1974 National Black Political Convention

From March 15 through March 17, 1974, Little Rock hosted the second National Black Political Convention. The first convention was held in Gary, Indiana, in 1972. The 1974 convention was held at Robinson Auditorium and Central High School. The cochairs of the convention were Richard G. Hatcher, who had been elected as one of the first black mayors of a major American city in Gary in 1967, and black poet Amiri Baraka. The convention sought to find a way forward for the emerging divisions between elected black politicians and black grassroots activists. However, rather than bridging those divisions, the convention only served to underscore them. You can find out more about the 1974 National Black Political Convention in my Black History Month article in February’s edition of the Arkansas Times.