutionary Workers League Statement of Principles, RWL, Greensboro, North Carolina, February,
1975.
41
Rossella Jarrell, personal interview.
39

During this period members of the leadership of YOBU,

MXLU and the Lynn Eusan Institute sought to resolve
problems of line, organization form, and strategy
without involving the rank and file or those organizations.
It was a period in which many comrades received little or no
guidance and direction, little or no information on the
questions under discussion, and had little or no opportunity
to contribute to the discussion and make decisions.42
Despite the above acknowledgement the organization continued to push people away and
isolate itself from the concerns of Black people in America. During this period the main
activities of the organization manly consisted of marathon internal meetings. According to
the leadership, the major obstacle preventing the success for its organizational efforts was
the bourgeois ideology possessed by the membership.43 Consequently, long hours and
countless meetings were devoted to ideological remolding through criticism and self
criticism. Along with criticism, the leadership of the organization would declare that
organizing workers in factories and becoming a member of the revolutionary proletariat
was the most important activity for those concerned with fundamental change in society.44
While the move to Marxism began as a genuine attempt to go beyond the
limitations of Pan-Africanism, in reality the opposite effect was achieved. According to
the new perspective, the previous work of organizations like GAPP and ALSC was not
considered meaningful, Proletarianization or getting a job in the factory and organizing
workers was considered the only worthwhile activity. Consequently, the North Carolina
Nationalists withdrew from GAPP and let the organization suffer from neglect. By 1974,
GAPP entered a period of serious decline from which it would never recover. The overall
decline of one of the most dynamic black political organizations in the contemporary
movement was quite noticeable and an internal document would point out the following:
42

The Organizations Current Task, pp. E4.

See for example, Overview, unpublished internal evalualtions of the left faction, Greensboro, North
Carolina, 1973.
44
Ibid., p.4.
43

GAPP is at a low point: we have no money; there is

no program; the board is confused, disorganized and
weak; the staff is virtually non-existent. The development
of this set of undesirable circumstances has come upon GAPP gradually. Our
decay and disintegration has been seen by every one in the last year.45
Although the decline of GAPP was generally recognized, this did not mean that efforts
would be promoted to revive the organization. A majority of the leading members of RWL
viewed the decline of the organization as positive occurrence. This majority felt that
maintaining GAPP was an unnecessary burden and did not promote the new focus of the
Marxist Organization. The Marxist organization would not recognize the profound error
that was being committed until it was too late.
In short, the period of Marxist hegemony or domination brought the relatively
complete atrophy of GAPP. The organization was able to continue with minor projects
but it would never lead massive upheavals and campaigns again.46 By 1975, the
organizational activity consisted developing a few press statements on selected issues.
The once busy GAPP office was shut down and the only remnants of the organization are
the GAPP files housed at Uhuru bookstore. While the Marxists will not admit the role
that mechanical Marxism played in the destruction of GAPP, an analysis of the evolution
of the organization under the guidance of mechanical Marxism are also responsible for its
demise.

45

Nelson Johnson, A Proposal for a New Thrust-1974 and Beyond, unpublished discussion paper,
Greensboro, North Carolina, 1974, p. 1.
46
Cf. Gapp On Revenue Sharing, Carolina Peacemaker , January 27,1973.

CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
Again, the fundamental question posed by this thesis is: What was the impact of
competing ideologies on the rise and fall of the Greensboro Association of Poor People?
Put another way, this study was concerned with describing the dynamics between ideology
and activism as they unfolded in the evolvement of one radical black political organization
in the post-civil rights era. In order to address this question the study presented an
examination of the ideological structure of the Contemporary Black Nationalist
movement. This theoretical discussion was followed by a recapitulation of GAPPs
evolution and developments in the Contemporary black Movement as a whole. GAPPs
relationship with the larger movement was revealed in the processes that lead to major
shifts in ideological perspectives. The organization through its leadership was a vigorous
participant in the debates and discussions that lead to the ideological shifts that occurred in
the movement. This study of GAPPs development shows that changes in the movements
guiding ideology were a major factor in the redirection of black activism in the post-civil
rights era. Consequently, one of the most significant findings of this thesis is that the
manner in which conflicting ideological perspectives achieved hegemony in the movement

