INTRODUCTION – “(Re)Framing the Beautiful Struggle: Black Student & Black Youth Activism”

Abstract

The subtitle for this proposed special journal of Zanj is largely inspired by the organizational activities of the Student Organization for Black Unity (SOBU 1969-1974) which was founded in Greensboro, NC during the shifting yet highly controversial era of Black Power. According to Black Power scholar Peniel Joseph, SOBU along with organizations such as Malcolm X Liberation University of Greensboro, and the Center for Black Education in Washington, DC were the “second wave” Black Power organizations. From its outset, Black student collectives such as SOBU initiated its organizational line as a Black Nationalist and Pan African student-led organization aimed at assuming the vanguard student leadership position occupied by SNCC but relinquished upon SNCC’s disbandment. As SOBU evolved to embrace a Marxist-Leninist ideological line, the organization experienced political shifts and ideological reconsiderations with respect to the Black student relationship with Black youth that may not have been in traditional school but were yet highly active in the Black struggle. Thus, SOBU evolved to become the Youth Organization for Black Unity (YOBU) by 1972 and YOBU re-directed its organizing objectives to align with Black youth and workers to build a vanguard organization aiming to lead the Black Freedom Movement into the 1970s.