James H. Cone argues that Black Liberation Theology developed independently from Liberation Theology in his book "For My People: Black Theology and the Black Church. Where have we been and where are we going." 
James H. Cone studied Karl Barth and did his doctoral dissertation on Karl Barth's theology. Cone went on to develop Black Liberation Theology.
Cone argues that the seminaries and theological academia was entrenched in white supremacy, which had been a mechanism for keeping blacks surpressed in a long history from the American slave trade.
Cone was also influenced by MLK Jr and Malcolm X and black preachers and authors that argued Jesus is Black
Cone argued that academia had been swept up into liberal Protestant universalism, that ignored that Jesus sided with the oppressed specifically. This universalism was unwilling to recognize the specific persecution of blacks and ameriindians.
James H. Cone developed a specific black theology that explains that God has sided with the oppressed, and did not ignore blackness and the evilness of whiteness. The goal was to abolish White Jesus.
James H. Cone Black Theology was a unique and needed statement that was not respected by white Christianity. There were few black theologians due to the intrinsic white supremacy in academia.
James H. Cone praises Jürgen Moltmann for his world renown Theology of Hope, because it provided a world class theologian that was aligned with his own Black Theology because Black Theology is a theology of hope specifically for the oppressed.
When James H. Cone encountered Liberation Theology that emerged in Latin America, it surprised him especially the work of Gustavo Gutiérrez because it had persuasively attacked western white liberal theology using similar polemics.
Cone explains that Liberation Theology was not accessible because it was primarily written in Spanish and Spanish was not spoken by black theologians.
James H. Cone was disappointed in Liberation Theology because it focused on the problem of classism and ignored racism despite the millions of blacks that lived in Latin America and Brazil
James H. Cone explains that Black Liberation Theology is similar to Liberation Theology of Latin America because of the identity of the gospel with liberation, but they are different because Black Theology emphasizes race specifically.
James H. Cone says that Liberation Theology (Latin America) was embraced by white supremacists because it allowed them to adopt the theme of liberation that had strongly criticized their liberal protestantism while allowing them to ignore their racism
Jesus is Black, baby! — James H. Cone
Cone rightly argues that Jesus specifically identified with the lowly and the oppressed. He was a man of suffering his entire life, and blackness embodies Jesus most specifically in America today.