was a critical factor in the demise and disappearance of the Contemporary Black
Nationalist Movement.
Activists and intellectuals who composed the leadership of Black Nationalists
organizations like GAPP conceived ideology as the cure all for all the major problems of
the movement. When it became apparent that a particular guiding ideology was full of
contradictions or unable to explain important aspects of reality the old ideology was
simply replaced with a new ideology. Black radicals and intellectuals responsible for postcivil rights activism did not see ideology as merely one component of political philosophy
and therefore remained ignorant of their philosophical responsibilities. Moreover, the
movement contained an anti-intellectualist bias which obscured and prevented the
consideration of more substantial questions: such as the question of the philosophical
origins of the various ideological perspectives in the movement, the unresolved theoretical
problematics within Black social thought, and the dependence of Black social thought on
western liberalism (or western Marxism). While a variety of explanations have been
offered to explain the demise of post-civil rights activism, this study suggests that one of
the most convincing arguments is that the movement and its leadership were unwilling or
at least unable to solve the theoretical and philosophical problems listed above. Thus, this
study of one the more important components of the Black movement shows that the
leadership resolved the contradictions and inadequacies of a particular ideology by
embracing a different ideology. GAPPs sojourn from one ideological perspective to
another and the resulting changes in strategies, tactics and programs postponed the
consideration of philosophical and theoretical problems. As a result, the organization and
the movement was doomed to repeat past errors more profoundly.

In addition to the above concerns, this study suggests that the relationship between
the leaders and those being led in Black political organizations promotes the selfdestruction of those organizations over time. Both Black Power and Pan-African ideology
promoted blind allegiance and slavishness among the rank and file members of the
organizations (GAPP, SOBU, MXLU). GAPP members, for example, assumed that the
Master Organizer and the leaders in the organization would always make decisions that
would be in the best interest of the organization and movement. While the leadership did
not encourage blind faith and constantly talked about the need for rank and file initiative,
in reality a program for training successors was not implemented. Without a program to
train rank and file members to assume leadership responsibilities it is doubtful that the
problem of blind faith will go away on its on accord. This problem received a tremendous
amount of attention during the Marxist period, however, the opposite error was
committed. Even though the Marxist phase was characterized by an undemocratic style of
operation, rank and file members were thrust into positions of leadership without serious
consideration for administrative or organizational ability. During the Marxist phase, the
most important criteria for leadership was ones political line: translated this means that
the guiding political perspective was to be believed without question.
If Black political organizations are to survive in the future the relations between
the leaders and those being led must undergo a fundamental change. Certainly, the GAPP
experience illustrates that in the long run blind allegiance promotes an uncritical outlook
and cripples the organizations ability to perceive mistakes and correct them before
irreparable damage is done. Mechanisms and attitudes should be promoted which
encourage critical reflection and rank and file members should regularly be trained to
assume leadership responsibility. Whereas the leadership should enjoy respect and

authority, nevertheless, these attributes are not substitutes for good policies and programs.
The GAPP experience shows that organizations that do not promote constant and
meaningful interactions between all levels is bound to fail. GAPPs experience
demonstrates how unhealthy relations between levels of an organization can help promote
the premature demise of a group regardless of its intentions.
In my view, the most revealing finding of this study is that the creators of GAPP
are also primarily responsible for its downfall. The North Carolina Nationalists operating
under the influence of various ideological perspectives achieved the exact opposite of
what they set out to achieve. Without question, the nationalists were an extraordinary
group of dedicated and courageous men and women who sincerely believed that their
actions would promote a liberating opposition. However, a movement cannot be lead by
good intentions alone. Along with dedication, courage, and hard work, those who are
responsible for promoting a liberating opposition must also carry out the necessary
theoretical and philosophical tasks or else it will all be in vain. As black people prepare
themselves to face certain hardships of the 1980s it is crucial that an accurate analysis of
our past history of struggle be rendered without apologies and post-facto rationalizations.
Many of the North Carolina Nationalists who are at this writing involved in various
communist organizations such as the Communist Workers Party (CWP) are too quick to
provide self-serving and uncritical analysis of Contemporary Black Nationalist
Movement.1 Radical literature from left organizations tend to blame the state and
government repression for the decline of the Black Movement. Alternatively, the left
explains away the decline of the Black Movement as the result of the absence of a
genuine communist party.2 I find both of these explanations untenable and the previous
1
2

See for example, Black Politics in the 80s, The 80s, Vol. 1, No. 2 (September, 1980), pp. 27-38.
Jim OBrien, American Leninism in the 1970s, Pamphlet, New England Free Press, 1979.

