The alternative black press grew in popularity and editorial stridency in the 1960s, prompting commercial publishers to try to steer the Black Power Movement into acceptable political channels. Alternative publications included student newspapers, leftist political journals, and organizational newspapers for Black Nationalist groups. The
Black Panther and Muhammad Speaks claimed circulations that rivaled the largest commercial newspapers. Alternative editors questioned the value of integration, endorsed armed self-defense, and embraced a Marxist critique of American capitalism and empire. Commercial publishers attempted to advise young sit-in protesters and then tried to define Black Power as the effective use of political power. By the late 1960s, though, they almost universally condemned the Black Panther Party and other militant activists, fearing unneeded provocations would erase significant legislative achievements.
Robyn C. Spencer, The Revolution Has Come: Black Power, Gender, and the Black Panther Party in Oakland: (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2016), 280pp, £20.00 / $24.95.