67-505: Stokely is a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name [ edit ] Stokely Carmichael (1941–1998), American civil rights activist Surname [ edit ] Samuel Stokely (1796–1861), U.S. Representative from Ohio Scott Stokely (born 1969), American disc golfer Tim Stokely (born 1983), British businessman, founder and CEO of OnlyFans See also [ edit ] Stokely vegetables,
134-534: A Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agent. Both efforts were largely successful: Carmichael was expelled from SNCC that year, and the Panthers began to denounce him, putting him at grave personal risk. After stepping down as SNCC chair, Carmichael wrote the book Black Power: The Politics of Liberation (1967) with Charles V. Hamilton . It is a first-person reflection on his experiences in SNCC and his dissatisfaction with
201-585: A historically black university in Washington, D.C. His professors included the poet Sterling Brown , Nathan Hare , and Toni Morrison , who was later awarded the Nobel Prize for literature . Carmichael and fellow civil rights activist Tom Kahn helped to fund a five-day run of the Three Penny Opera , by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill : Tom Kahn—very shrewdly—had captured the position of Treasurer of
268-423: A " thalidomide drug of integration", and that some Negroes have been walking down a dream street talking about sitting next to white people; and that that does not begin to solve the problem; that when we went to Mississippi we did not go to sit next to Ross Barnett ; we did not go to sit next to Jim Clark ; we went to get them out of our way; and that people ought to understand that; that we were never fighting for
335-745: A "second front" to stage protests at the Alabama State Capitol in March 1965. Carmichael became disillusioned with the growing struggles between SNCC and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), which opposed Forman's strategy. He thought SCLC was working with affiliated black churches to undercut it. He was also frustrated to be drawn again into nonviolent confrontations with police, which he no longer found empowering. After seeing protesters brutally beaten again, he collapsed from stress, and his colleagues urged him to leave
402-660: A 1967 interview Carmichael gave to Life Magazine , he was the only black member of the Morris Park Dukes, a youth gang involved in alcohol and petty theft. Carmichael attended the Bronx High School of Science in New York from 1956, being selected through high achievement on its standardized entrance examination. He was acquainted with fellow Bronx Science student Samuel R. Delany during his time there. After graduation in 1960, Carmichael enrolled at Howard University ,
469-668: A Democratic Society (SDS). It encouraged the SDS to focus on militant anti-draft resistance. At an SDS-organized conference at UC Berkeley in October 1966, Carmichael challenged the white left to escalate their resistance to the military draft in a manner similar to the black movement. For a time in 1967, he considered an alliance with Saul Alinsky 's Industrial Areas Foundation , and generally supported IAF's work in Rochester's and Buffalo's black communities. SNCC conducted its first actions against
536-916: A canned food brand currently owned by Seneca Foods Stokley (disambiguation) Stokeley , a 2018 album by Ski Mask the Slump God [REDACTED] Name list This page or section lists people that share the same given name or the same family name . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change that link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stokely&oldid=1099083717 " Categories : Given names Surnames Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description with empty Wikidata description All set index articles Stokely Carmichael Kwame Ture ( / ˈ k w ɑː m eɪ ˈ t ʊər eɪ / ; born Stokely Standiford Churchill Carmichael ; June 29, 1941 – November 15, 1998)
603-536: A county that was 80% black. Hulett, who was LCFO's chairperson, was one of the first two African American voters whose registration was successfully processed in Lowndes County. Local residents and SNCC staff members decided to avoid joining the Alabama Democratic party because the state party was led by segregationist Governor George Wallace and employed the slogan "White Supremacy" represented by an image of
670-486: A merger between the two organizations. A March 4, 1968, memo from Hoover states his fear of the rise of a Black Nationalist "messiah" and that Carmichael alone had the "necessary charisma to be a real threat in this way". In July 1968, Hoover stepped up his efforts to divide the black power movement. Declassified documents show he launched a plan to undermine the SNCC-Panther merger, as well as to " bad-jacket " Carmichael as
737-600: A philosophy of black power , and popularized it both by provocative speeches and more sober writings. Carmichael became one of the most popular and controversial Black leaders of the late 1960s. FBI director J. Edgar Hoover secretly identified Carmichael as the man most likely to succeed Malcolm X as America's "black messiah". The FBI targeted him for counterintelligence activity through its COINTELPRO program, causing Carmichael to move to Africa in 1968. He reestablished himself in Ghana , and then Guinea by 1969. There, he adopted