analysis of GAPPs political development indicates that the internal sources of Black
Movements decline play a more essential role than the left is willing to admit.
GAPPs disappearance from the political climate in Greensboro and North Carolina
is a tragic occurrence. Black people in Greensboro and in the state who once looked to
GAPP for leadership are now suffering from disorganization and an inability to respond
to increasing political and economic set backs. Although many organizations have tried to
fill the void left by GAPPs exit, at this writing not one has been successful.
Greensboros Black community has not been able to launch massive campaigns against the
status quo and the concerns of Black citizens are ignored. This study shows that the
organization was able to build effective political coalitions in the Black community which
were able to impact public and private policies. Moreover, if the organization had been
able to survive it is doubtful that the current political powerless of the Black community
would be so devastating.
Finally, I wish to point out several areas that could benefit from future
investigations and analysis. Although the problem of cooptation and repression was not
addressed in this study this does not mean that these forces were insignificant in GAPPs
evolution. On the contrary, preliminary study by Chafe documents the tremendous
amounts of resources expended by the local status quo and the F.B.I. to halt the activities
of GAPP and the North Carolina Nationalists.3 GAPP members were routinely harassed
by the Greensboro police and attempts were made to bribe some members for information
on several occasions.4 A more comprehensive study of the organizations history would
benefit from further investigations of these types of activities.

William H. Chafe, Civilities and Civil Rights: Greensboro, North Carolina, and the Black Struggle for
Freedom (New York: Oxford University Press, 1980), pp.406-408.
4
GAPP Employee Offered Bribe, Carolina Peacemaker, September 13,1969.

More importantly, a thorough study of the North Carolina Nationalist would

strengthen the analysis presented in this study. As pointed out earlier both MXLU and
SOBU were vital institutions in the contemporary Black Nationalists Movement even
though, the post Civil Rights Movement literature barely acknowledges their existence.
The collective leadership of these organizations were interwoven so closely until the
evolvement of one effected the others directly. A comprehensive study of GAPP, SOBU
and MXLU would provide valuable insights into the dynamics of late 60s and early 70s
nationalism.
While this study ends with emergence of Marxism in the nationalist movement it is
imperative that development after this point be subjected to critical analysis. After the
emergence of Marxism, what was left of the North Carolina Nationalist evolved into a
number of conflicting groups on the white left. These left organizations continue to work
in the Black communities around the country even though many observers have written
them off as insignificant. A study and critique of these left organizations would help
promote the growth of an autonomous politics in the Black community.

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Newspapers
African World
Carolina Peacemaker
Greensboro Daily News

APPENDIX II
LIST OF PERSONS INTERIVEWED WITH
ORGANIZATIONAL AFFILIATIONS
Bob Barnes---AAA Tenants Association
Lewis Brandon*---FCP, GAPP, ALSC, RWL, NAACP
Patricia Dunn---AAA Tenants Association
Doug Gill (Dalibi Mai Galaba) --- GAPP, MXLU, ALSU, RWL
Tim Harris---SOBU, MXLU
Rosella Jarrell----Cateterra Workers Association, GAPP

Nelson Johnson*----YES, FCD, SOBU, GAPP, ALSC, RWL, CWP

Joyce Johnson*---- SOBU, GAPP, ALSC, RWL, CWP
Johnny B. Jones----Blind Workers Association
Owusu Sudaukai ----North Carolina Fund, FCD, MXLU, ALSC, RWL
*Key leadership and the North Carolina Nationalists (NCN)

APPENDIX III
BY-LAWS
for the
GREENSBORO ASSOCIATION OF POOR PEOPLE
ARTICLE I
Name
The name of this organization shall be the Greensboro Association of Poor People.

ARTICLE II
Section I. The purpose and objectives of this organization shall be
A. To act as catalyst in organizing poor Black people around their immediate and
long range problems in such a way as to create a sense of power and
determination sufficient to effect change on the policy level.
B.

To focus on the political, economic, social, and educational injustices heaped

upon Black people and to provide alternative solutions which are relevant in
these areas and are consistent with the ideals of self-determination and
independence for Black people.
ARTICLE III

Membership
Section I. Membership shall be limited to individuals and members of Neighborhood
Council or other organization composed of residents of the Black community in
Greensboro.
Section II. Neighborhood Councils or other organizations meeting the requirements of
Article II, Section I, who wish to affiliate with this organization may become
organizational members by requesting such membership. All organizations of this nature
must be approve by the Board of Directors.
Section III. Each member shall be entitled to one vote for business to be transacted by the
membership.
ARTICLE IV
Officers
Section I. The officers of this organization shall be: Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Secretary
and Treasurer.

