Violent ProtestViolent Protest

Black Nationalism & Nation of Islam• Black nationalism concurrent w/ CRM

– Most rejected non-violence

– Force justified to gain equality

– Others didn’t want equality, just separation

• Elijah Muhammad’s Nation of Islam– Sought separate state for black Americans

– Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) outspoken critic of racial discrimination & conscientious objector to military draft

– Malcolm Little (Later Malcolm X) bitterly critical of MLK’s methods, believed CRM held black Americans back (Assassinated in 1965 after he broke away from NoI.)

Malcolm X on Black Nationalism, Sitting In vs Standing Up

Black Power & Black Panthers• SNCC becomes more radical

– 1966: Stokely Carmichael elected chairman– Set out radical view of ‘black power’– Critical of MLK– ‘this nation is racist from top to bottom, and

does not function by morality, love and non-violence, but by power’ – Stokely Carmichael

• Black Panthers– More radical than SNCC– 2000 members; political party & private army– Believed in arming black America & forcing

white America to give equal rights– 1967-69: many clashes w/ police; 9 police

officers killed

Stokely Carmichael in 1966, speaking of racism. The original speech is over 50 minutes long, so I chose only the beginning.

Race Riots• 1965 - 1967: Wave of race riots

– Cause often poor relations between police & black people

– Most US cities divided along race line (still true today?)

– Most police forces were white– Working-class blacks often had less

protection than white neighborhoods– They distrusted police– Some rioters influenced by black

nationalism– Others just frustrated about unfair treatment

• Most serious riots: Watts ’65, Detroit ’67– Watts, LA: 30,000 rioters, 34 deaths– Great violence & destruction in both– National Guard activated– LBJ believed racism was at heart of both– LBJ spoke of two Americas, one black & one

whiteRadio broadcast on the 40th anniversary of the Watts Riot

1968: Martin Luther King, Jr. Assassinated

• April 4, 1968– James Earl Ray was assassin– Probably hired by enemies, though unproven– King’s death marked end of an era of CRM

• MLK’s legacy (pro)– MLK helped transform movement from

southern sideshow to national issue– Major battles fought & won– Civil Rights Act major achievement– Black southerners had real political power

• MLK’s legacy (con)– Feeling of insecurity among citizens

watching rise in violence since 1964– Changed laws do not equal changed

attitudes– What did the future hold? … Uncertain …

The end of MLK’s speech to striking sanitation workers in Memphis the night before he was assassinated.

Focus Task: Optimists & Pessimists• Given the events of 1968, it is

possible to take either an optimistic or a pessimistic view of race relations in the USA in the late 1960s.– Start by looking through your notes &

reading for evidence to support the optimistic view that great progress had been made.

– Now work through the same material and look for evidence to support the pessimistic view that the USA remained racially divided.

– Now decide whether you think there were more reasons for optimism or pessimism. Write a paragraph to explain and defend your view.

Fin

PSDs on• The white man has taught the black people in this country to hate

themselves as inferior, to hate each other, to be divided against each other. The brainwashed black man can never learn to stand on his own two feet until he is on his own. We must learn to become our own producers, manufacturers and traders; we must have industry of our own, to employ our own. The white man resists this because he wants to keep the black man under his thumb and jurisdiction in white society. He wants to keep the black man always dependent and begging – for jobs, food, clothes, shelter, education. The white man doesn’t want to lose somebody to be supreme over. I am for violence if non-violence means we continue postponing a solution to the American black man’s problems. If we must use violence to get the black man his human rights in this country then I am for violence.– Comments of Malcolm X in the 1960s