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#1732872451615804-465: A political force and either electing representatives or forcing their representatives to speak to their needs [rather than relying on established parties]." Strongly influenced by the work of Frantz Fanon and his landmark book The Wretched of the Earth , along with others such as Malcolm X , Carmichael led SNCC to become more radical. The group focused on Black Power as its core goal and ideology. During
871-517: A result of a partnership with local activist John Hulett and other local leaders. In 1965, working as a SNCC activist in the black majority Lowndes County, Alabama , Carmichael helped increase the number of registered black voters from 70 to 2,600, being 300 more than the number of registered white voters. Black voters had essentially been disfranchised by Alabama's constitution, passed by white Democrats in 1901. After Congressional passage in August of
938-512: A sense of community. It is a call for black people to define their own goals, to lead their own organizations. According to historian David J. Garrow , a few days after Carmichael spoke about Black Power at the rally during "Meredith March Against Fear", he told King: "Martin, I deliberately decided to raise this issue on the march in order to give it a national forum and force you to take a stand for Black Power." King responded, "I have been used before. One more time won't hurt." While Black Power
1005-506: A viable coalition can be created between "the politically and economically secure and the politically and economically insecure"; and that a coalition can be "sustained on a moral, friendly, sentimental basis; by appeals to conscience." He believed that each of these myths showed the need for two groups to be mutually exclusive, and on relatively equal footing, to be in a viable coalition. Lowndes County Freedom Organization The Lowndes County Freedom Organization ( LCFO ), also known as
1072-490: A week, were not allowed books or any other personal effects, and were at times placed in maximum security to isolate them. Carmichael said of the Parchman Farm sheriff: The sheriff acted like he was scared of black folks and he came up with some beautiful things. One night he opened up all the windows, put on ten big fans and an air conditioner, and dropped the temperature to 38 degrees [Fahrenheit; 3 °C]. All we had on
1139-536: A white rooster. Due to high rates of illiteracy among the black residents, an image of a black panther was adopted to identify party members of LCFO in contrast to members of the all-white Democratic party represented by a white rooster. The idea for the logo came from SNCC field secretary Ruth Howard. The LCFO's symbol of a black panther was later adopted by the Black Panther Party founded by Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton and other organizations throughout
1206-637: The 1964 Democratic Convention in support of the MFDP, which sought to have its delegation seated. But the MFDP delegates were refused voting rights by the Democratic National Committee , which chose to seat the regular white Jim Crow delegation. Carmichael, along with many SNCC staff members, left the convention with a profound sense of disillusionment in the American political system, and what he later called "totalitarian liberal opinion". He said, "what
1273-608: The Lowndes County Freedom Party ( LCFP ) or Black Panther party , was an American political party founded during 1965 in Lowndes County, Alabama . The independent third party was formed by local African-American citizens led by John Hulett , and by staff members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) under the leadership of Stokely Carmichael . On March 23, 1965, as
1340-577: The March on Washington . Carmichael said Lewis was "regular guy, uncomplicated, friendly, and brave", while Carmichael himself led a faction whose direction was toward a path "less regular" and "a lot less friendly". In 1966, the SNCC convened in Kingston Springs, Tennessee , and reelected Lewis by a 60-22 vote. Activist Worth Long challenged the election on procedural grounds and, in the debate that followed, Lewis
1407-527: The Voting Rights Act of 1965 , the federal government was authorized to oversee and enforce their rights. There was still tremendous resistance from wary residents, but an important breakthrough occurred when, while he was handing out voter registration material at a local school, two policemen confronted Carmichael and ordered him to leave. He refused and avoided arrest after challenging the two officers to do so. As word of this incident spread, Carmichael and
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#17328724516151474-402: The march from Selma to Montgomery took place, Carmichael and some in SNCC who were participants declined to continue marching after reaching Lowndes County and decided to instead stop and talk with local residents. After word spread that Carmichael avoided arrest from two officers who ordered him to leave a school where he was registering voters after he challenged them to do so, Carmichael and