Section II. Officers shall be elected on the second Sunday in December of each year and
shall hod office for one year of until successors are elected.
Section III. Candidates for office shall be selected by nominations from the floor.
Elections shall be by a show of hands.
ARTICLE V
Meetings
Section I.
A. Regular meeting of the Board of Directors shall be held on the second and
fourth Sundays of each month.
B. Special meeting s of the Board of Directors may be called by the chairman of
upon the request of one fourth (1/4) of the members who are in good standing.
C. All members of the Board of Directors must be notified prior to a special
meeting. Members may be contacted by the mail, phone, or personal visit.
Notification must be a minimum of 24 hours.
D. A quorum of the board of Directors shall consist of or no less than five (5)
of the Board Members.
E. Any member of the Executive Board who missed three (3) meetings without a
legitimate excuse shall be asked to step down as a member of the Board of
Directors. If he is a representatives of a constituent organization, then it is that
organizations responsibility to replace the person immediately. If the person is
an at large Member of the Board of Directors, then his seat must vacant until
such time that the membership shall elect another representative.
F. The Board of Directors Shall determine what is a legitimate excuse.
Section II. Meeting of Membership

A. Meetings of the total membership shall be held at least once a year on the
second Sunday in July.
B. A quorum of the membership shall consist of at least 2/3 of the members in
good standing. No business can be transacted without this quorum at the
annual meeting.
C. The site of the annual meeting is to determined by the Board of Directors.
ARTICLE VI
Board of Directors
Section I. The Board of Directors of this organization shall be composed of officers of the
organization as stated in Article IV and Section I, at least one and a maximum of three
representatives from each organization included in membership, and three (3) at Large
Posts, to be elected from the membership.
Section II. Each organizational member may designate at least one, no more than three
(3) with the approval of the Board of Directors, representatives who shall be considered
members of the Board of Directors. The constituent membership organization shall use
any means it desires to elect said representatives.
Section IV. Members of the Board of Directors shall conduct themselves in accordance
with the goals and objectives of the Greensboro Association of Poor People.
Section V. The corporate powers, property, and affairs of the Greensboro Association
Poor People , except as otherwise provide by law, the article of corporation or the BYLaws shall be vested in exercise, conducted, controlled, and managed by the Board of
Directors.

ARTICLE VII
Duties of Standing Committees
Section I. Financial committees have the responsibility of monitoring incoming or outgoing funds which come to the Greensboro Association of Poor People (directly or
indirectly) through projects which GAPP may be involved in.
Section II. The Program Committee shall work with the staff in developing a goal and
objective (concerning a program) for a given year.
Section III. The Operations Committee will continuously evaluate the program and staff ,
as well as the organizations (GAPP) ability to carry out the stated goals of and
objectives. It will also assist the staff in analyzing problems and developing alternative
strategies.
Section IV. The Executive Committee shall bring together the ideas of the standing
committee and special committees a s designated by the Chairman of the Board, in an
attempt to set the policy for the Greensboro Association of Poor People. This committee
will also act in emergency situations in the event that a quorum of the Board of Directors
cannot be obtained.
ARTICLE IX
Amendments and Parliamentary Authority
Section I. These By-Laws may be amended by two-thirds (2/3) of the members in good
standing at the annual meeting, if thirty (3) days written notice is given to the Board of
Directors.
Section II. Roberts Rules of Order shall govern all proceedings.

ARTICLE X
Duties of Officers
Section I. Chairmanpresides at all meetings preserves order makes Parliamentary
decisions and ruling.
Section II. Vice-ChairmanPerforms all duties of the Chairman in his absence or inability
to serve.
Section III. Secretarysends notices of all meetings to members of the organization,
keeps a record of attendance, records the business of all meetings of the Board of
Directors and of the annual Meeting, keeps such minutes and prepares and assists the
chairman in preparing an agenda for the meeting.
Section IV. Treasureris custodian of, and responsible for all funds of the organization,
receives and disburses funds on signed orders to pay which will authorized by the board
of Directors.
ARTICLE XI
Staff Assistance
Section I. This organization will send out people with training and experience to assist the
organization in carrying out its goals and objectives.
Section II. The staff shall consist of a director, neighborhood workers and youth
coordinators, secretary, and bookkeeper.
Section III. The Director shall have the authority to hire and fire staff.
ARTICLE XII
Duties of Staff
Section I. Directorto carry out the goals and objectives of the Board of Directores of
the Greensboro Association of Poor People based on the directives from the Board of

Directors and programs initiated by the Board and its membership. To make assignments
to other staff members and to supervise and support them when necessary. The Director
shall work with existing organizations in the Black community, and individuals, and shall
organize new groups around their problems and issues. Community workers will be
responsible to the Director and ultimately to the Board of Directors.
Section III. Youth Coordinators shall establish a city-wide Youth Group form the Black
community and work with existing youth groups . The Youth Coordinator shall be
responsible to the Director an ultimately to the Board of Directors.
Section IV. Secretary-Bookkeeper shall be responsible for typing, bookkeeping, and
general office operations. The secretary-bookkeeper is responsible to the Director and
ultimately responsible to the Board of Directors.