This year, in addition to my adjunct work, I am teaching high school English full-time at a public charter school. And, for the first time in sixteen years, I am teaching 9th grade English. Without going into a terrible amount of detail, I will say the school is very diverse, to the point where I, a 53-year-old white man, am in the minority of every one of my classes. That being said, kids are still kids, and I am enjoying it, and I think they are enjoying my classes as well.
In any case, we started the third quarter with a Civil Rights Unit to coincide with Martin Luther King Jr. day. We looked at MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech (given on August 28, 1963 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial), his “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech, (given on April 3, 1968, the night before he was shot at the Loraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee), as well as two speeches by Malcom X, “The Ballot or the Bullet” (April, 1964) and “By Any Means Necessary” (June, 1964). With all of these speeches, in addition to learning a little history, we examined the rhetorical devices and imagery both men used, as well as comparing/contrasting the styles and attitudes of both men in their fight for civil rights.
Now, I already knew a bit about both MLK and Malcom X—I’ve seen clips of MLK’s famous speeches, I’ve read The Autobiography of Malcom X and remember watching Spike Lee’s 1992 movie, Malcom X, starring Denzel Washington. Still, I never really read through and looked at any of their speeches closely. After reading their speeches over the past week, though, I was so struck by both men, I thought it would be worthwhile to write this blogpost for MLK Jr. Day and share some interesting things that came up in class.
Some Historical Context for both MLK and Malcolm X
First of all, a little historical context is always good. Most of us might know random facts and events, but we forget to put them all together to deeper our historical understanding. So, to put the early Civil Rights movement into context:
- 1954: The landmark SCOTUS decision in Brown vs. The Board of Education was handed down. It declared that the earlier decision in Plessy vs. Ferguson that declared “separate but equal” was unconstitutional. In effect, it declared segregation to be illegal.
- 1955: Rosa Parks refuses to get out of the white portion of the bus, and that prompts the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The local pastor who helps organize it was a 25-year-old Martin Luther King Jr., who was one year removed from getting his PhD.
- 1957: The “Little Rock Nine.” For three years after Brown vs. Board, many southern states were practicing segregation. Then, in response to the governor of Arkansas’ attempt to prevent nine black students from attending Little Rock Central High School, President Eisenhower sent the US army troops to Little Rock to enforce the SCOTUS decision and desegregate Little Rock schools.
Skip ahead to 1963:
- April 3, 1963: MLK helps organize some protests against segregation in Birmingham, Alabama and is arrested and thrown in jail for eight days. Some clergymen spoke out against MLK and issued a “Call for Unity.” In response, MLK wrote “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” in which he argued for the necessity of peaceful protests for the cause of equality and civil rights. He was 33 years old.
- May 1963: A number of black students, inspired by King’s letter, stage a march through a park in Birmingham for the sake of equality and were met with Bull Connor’s water cannons and police dogs. The entire thing was televised, and the entire nation saw the brutality of racist politicians like Connor.
- August 28, 1963: The March on Washington, when MLK delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The amazing thing I learned this week was that the last half of that speech—indeed, the most famous part of the speech—was entirely improvised. Halfway through the speech, Gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, who was sitting near King, shouted out, “Tell them about your dream, Martin!” and King proceeded to go off script. No doubt, he probably said something similar in earlier sermons and speeches, but the power of those words that day changed the course of history. Again, he was only 33 years old.
- September 1963: Despite that momentous day on August 28th, only a few weeks later, someone bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four little girls.
- November 22, 1963: John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.
Quite a lot happened in 1963. Eventually, though, on July 2, 1964, Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, which declared discriminatory practices in public schools and other public places to be illegal, and a year later, on August 6, 1965, he also signed the Voting Rights Act, which outlawed the discriminatory voting practices in many southern states ever since the end of the Civil War.
Obviously, the passages of those two laws didn’t immediately erase all racism. Indeed, no law can ever do that, because there will always be people who are racist. But they did level the legal playing field, so to speak, and that made it possible for people to work towards further equality in their own communities, as MLK continued to do. In fact, in his last speech, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” given on April 3, 1968, he was in Memphis to support the sanitation workers in their strike. Sadly, it was the next day when James Earl Ray shot and killed King at the Lorraine Motel.
Right along side of these events associated with MLK, Malcolm X was also making his mark:
- 1952: After six years in jail, Malcolm Little, now going by the name of Malcolm X, having converted to the Nation of Islam, is let out of jail and immediately goes to work for the Nation of Islam and its leader, Elijah Muhammad.
- 1950s: Throughout the fifties, Malcolm X establishes Nation of Islam temples, becomes the chief minister of the temple in Harlem, and speaks out against racial injustice in the United States.
- 1961: Elijah Muhammad makes Malcolm X the national representative for the Nation of Islam, thus creating tension among his other ministers who don’t want him to become the next leader.
- 1962: Malcolm X is forced to acknowledge new of Elijah Muhammad’s repeated adultery and fathering of children out of wedlock.
- 1963: Not only does Malcolm X criticize MLK’s March on Washington as a farce organized by white men, but later, when JFK is killed, he calls it an instance of “the chickens coming home to roost.”
- March-April 1964: For that, Malcolm X is ultimately forced out of the Nation of Islam. In April, he gives his famous “Ballot or the Bullet” speech and then leaves for a five-week tour of Middle Eastern countries. During that time he makes a pilgrimage to Mecca, converts to the actual world religion of Islam proper, changes his name to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, and comes to a different attitude about race. While still vowing to work toward equality and civil rights in America, he turns away from many of his earlier statements when he was part of the Nation of Islam (i.e. broad-brushed statements about how “all white people” are devils, etc.).
