“Study for the People Little Sister”: Six Valuable Lessons from Kwame Toure aka Stokely Carmichael

Dr. Aaminah Norris

My experience as a child of Civil Rights activists influences my commitment to teaching and learning. My parents raised me with the support of mentors who provided key insights into what it means to be involved in the movements for Civil Rights and Black Power. One such mentor was Kwame Toure (pronounced Kwah-may Too-ray), also known as Stokely Carmichael, a well-known leader of the Black Power Movement.

Last week during his eulogy of John Lewis, former President Bill Clinton criticized Toure for leading the Civil Rights movement astray when he took over leadership of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). I was aghast at Clinton’s audaciousness. What led him to believe that he has either the credibility or the right to denounce Kwame Toure by speaking as an authority on the Civil Rights Movement? For the record, the purpose of this article is to decenter the white gaze that has been placed on the movements for Civil Rights and Black power and to replace it with Black people’s experiences with our history and struggle for freedom and liberation. I wrote this article because my 19-year-old politically astute daughter asked me, “who is Stokely Carmichael?” I want her and all of you to know that Kwame Toure called me “Little Sister” when I was a child and taught me important lessons that are relevant to our modern-day movement for Black lives.

Six valuable lessons from Kwame Toure that are Relevant to the Movement for Black Lives.

1. Say His Name. Kwame Toure no longer used the name Stokely Carmichael because that name resulted from the enslavement of his ancestors. Instead, he named himself after two important African leaders Kwame Nkrumah who freed Ghana from British rule and Sekou Toure who fought against the French rule of Guinea.
2. Study for the People. Learning should be for the goal of changing the condition of Black, poor, and oppressed people. Kwame Toure began his work in the Civil Rights movement as a student activist. He became an intellectual who encouraged literacy as political activism because he loved Black people. He would often ask me, “Are you studying for the people Little Sister?” He said that the information we learned in school would not help Black people become free. Rather, we needed to read beyond textbooks to learn about Black people, culture, and history. He encouraged me to read books like The Autobiography of Malcolm X and They Came Before Columbus.
3. Art is an Expression of Freedom. The role of art is to viscerally express the movement for liberation. Thus, art is intimately connected with activism because artists share how we feel and help us to become free. Promote the work of artists who help us envision freedom.
4. Nonviolence is a strategy. Nonviolence is most effective when it is understood as an alternative to violent resistance to oppression. Therefore, the two work in tandem. Legislation including the Voting Rights act of 1965 was passed because white legislators were afraid of the alternative. They knew there was the threat of violent resistance to oppression from leaders like Malcolm X. Nonviolence can be used to effect change when violent resistance is the alternative.
5. Amplify Black People’s Stories-Toure is often credited with coining the phrase Black Power which had its origins in the Black Power work of the Lowndes County Freedom Movement in Alabama and the book of the same name by Richard Wright. Although he did not coin the term, Toure used his platform to amplify it. Similarly, we must use our platforms to amplify the voices and stories of Black, poor, and other marginalized people.
6. Mentor Younger Activists including Children-A changing of the guard has happened and Kwame Toure is no longer here to call me “Little Sister.” However, because he mentored me as a child, he helped me to become invested in the education and freedom of Black people. I challenge us all to mentor the young activists and children in our lives. We must make sure to involve them in the movement so that the work continues after we are no longer here to tell our own stories.