1541-652: The sit-in movement in the southern United States during college, Carmichael became more active in the Civil Rights Movement. In his first year at Howard, in 1961, Carmichael participated in the Freedom Rides that the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) organized to desegregate the interstate buses and bus station restaurants along U.S. Route 40 between Baltimore and Washington, D.C., as they came under federal rather than state law. They had been segregated by custom. He
1608-563: The two-party system after the 1964 Democratic National Convention failed to recognize the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party as official delegates from the state. Carmichael eventually decided to develop independent all-black political organizations, such as the Lowndes County Freedom Organization and, for a time, the national Black Panther Party. Inspired by Malcolm X 's example, he articulated
1675-545: The "Honorary Prime Minister" of the Black Panther Party , and last as a leader of the All-African People's Revolutionary Party (A-APRP). Carmichael was one of the original SNCC freedom riders of 1961 under Diane Nash 's leadership. He became a major voting rights activist in Mississippi and Alabama after being mentored by Ella Baker and Bob Moses . Like most young people in the SNCC, he became disillusioned with
1742-636: The Liberal Arts Student Council and the infinitely charismatic and popular Carmichael as floor whip was good at lining up the votes. Before they knew what hit them the Student Council had become a patron of the arts, having voted to buy out the remaining performances. It was a classic win/win. Members of the Council got patronage packets of tickets for distribution to friends and constituents. Carmichael's Washington, D.C., apartment on Euclid Street
1809-472: The SNCC activists who stayed with him in Lowndes gained more respect from local residents and started working with Hulett and other local leaders. With the objective of registering African American voters, Carmichael, Hulett and their local allies formed the Lowndes County Freedom Organization (LCFO), a party that had the black panther as its mascot, over the white-dominated local Democratic Party , whose mascot
1876-736: The SNCC chapter in Cambridge, Maryland . During a protest with Richardson in Maryland in June 1964, Carmichael was hit directly in a chemical gas attack by the National Guard and had to be hospitalized. He soon became project director for Mississippi's 2nd congressional district , made up largely of the counties of the Mississippi Delta. At that time, most blacks in Mississippi had been disfranchised since
1943-631: The United States. In 1970, the LCFO merged with the Alabama Democratic Party. This resulted in former LCFO candidates winning public offices. Among them was Hulett, who was elected Sheriff of Lowndes County. Hulett served in this position for 22 years before serving three terms as a probate judge. The work of the political organization was examined in the documentary film Eyes on the Prize within
2010-471: The city. Within a week, Carmichael returned to protesting, this time in Selma, to participate in the final march along Route 80 to the state capital. But on March 23, 1965, Carmichael and some in SNCC who were participating in the Selma to Montgomery march declined to complete the march, instead initiating a grassroots project in "Bloody Lowndes" County , along the march route, talking with local residents. This
2077-529: The controversial Atlanta Project in 1966, SNCC, under the local leadership of Bill Ware, engaged in a voter drive to promote the candidacy of Julian Bond from an Atlanta district for a seat in the Georgia State Legislature . Ware excluded Northern white SNCC members from working on this drive. Carmichael initially opposed this decision but changed his mind. At the urging of the Atlanta Project,
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2144-497: The countywide election of 1965. In 1966, several LCFO candidates ran for office in the general election but lost. In 1970, the LCFO merged with the statewide Democratic Party, and former LCFO candidates, including Hulett, won their first offices in the county. In August 1963, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee elected as its chairman John Lewis , one of the " Big Six " activists who organized
2211-525: The direction of the Civil Rights Movement in the late 1960s. Throughout the work he directly and indirectly criticizes the established leadership of the SCLC and NAACP for their tactics and results, often claiming that they were accepting symbols instead of change. He promoted what he calls "political modernization." This idea included three major concepts: "1) questioning old values and institutions of
2278-729: The disguise of consensus democracy. The President has conducted war in Vietnam without the consent of Congress or the American people, without the consent of anybody except maybe Lady Bird . In May 1967, Carmichael stepped down as chairman of SNCC and was replaced by H. Rap Brown . SNCC was a collective, working by group consensus rather than hierarchically; many members had become displeased with Carmichael's celebrity status. SNCC leaders had begun to refer to him as "Stokely Starmichael" and criticized his habit of making policy announcements independently, before achieving internal agreement. According to historian Clayborne Carson , Carmichael did not protest