- February 14, 1965: Malcolm X’s home is firebombed by the Nation of Islam.
- February 21, 1965: Malcolm X is assassinated by three members of the Nation of Islam in Harlem while giving a speech.
Some Observations from Class
That’s quite a lot of history. In addition to just learning about that history, what my students noticed was how, despite the fact that both MLK and Malcolm X were fighting for equality and civil rights, and despite how many of their points were the same, their rhetoric and tone was very different. MLK was a PhD scholar and a Christian minister. Listening to his speeches and sermons was very inspiring. He filled them with biblical allusions and repeatedly emphasized Jesus’ teaching to “turn the other cheek” in the cause for civil rights. He readily acknowledged racial injustice, the water hoses, the police dogs, the arrests—all of it—for he experienced all of that firsthand. Still, the driving force in his fight for civil rights was the Gospel and the conviction that all people are made in God’s image. He appealed to the ideals of the United States’ founding documents and he dreamed of a time when both whites and blacks could unite in brotherhood.
By contrast, Malcolm X didn’t go to graduate school. In his younger days, he was in a gang, an actual criminal, and engaged in all that “bad stuff” (alcohol, drugs, gambling, etc.). He was, in a word, from the streets. Listening to his speeches was more shocking. They were full-on verbal assaults on racial injustice. He called white people “honkies” and “crackers,” he routinely said Uncle Sam had blood on his hands, that America’s founding documents were only for the white man, and (in his Nation of Islam days) called for a separation of the races. He railed against racist Democrat politicians and said that extreme measures, in the fight against racial injustice, was a virtue. He called leaders like MLK “Uncle Toms,” and completely rejected MLK’s call to “turn the other cheek.”
The thing is, though, both men were right, not on every point, but they were right in many ways. They both saw that the United States had failed to live up to the idea that “all men are created equal.” They both were right to see that the United States governments and politicians had completely failed to “live out the true meaning of its creed.” And they both were right to demand change. And sadly, both men ended up being assassinated by racist people—MLK by a white racist, and Malcolm X by black racists from the Nation of Islam.
Now obviously, as a Christian, I have always agreed more with MLK than with Malcolm X, but given his background, I can totally see where Malcolm X was coming from and I can say that many, probably most, of his criticisms of the United States (in particular, the government) were spot on. Still, we need to see that the situation in the United States today is vastly different than what it was in the 50s-60s. For that, we should all be thankful.
Some Additional Surprising Things
In the course of reading these speeches and doing a little searching online, my students discovered a few things that surprised them. First, that MLK was a registered Republican (Jackie Robinson was as well). Some of them were unaware that when the Republican Party was founded in 1856, the main plank of the party was the opposition to slavery. Second, they also found it surprising to see how vehemently Malcolm X spoke against “racist Democrat politicians” who pandered for the black vote in the 1960s, but who continually dragged their feet to do anything about civil rights. Third, they were surprised to learn that it was Democrats who opposed Eisenhower’s Civil Rights Bill and attempted to filibuster it in 1957. After all, today, the overriding narrative is that Democrats are for the black community and Republicans are the racist party.
What changed? Why the big switch by 1964? Well, when we looked up the actual voting for the Civil Rights Act of 1964, we found more surprises. The votes in both the Senate and House of Representatives did not break along party lines. It was not a matter of Democrats voting for it and Republicans voting against it. Instead, the breakdown looked like this:
In the House:
Of the 91 southern Democrats, only 8 voted for it; 83 voted against it.
Of the 11 southern Republican, all of them voted against it.
Of the 153 northern Democrats, 145 voted for it; only 8 voted against it.
Of the 160 northern Republicans, 136 voted for it; 24 voted against it.
In the Senate:
Of the 21 southern Democrats, only 1 voted for it; 19 voted against it.
The only southern Republican voted against it.
Of the 46 northern Democrats, 46 voted for it; only Robert Byrd voted against it.
Of the 32 northern Republicans, 27 voted for it; 5 voted against it.
That should tell us that the line of demarcation wasn’t “Democrat vs. Republican,” but “Southern vs. Northern.” In fact, (although I didn’t go into this with a 9th grade English class), I think it is always unwise to make simplistic, over-generalized stereotypes regarding political parties when it comes to civil rights. Some of the most impoverished and dangerous black communities today are in the inner cities that have been run by Democrats for decades upon decades. For that matter, there are a few Republican-run cities in that situation as well.
We should see with MLK that most people, black or white, Republican or Democrat, really do want to see racial justice, equal rights and opportunity. We should also see that within both parties, whether it be because of actual racism or other types of corruption, that many politicians will always be resistant to actual change because it might upset their power. That’s true, not just on the civil rights front, but on so many other fronts.
In any case, bringing about a “more perfect union” and better society is a maddeningly difficult task. There are very rarely ever any easy answers. When it comes to the issue of Civil Rights, though, we should all be thankful for the life and work of Martin Luther King Jr. Try to sit down and listen to both “I Have a Dream” and “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speeches without tearing up at the end. They are inspirational and prophetic calls for justice and freedom, couched in the conviction that hope in Christ will lead to salvation. By the same token, take a look at Malcolm X’s “Ballot or the Bullet” and “By Any Means Necessary” and let that sobering analysis of the injustice in 1960s America open your eyes and cut your heart, and at the same time be thankful that, to paraphrase Dr. King, we’ve made quite a bit of progress into the Promised Land that he was able to see from the mountaintop before his life was taken.
