MLK v. Malcolm X & the Black Power Movement

1. MLK v. Malcolm X & the Black Power Movement

2. Birth & Early Life MLK Malcolm X 1925 Father murdered Foster Child Drug dealer, crime, prison • 1929 • Son of a preacher • Stable childhood

3. Education MLK Malcolm X Informal/prison Self-Educated • Morehouse-BA • Boston Univ.-PhD

4. Family MLK Malcolm X Betty Shabbazz • Coretta Scott

5. Major Speeches/Documents MLK Malcolm X “Ballot or the Bullet” “Message from the Grassroots” • “I Have a Dream” • “I’ve Been to a Mountaintop” • “Letter from Birmingham Jail”

6. Religion MLK Malcolm X Black Muslim (Nation of Islam) • Baptist

7. Religious/Political Organizations MLK Malcolm X Nation of Islam Organization for Afro-American Unity • SCLC

8. Summary of Beliefs/Accomplishments MLK Malcolm X Black self-reliance Militancy Black separatism Black supremacy • Non-violence (Gandhi) • Civil disobedience • Integration

9. Death MLK Malcolm X Assassination NY 1965 Nation of Islam • Assassination • Memphis 1968 • James Earl Ray

10. Martin & Malcolm This image shows the only time Martin Luther King and Malcolm X ever met, and was taken before a press conference at the U.S. Capitol on 26 March 1964. For years, the two had represented opposite sides of the struggle: King was a leader of the southern Civil Rights Movement, while Malcolm X was recognized as a voice for urban African Americans; however, by 1964 they were moving closer.

11. Quote Analysis

12. Quotes • Dr. King on Integration – • “I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.” • “A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.”

13. Quotes • Malcolm X on Integration – • "If I have a cup of coffee that is too strong for me because it is too black, I weaken it by pouring cream into it. I integrate it with cream. If I keep pouring enough cream in the coffee, pretty soon the entire flavor of the coffee is changed; the very nature of the coffee is changed. If enough cream is poured in, eventually you don't even know that I had coffee in this cup. This is what happened with the March on Washington. The whites didn't integrate it; they infiltrated it. Whites joined it; they engulfed it; they became so much a part of it, it lost its original flavor. It ceased to be a black march; it ceased to be militant; it ceased to be angry; it ceased to be impatient. In fact, it ceased to be a march."

14. Quotes • Dr. King on Malcolm X • "You know, right before he was killed he came down to Selma and said some pretty passionate things against me, and that surprised me because after all it was my territory there. But afterwards he took my wife aside, and said he thought he could help me more by attacking me than praising me. He thought it would make it easier for me in the long run."

15. Quotes • Malcolm X on Dr. King • “He got the peace prize, we got the problem. ... If I'm following a general, and he's leading me into a battle, and the enemy tends to give him rewards, or awards, I get suspicious of him. Especially if he gets a peace award before the war is over.” • “Dr. King wants the same thing I want – freedom!”

16. Quotes • Dr. King on Violence and Power • “Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern world that we must love our enemies – or else? The chain reaction of evil – hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars – must be broken, or else we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.”

17. Quotes • Malcolm X on Violence and Power • “Who ever heard of angry revolutionists all harmonizing "We shall overcome ... Some Day..." while tripping and swaying along arm-in-arm with the very people they were supposed to be angrily revolting against? Who ever heard of angry revolutionists swinging their bare feet together with their oppressor in lily-pad park pools, with gospels and guitars and "I have a dream" speeches? And the black masses in America were – and still are – having a nightmare.”

18. Racial Violence…

19. Freedom Summer • CORE / SNCC campaign to gain voting rights in Miss. • Who? College students, mostly white, 1/3 females • What? Helped register voters • June ‘63: KKK & police murdered 3 civil rights workers (2 white) • Summer: Racial beatings, murders, and burning houses took place

20. Selma Campaign • SCLC voting campaign in Selma, Alabama • 1965: 2,000+ African Americans were arrested for demonstrations • Jimmy Lee Jackson: Murdered • Response? King marches with 600 protesters 50 miles from Selma to Montgomery • Violence: Police beat and tear-gas the marchers • Pres. Johnson: presented Voting Rights Act ‘65

21. LONG HOT SUMMERS

22. LONG HOT SUMMERS

23. LONG HOT SUMMERS

24. Watts Riots, L.A. • 1960’s violence b/w white authority and black civilians • Aug. 11, ‘65: (5 days after voting act) worst race riot in U.S. history • What? • LA police officer pulled over motorist Marquette Frye; suspected of driving drunk • While officers questioned them, a crowd of onlookers had begun to form • When Rena Frye, the boys mother showed up, a struggle led to the arrest of all 3 members of the Frye family • More officers had arrived on the scene and had hit the brothers with their batons. The crowd had grown and by this point had become angry. • After the police left the scene, the crowd & tension escalated and sparked the riots, which lasted 6 days. • Damage? 34 killed, 1,000 wounded, $100 million in property damage • 1967: riots in over 100 cities

25. WATTS

26. WATTS

27. WATTS

28. WATTS

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32. WATTS

33. Newark, NY Riots • What? 1967 began with the arrest of a black cab driver named, who allegedly drove around a double-parked police car • He was subsequently stopped, interrogated, arrested, and severely beaten by the officers • As news of the arrest spread, a crowd began to assemble outside the precinct house • When the police allowed a few civil rights leaders to visit the prisoner, they demanded that he be taken to a hospital • Rumor spread that he had died in police custody, when he had been transported to a local hospital • Soon bricks and bottles were launched at the precinct house • As the crowd dispersed they began to break into stores • Eventually violence spread from the predominantly black neighborhoods and the State Police were mobilized • Within 48 hours, National Guard troops entered the city, made matters worse • Results? 6 days of rioting, 23 dead, 725 injured, and 1500 arrested

34. NEWARK

35. NEWARK

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37. NEWARK

38. NEWARK

39. NEWARK

40. Legacy of the Civil Rights Movement • Kerner Commission: • March 1, 1968 • Study the causes of urban violence • Findings: • “Our nation is moving towards 2 societies, one black, one white—separate and unequal” • Called for: • Create new jobs • Construct new housing • End de facto segregation • Response • Johnson ignores recommendations • Too many whites against it

41. What did we gain? • Ended de jure segregation (by law) • Civil Rights Act of: • 1964 – Banned discrimination in employment & public accommodations • 1968 – Ended discrimination in housing • Increase in: • Jobs, college enrollment, voting, public accommodations, wealth, cultural pride,

42. Unfinished Work • Legally confronted issues of: • Housing/job discrimination, educational inequality, poverty, racism • Difficult task to change people’s perspective and behavior • Level the playing field • Proposition of more tax $ going to inner-cities • Affirmative action

43. Unfinished work • 1990: white flight  reversed progress • 1996-7: 28% of blacks in South and 50% in North were still attending schools with less than 10% white population • How are race relations today??