2345-464: The front row at his invitation. Carmichael privately took credit for pushing King toward anti-imperialism , and historians such as Peniel Joseph and Michael Eric Dyson agree. Carmichael joined King in New York on April 15, 1967, to share his views with protesters on race related to the Vietnam War: The draft exemplifies as much as racism the totalitarianism which prevails in this nation in
2412-400: The integration of African Americans into existing institutions of the middle-class mainstream. Now, several people have been upset because we've said that integration was irrelevant when initiated by blacks, and that in fact it was a subterfuge, an insidious subterfuge, for the maintenance of white supremacy . Now we maintain that in the past six years or so, this country has been feeding us
2479-497: The issue of white members in SNCC came up for a vote. Carmichael ultimately sided with those calling for the expulsion of whites. He said that whites should organize poor white southern communities, of which there were plenty, while SNCC focused on promoting African American self-reliance through Black Power. Carmichael considered nonviolence a tactic, not a fundamental principle, which separated him from civil rights leaders such as King. He criticized civil rights leaders who called for
2546-555: The liberal really wants is to bring about change which will not in any way endanger his position". Having developed an aversion to working with the Democratic Party after the 1964 convention, Carmichael decided to leave the MFDP. Instead, he began exploring SNCC projects in Alabama in 1965. During the period of the Selma to Montgomery marches , James Forman recruited him to participate in
2613-586: The military draft and the Vietnam War under Carmichael's leadership. He popularized the oft-repeated anti-draft slogan "Hell no, we won't go!" during this time. Carmichael encouraged King to demand unconditional withdrawal of US troops from Vietnam, even as some King advisers cautioned him that such opposition might have an adverse effect on financial contributions to the SCLC. King preached one of his earliest speeches calling for unconditional withdrawal with Carmichael in
2680-518: The movement had affirmed that anyone who truly believed in their cause was welcome to join and march. Carmichael offered a different vision. Influenced by Fanon's ideas in The Wretched of the Earth , wherein two groups were not "complementary" (could have no overlap) until they were mutually exclusive (were on an equal power footing economically, socially, politically, etc.), Carmichael said that U.S. blacks had to unite and build their power independent of
2747-459: The name Kwame Ture, and began campaigning internationally for revolutionary socialist pan-Africanism. Ture died of prostate cancer in 1998 at the age of 57. Carmichael was born in Port of Spain , Trinidad and Tobago . He attended Tranquility School before moving to Harlem , New York City , in 1952 at the age of 11, to rejoin his parents. They had migrated to the United States when he was two, and he
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2814-443: The nation as a whole. He criticized the emphasis on the American "middle-class." "The values," he said, "of that class are based on material aggrandizement, not the expansion of humanity." (40) Carmichael believed that blacks were being lured to enter the "middle-class" as a trap, in which they would be assimilated into the white world by turning their backs on others of their race who were still suffering. This assimilation, he thought,
2881-427: The only acts that white people can do is to stop denying black people their freedom; that is, they must stop denying freedom. They never give it to anyone. Carmichael wrote that "in order for nonviolence to work, your opponent must have a conscience. The United States has none." During Carmichael's leadership, SNCC continued to maintain a coalition with several white radical organizations, most notably Students for
2948-526: The other SNCC activists who stayed with him in the county were inspired to create the LCFO with Hulett (who, since the banning of the NAACP in the state, had been active in Fred Shuttlesworth 's Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights), and other local leaders. As the Voting Rights Act of 1965 allowed African Americans to register to vote, the objective of the party was to register African Americans in
3015-406: The passage of a new constitution in 1890. The summer project was to prepare them to register to vote and conduct a parallel registration movement to demonstrate how much people wanted to vote. Grassroots activists organized the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), as the regular Democratic Party did not represent African Americans in the state. At the end of Freedom Summer, Carmichael went to
