Alice Echols, "Black Power, White Heat: From Solidarity Politics to Radical Chic" (Oxford UP, 2026)

About this episode

Alice Echols discusses her book 'Black Power, White Heat', exploring the dynamics of cross-racial alliances during the Sixties' freedom movement.

A rich history of cross-racial coalitions and alliances of the Sixties' freedom movement, acclaimed historian Alice Echols's Black Power, White Heat reshapes our understanding of the entire era. One of the most divisive issues in recent progressive politics has been what role, if any, allies might legitimately play in other people's movements. Despite the significance of this debate, it has taken place in a historical vacuum.In Black Power, White Heat: From Solidarity Politics to Radical Chic, (Oxford UP, 2026) the Sixties historian Alice Echols explores what happened some sixty years ago when whites and Blacks came together in the fight against racism. She tells this story by focusing on two Black-led organizations that bookend the Sixties: The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Black Panther Party. In SNCC, whites were, in part, meant to generate a "white heat" so searing it would accelerate change. Results were mixed, and white activists formed new movements, from women's liberation to draft resistance.By 1967, the Black Panther Party was advancing its own unique brand of "revolutionary nationalism," and seeking out white supporters. Partnering with…

People in this episode

Guest: Alice Echols

Topics covered

• cross-racial coalitions
• Sixties history
• solidarity politics
• Black-led organizations
• radical nationalism
• progressive politics

Keywords

• Black Power
• White Heat
• solidarity
• SNCC
• Black Panther Party
• racism
• activism
• history
• politics

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Black Panther Party, Oxford UP

Places: FBI

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