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Museum object · Memorabilia and Ephemera - Political and Activist Ephemera

Liberation Will Come from a Black Thing

November 23, 1967

Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, United States, North and Central America

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Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

A paperback pamphlet version speech James Forman gave at the Western Regional Black Youth Conference in Los Angeles on November 23, 1967: "Liberation Will Come from a Black Thing.” Printed in black ink on white paper, the pamphlet has fifteen (15) pages and a saddle-stitched binding. The cover is white, with a black printed image of a boy with one arm stretched out and the other pulled back holding a rock, as if getting ready to throw it. The title of the speech appears in black text under the boy’s outstretched arm, with the author’s name in the grass at his feet. The interior contents include the text of the speech in which Forman advocates for a political understanding of the fight against racism and argues the fight for black liberation as self-defense against U.S. Imperialism.

Sources & collection details

Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture — original record ↗

Source collection ↗

Catalog metadata · CC0 · Source checked 2026-10-13

Catalog reference: 2023.43.2

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