3082-856: The rides: I thought I have to go because you've got to keep the issue alive, and you've got to show the Southerners that you're not gonna be scared off, as we've been scared off in the past. And no matter what they do, we're still gonna keep coming back. In 1964, Carmichael became a full-time field organizer for SNCC in Mississippi. He worked on the Greenwood voting rights project under Bob Moses . Throughout Freedom Summer , he worked with grassroots African American activists, including Fannie Lou Hamer , whom Carmichael named as one of his personal heroes. SNCC organizer Joann Gavin wrote that Hamer and Carmichael "understood one another as perhaps no one else could." He also worked closely with Gloria Richardson , who led
3149-402: The right to integrate, we were fighting against white supremacy. Now, then, in order to understand white supremacy we must dismiss the fallacious notion that white people can give anybody their freedom. No man can give anybody his freedom. A man is born free. You may enslave a man after he is born free, and that is in fact what this country does. It enslaves black people after they're born, so that
3216-401: The society; 2) searching for new and different forms of political structure to solve political and economic problems; and, 3) broadening the base of political participation to include more people in the decision-making process." By questioning "old values and institutions", Carmichael was referring not only to the established Black leadership of the time but also to the values and institutions of
3283-428: The system by political and legal maneuvering within the system, but said they ultimately failed to achieve more than the bare minimum. In the process, he believed they reinforced the political and legal structures that perpetuated the racism they were fighting. In response to these failures and to offer a way forward, Carmichael discusses the concept of coalition with regard to the Civil Rights Movement. The leadership of
3350-613: The time, the established forms of political structure were the SCLC and the NAACP. These groups were religiously and academically based and focused on nonviolence and steady legal and legislative change within established U.S. systems and structures. Carmichael rejected that. He discusses the development of the Mississippi Freedom Democrats , the 1966 local election in Lowndes County, and the political history of Tuskegee, Alabama . He chose these examples as places where blacks changed
3417-560: The train. Before getting on the train in New Orleans, they encountered white protesters blocking the way. Carmichael said, "They were shouting. Throwing cans and lit cigarettes at us. Spitting on us." Eventually, the group was able to board the train. When the group arrived in Jackson, Carmichael and the eight other riders entered a "white" cafeteria. They were charged with disturbing the peace, arrested, and taken to jail. Eventually, Carmichael
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#17328724516153484-535: The transfer of power and was "eager to relinquish the chair". It is sometimes mistakenly reported that Carmichael left SNCC completely at this time and joined the Black Panther Party, but that did not occur until 1968. SNCC officially ended its relationship with Carmichael in August 1968; in a statement, Philip Hutchings wrote: "It has been apparent for some time that SNCC and Stokely Carmichael were moving in different directions." During this period, Carmichael
3551-456: The white structure, or they would never be able to build a coalition that would function for both parties, not just the dominant one. He said, "we want to establish the grounds on which we feel political coalitions can be viable." For this to happen, Carmichael argued that blacks had to address three myths regarding coalition: "that the interests of black people are identical with the interests of certain liberal, labor, or other reform groups"; that
3618-500: Was T-shirts and shorts. While being hurt on one occasion, Carmichael began singing to the guards, "I'm gonna tell God how you treat me", and the other prisoners joined in. Carmichael kept the group's morale up in prison, often telling jokes with Steve Green and the other Freedom Riders, and making light of their situation. He knew their situation was serious: What with the range of ideology, religious belief, political commitment and background, age, and experience, something interesting
3685-492: Was a county known for white violence against blacks during this era, where SCLC and Martin Luther King Jr. had tried and failed to organize its black residents. From 1877 to 1950, Lowndes County had 14 documented lynchings of African Americans. Carmichael and the SNCC activists who accompanied him also struggled in Lowndes, as local residents were at first wary of their presence. But they later achieved greater success as
3752-627: Was a gathering place for his activist classmates. He graduated in 1964 with a degree in philosophy. Carmichael was offered a full graduate scholarship to Harvard University but turned it down. At Howard, Carmichael joined the Nonviolent Action Group (NAG), the Howard campus affiliate of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Kahn introduced Carmichael and the other SNCC activists to Bayard Rustin , an African-American leader who became an influential adviser to SNCC. Inspired by
