Bobby Brown and Black United Youth

In 1966, Stokely Carmichael popularized the slogan of “black power.” In the late 1960s, Little Rock’s Bobby Brown formed the city’s own black power group known as Black United Youth (BUY). According to Brown, BUY was “an eyeball to eyeball organization” dedicated to “direct confrontation with white people for making changes.” Among its membership, BUY included “schoolteachers [and] professional people” as well as “street people [and] gangsters” from local neighborhoods. Within this broad constituency was a common goal of obtaining what blacks felt was a “fair share” of access to schools, jobs, homes and other community resources. Bobby Brown’s sister Minnijean was one of the Little Rock Nine. Another sister, Phyllis, worked with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. The Brown family story is one of many stories of family activism in Arkansas’ civil rights struggle. I’m John Kirk of the UALR History Department and this has been an Arkansas moment.