Civil Rights: Black Power in the Red

In 1960, when he was 20, John Lewis helped found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. At 23, he became its national chairman and one of the most aggressive Negro leaders in the civil rights movement. With the movement's radical elements in the ascendant, Alabama-born Lewis, a mature 26, was replaced as chairman in May by Harlem-reared Stokely Carmichael, 24, who has made "black power!" the rallying cry for the newest form of racism (TIME, July 1). Last week Lewis announced his resignation from S.N.C.C.

Lewis' disaffection is plainly a result of S.N.C.C.'s new militancy. He has refused to parrot the...

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