3819-544: Was a white rooster. Since federal protection from violent voter suppression by the Ku Klux Klan and other white opponents was sporadic, most Lowndes County activists openly carried arms. Despite Carmichael's role in forming the LCFO, Hulett served as the group's chairperson and became one of the first two African Americans whose voter registration was successfully processed in Lowndes County. Although black residents and voters outnumbered whites in Lowndes, their candidate lost
3886-446: Was always going on. Because no matter our differences, this group had one thing in common, moral stubbornness. Whatever we believed, we really believed and were not at all shy about advancing. We were where we were only because of our willingness to affirm our beliefs even at the risk of physical injury. So it was never dull on death row. In a 1964 interview with author Robert Penn Warren , Carmichael reflected on his motives for going on
3953-668: Was an American activist who played a major role in the civil rights movement in the United States and the global pan-African movement. Born in Trinidad in the Caribbean, he grew up in the United States from the age of 11 and became an activist while attending the Bronx High School of Science . He was a key leader in the development of the Black Power movement , first while leading the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), then as
4020-426: Was an inherent indictment of blackness and validation of whiteness as the preferred state. He said, "Thus we reject the goal of assimilation into middle-class America because the values of that class are in themselves anti-humanist and because that class as a social force perpetuates racism." Secondly, Carmichael discussed searching for different forms of political structure to solve political and economic problems. At
4087-472: Was frequently arrested and spent time in jail. He was arrested so many times for his activism that he lost count, sometimes estimating 29 or 32. In 1998, he told the Washington Post that he thought the total was fewer than 36. Along with eight other riders, on June 4, 1961, Carmichael traveled by train from New Orleans , Louisiana , to Jackson , Mississippi, to integrate the formerly "white" section on
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#17328724516154154-483: Was not a new concept, Carmichael's speech brought it into the spotlight. It became a rallying cry for young African Americans across the country who were frustrated by slow progress in civil rights, even after federal legislation had been passed to strengthen the effort. Everywhere that Black Power spread, if accepted, Carmichael got credit. If it was condemned, he was held responsible and blamed. According to Carmichael, "Black Power meant black people coming together to form
4221-521: Was raised by his grandmother and two aunts. He had three sisters. His mother, Mabel R. Carmichael, was a stewardess for a steamship line. His father, Adolphus, was a carpenter who also worked as a taxi driver. The reunited Carmichaels eventually left Harlem to live in Van Nest in the East Bronx , at that time an aging neighborhood primarily of Jewish and Italian immigrants and descendants. According to
4288-421: Was repeatedly denounced and the meeting concluded with Carmichael elected as chairman. One of his first actions was to call upon all fellow black activists to continue writer and Air Force veteran James Meredith 's solitary March Against Fear . Meredith had not wanted any well-known civil rights organizations or leaders involved in the action but would accept individual black men. On his second day out, Meredith
4355-465: Was shot and wounded by a sniper and was hospitalized. Carmichael joined King, Floyd McKissick , Cleveland Sellers and others to continue Meredith's march. He was arrested while marching through Greenwood , and, after his release, gave his first " Black Power " speech at a rally that night, using the term to urge black pride and socioeconomic independence: It is a call for black people in this country to unite, to recognize their heritage, to build
4422-465: Was targeted by a section of J. Edgar Hoover 's COINTELPRO (counter-intelligence program) that focused on black activists; the program promoted slander and violence against targets Hoover considered enemies of the US government. It attempted to discredit them and worse. Carmichael accepted the position of Honorary Prime Minister in the Black Panther Party, but also remained on the SNCC staff. He tried to forge
4489-488: Was transferred to the infamous Parchman Penitentiary in Sunflower County , Mississippi, along with other Freedom Riders. He gained notoriety as a witty and hard-nosed leader among the prisoners. He served 49 days with other activists at Parchman. At 19, Carmichael was the youngest detainee in the summer of 1961. He spent 53 days at Parchman in a six-by-nine cell. He and his colleagues were allowed to shower only twice
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