Muslims and how american muslims can join the national conversations. And at 9 00, young people from ayos the United Kingdom gather in the house of commons to discuss issues important to them. This issue is so much more than buses, trains and expense. It leaves your people feeling disdained, deprived and disillusioned. As a child, i couldnt wait to experience a bus ride. When we grew up. Blue steam trains lose their smiley faces. For our complete schedule go to cspan. Org. Up next, on American History tv, the life and legacy of Stokely Carmichael. Field secretary charles cobb joins the discussion. And as an organizer for the allafrican peoples party. Its a little under two hours. Good afternoon. Im with the university of memphis, and welcome to the round table discussion, stokely car mike a his life and legacy. We thought this would be an appropriate moment to consider Stokely Carmichael. Were here in atlanta for the conference. Its an important locus. And carmichaels journey takes him through atlanta, educated at Howard University, civil rights organizing in cambridge, maryland. In mississippi during freedom summer. Motherov moreover, were at the 50th anniversary. In 1 t965, he helped organize t landmark black party in alabama. He was elected chairman of sncc. Carmichaels journey would continue, organizing in atlanta and washington, d. C. , his brief alliance with the black panthers, traveling the world, moving to guinea, changing his name to kwame tour ray and devoting his life to the peoples revolutionary party. Weve brought together a panel. We begin with charles e. Cobb. He attend Howard University and got involved in organization against segregation. He was the architect of the freedom schools. He later helped found the drummond sphere book store. He worked as a journalist for npr, pbs. Hes on the gateway project for sncc. Hes the author of no easy victories. On the road to freedom and most recently this nonviolent stuff will get you killed. Hasan jeffries has a ph. D. From duke university. His interests include the black power movement. Hes at work on a new book called stealing home. Of thanks to dr. Jeffries. Third well have ashley farmer. Shell starting as an assistant professor in the Africanamerican Studies Program in boston university. She has a ph. D. From harvard. Her Research Interests include womens history, gender history and black feminism. Shes the author of a book. And finally, chris johnson, from the University Memphis with a ph. D. From yale university. His Research Includes race and gender. And afro hes at work on a project on the itineraries of black revolutionaries of the 20th century world, including Stokely Carmichael. For the format of this round table, ive tailored a question based on their research. Before we move on to the next question, well allow the Panel Members to chime in with input or questions or what have you. After the four questions, of course theres a lodgt of knowledge and interest in the audience, so we want to leave plenty of time for questions and comments from the audience members. Mr. Cobb, you worked for years alongside Stokely Carmichael. And youve since enjoyed a career as a journalist and scholar. What would you like the audience to know about him as a person and an influence on black freedom . The short answer to your question, its Stokely Carmichael as the organizer. Can everybody hear me . The short answer to your question is really the way i think about stokely and the way i think people should think about stokely is as Stokely Carmichael, the organizer. You know, the tradition of the Southern Movement in particular thats most overlooked is the organizing tradition of the Southern Civil rights movement. Digging in at the grassroots and organizing and mobilizing people to struggle for change. And although stokely left a prominence in the national sense around his shoutout of black power, its really stokely cash mi carr michael, the organizer, sncc, that needs to be most carefully considered and understood. Some ways history has treated stokely as its treated sncc in my view, poorly. Completely defined him as this guy who, for no apparent reason shouted out black power, a message of hate that destroyed the Redemptive Movement of love and nonviolence that forced Stokely Carmichael to define black struggle. Thats really what stokely has been reduced to. And im happy to be sitting here next to Hasan Kwame Jeffries whos written an important book. Because in some ways by looking at lound county and stokelys work there, you get the clearest picture of stokely, although i worked with stokely for years in mississippi. And i should, in short form, talk for a minute about how stokely got to lounds county. Some of you will remember that in mississippi, the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party mounted a challenge to the socalled regular democrats of mississippi. I call them the white supremacist democrats of mississippi. Now that challenge was rejected by the Democratic Party national establishment. And stokely had played a major role in getting that party get organized, as did all of us who worked in mississippi. However, for its own reasons, the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party decidedfb n de its, the rejection of its challenge by the national democrats, to nonetheless campaign for the Democratic Party president ial ticket. Hubert humphrey, lyndon johnson. Stockily disagreed with that decision. But the organizer and a lot of us did, i should say in all honesty, but the organizer component of his life and our lives kicks in. The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party was the party that the mississippians had organized. It was not his job or his mission to beat up on this local organization because he disagreed with their choice. You cant tell people in short that you have a right to make the decisions that affect your lives. And then turn around and say, because i disagree with you, i wont help you implement the decisions you make that affect your life, rather, and this is the organizing, part of the organizing. Stokely goes, rather than fight the nfdp, fostokely goes to lou county to begin building what he believes is necessary. Lounds county, alabama. What does he think is necessary . He thinks an independent black police cal park prit cal party is necessary. And he begins to organize that, what would be the first black Panther Party was organized in lounds county, alabama, not in california. The organizer went to organize what he thought was important, not to fight people with whom he, whose choices he disagreed with, and i think thats an important lesson today as, as groups like black lives matter or the dream defenders, the young activists today struggle from with how to move from protests, and being protesters and being organizers at the grassroots and sink roots the lessons of stokelys life, and i would include africa in this. The lesson of stokelys life is the lesson of the organizer. You know, and if you want to Pay Attention to Stokely Carmichael, then you have to Pay Attention to the choices he made as an organizer at the grassroots. Thats the short version of my answer to your question. Let me turn then to hasan jeffries, because that leads naturally into the next question. In your book we see carmichaels leadership in developing the loupds county freedom organization. He talked about how this represented an evolution of carmichaels ideology. Could you talk about that but also thousand shapes his police cal life political life going forward. As brother cobb was mentioning, this idea of remembering, understanding and studying stokely as an organizer. Because he was very much a master organizer, and i think one of the great places or moments in his life through which to understand his understanding of organizing is what he does in lounds county, alabama between 1965 and 1966. I think it is a direct reflection of his political thinking. It is also a moment in which hes able to put into practice not only his own individual thinking about organizing and about politics and what the future direction of black political politics, black politics ought to be, but also putting into practice the organizing philosophy of ella baker and applying it to electoral politics. I think one of the things to back up for a second, we do a great disservice to the memory, to the life of Stokely Carmichael kwame tu ray when we just look at him through the lens of the media caricature. Through the media of the black and white, from a dashing, daring Stokely Carmichael before kwame tour ray, full of rage, full of anger. And thats character tour. But thats nowhere near the full complexity of the person and it does a complete disservice to him and what he had done for black people