Black Power and the American Myth is a 1970 book by C. T. Vivian that analyzes the civil rights movement. Before writing the book, Vivian had been an activist, and a member of the Executive Staff of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), along with Martin Luther King Jr., Andrew Young, James Bevel and others. Vivian's access gave readers a first-hand account of the thoughts and motivations of the movement's leaders. After its 1970 publication, Black Power and the American Myth became an Ebony Book Club selection and a bestseller.

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Vivian credits King with successfully shifting white Americans' perceptions of the need for equal rights for African-Americans: "It was Martin Luther King who removed the Black struggle from the economic realm and placed it in a moral and spiritual context. It was on this plane that The Movement first confronted the conscience of the nation." Vivian also describes the process through which the movement's leaders identified important goals and strategies: "In the initial planning stages of The Movement, the leaders identified five goals: