Iconic Trinidadian-American Civil Rights Activist Kwame ‘Stokely Carmichael’ Ture was born on this day in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago in 1941. Ture, who was born Stokely Standiford Churchill Carmichael was a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), a member of the Black Panther Movement as well as a pioneer in the Black Power Movement.
Ture, who fought tirelessly to promote the cause of black people is on record as the youngest person to have been imprisoned for his participation in the famous 1961 Freedom Rides.
After leaving the United States and re-settling in Ghana in 1968, then Guinea in 1969, Carmichael changed his name to Kwame Ture. His last name was an ode to his friend, former Guinean president Ahmed Sékou Touré. He was inspired to change his first name to that of Ghana’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah.
RELATED STORIES
Ture was also briefly married to Grammy award-winning South African musician and anti-apartheid activist Miriam Makeba.
To celebrate his legacy, Face2Face Africa shares with you 10 of his greatest quotes.
Scroll through to read:
