BIRTH-CONTROL AND THE BLACK-COMMUNITY IN THE 1960S - GENOCIDE OR POWER-POLITICS

In the 1960s, some blacks accused government-funded contraceptive prog rams of promoting ''black genocide.'' An alliance developed between Bl ack Power advocates and cultural conservatives represented by the Cath olic Church. Simultaneously, a rift occurred between male genocide the orists and black women and their supporters. Pittsburgh mirrors these national developments. Two black men in Pittsburgh, Dr. Charles Greenl ee and William ''Bouie'' Haden, allied with Dr. Charles Owen Rice to l ead an anti-birth control campaign. Their efforts led Pittsburgh to be the only major city to reject federal funds for birth control clinics . The ensuing battle revealed a polarization between Black Power males interested in political power and black women concerned with the welf are of themselves and their children. The protest of black women overp owered genocide theorists and forced the city to reverse its position and accept federal funds for clinics. While suspicion among black powe r males of white attempts to control black sexuality may have been war ranted, black women were convinced they could use birth control to sui t their own purpose. They argued that the decision regarding if and wh en to have children must be left to women, not men seeking an issue fr om which to launch a political battle.