MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. & BLACK POWER.   Term Paper ID:25942 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Examines shift in civil rights movement from King's non-violence to more aggressive stands of Stokely Carmichael, Nation of Islam & Malcolm X.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Examines shift in civil rights movement from King's non-violence to more aggressive stands of Stokely Carmichael, Nation of Islam & Malcolm X. Paper Introduction: The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968, was a tragic blow, not only for the Civil Rights Movement, but for the rights movement of all lower class citizens in America. Dr. King, perhaps along with Bobby Kennedy, represented one of the few voices in 1968 America able to form any type of consensus among increasingly polarized groups in society. His death inaugurated a period of some of the worst race riots in American history. However, Dr. King's death did not signal the end of the Civil Rights Movement. The Movement had been splitting into factions several years before he was assassinated. The politics of confrontation, direct action, and Black Power had been gaining credence among many blacks as early as 1963. Dr. King recognized this shift in the Movement's dynamics, as well as a decline in his influence over the Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. The phrase Black Power was first widelyused by Stokely Carmichael and other members of the Students NonviolentCoordinating Committee (SNCC) after the murder of Jimmy Lee Jackson and anattack on marchers by deputies and state troopers during the Selma toMontgomery march of 1965 (Carson, 1981, 158-159). In part because Black power became the leading force behind thetransforming Civil Rights Movement. Washington, J.M., (1991). They strongly believed that no movement for blackcivil rights could be successful if whites were allowed prominent positionswithin the movement. And these handkerchief-heads who have been dilly-dallying andpussyfooting and compromising-we don't intend to let them pussyfoot anddilly-dally and compromise any longer" (Malcolm X, 1964, 31). Carmichael and CharlesV. The Movement had been splitting into factionsseveral years before he was assassinated. The politics of confrontation,direct action, and Black Power had been gaining credence among many blacksas early as 1963. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination marked the end of hopes thatthe various civil rights factions could reach any type of consensus forfuture cooperation. Included on the proscribed list were any speakerswho criticized the Kennedy administration as well as speakers who advocatedblack nationalism. The ballot or the bullet. In Malcolm X speaks: selectedspeeches and statements. The Nation of Islam's message reached a wider audienceas the perception grew in the black community that Civil Rights legislationhad not improved their lot. However, by the 1963 march on Washington, the loss of momentum andconcrete improvements in the social and economic lives of blacks had leadmany to question Dr. King's tactics and goals. (1964). (1981). Franklin, J.H. to national prominence as theforemost spokesman of Civil Rights in America (Washington, 1991, xviii).Dr. A testament of hope: The essentialwritings and speeches of Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King was sincerely dedicated to his message ofnonviolence and he was extremely alarmed at the new, dangerous directioncivil rights protests were taking. King's non-violent approach to change through peaceful tactics such asmarches, boycotts, sit-ins, public prayers, and voter registration drives,as well as his integrationist policies and objectives, struck a cord amongAmericans of all colors. New York: Grove Weidenfeld. He goes on tosay that blacks are "giving a new interpretation to the civil-rightsstruggle, an interpretation that will enable us to come into it, take partin it. Less than a year after the March, Malcolm X expressed eloquently thetransforming nature of the Movement: "This so-called Democracy has failedthe Negro. Furthermore, with Dr. King dead, so-called whiteliberals abandoned the civil rights movement in the face of Black Power.Apparently whites were only willing to support civil rights if they werethe major players in the movement. New York: Vintage Books. And all these white liberals have definitely failed the Negro.So where do we go from here? In fact by 1968, Dr. King had come to recognize and accept some ofthe tenants of Black Power which he began adopting for his own campaign.Though Dr. King never abandoned his message of non-violence, he did beginbroadening the campaign from one of civil rights to one of human rights.This concept had been advocated in speeches by Malcolm X in 1964 in whichhe declared that blacks should transform the civil rights movement into aninternational human rights movement (Malcolm X, 1964, 52). Determined to recapture the leadershipof the movement, and firmly reestablish SCLC as a national instrument forsocial change, Dr. King and his advisors explored the possibility oflaunching a campaign in a northern urban center. Ralph, J.R., Jr., (1993). Dr. King was transforming his campaigninto one that championed the rights of the under class. Hamilton fully described their new militancy in their book Black Power:"The language of yesterday is indeed irrelevant: progress, non-violence,integration, fear of "white backlash"...Civil Rights leaders who, in thepast or at present, rely essentially on 'national sentiment' to obtainpassage of civil rights legislation reveal the fact that they are operatingfrom a powerless base" (Carmichael and Hamilton, 1967, 78). New York: Grove Weidenfeld. and Hamilton, C.V. Blacks could only truly gain their rightful place inAmerica if they threw off the yoke of the white power structure and builtinstitutions which enabled them to chart their own destiny (Malcolm X,1964, 53). Northern protest: Martin Luther King Jr.,Chicago, and the civil rights movement. and Moss, A.A. The authors no longer believed that a multi-racialcivil rights campaign with integration as its primary goal was possible oreven desirable. Blacks in small but growingnumbers began searching for alternatives to Dr. King's non-confrontationalstyle of campaigning. In struggle: SNCC and the black awakening of the196 s. (1967). The Nation of Islam bitterly denounced King'sintegrationist policies. Dr. King's death did accelerate the polarization of American society. The confrontation became explosive as witnessedin the massive riots after King's assassination as well as in theunprecedented campaign by the state to destroy the Black Panthers. To those of us whose philosophy is blacknationalism, the only way you can get involved in the civil-rights struggleis to give it a new interpretation" (Malcolm X, 1964, 31). (1988). References Carmichael, S. (1964). Black power: The politicsof liberation in America. Just before hisdeath, Dr. King had set his sights on a war on poverty and an end to theVietnam War which he found extremely unjust. Perhaps many were motivated by apaternalistic instinct, for it seems whites were not interested in a civilrights movement for black people by black people (Carmichael and Hamilton,1967, vii). One such alternative was an increasingly prominentgroup, the Nation of Islam under Elijah Muhammad, and their fierymouthpiece, Malcolm X. Jr. Malcolm X wascalling for nothing less than a revolutionary transformation of societywhich would benefit all people. on April 4, 1968, was atragic blow, not only for the Civil Rights Movement, but for the rightsmovement of all lower class citizens in America. Dr. King recognized this shift in the Movement'sdynamics, as well as a decline in his influence over the Movement, when heopted to take his nonviolent, integrationist message to Chicago in 1966. In part he felt that even though he washeralded as an international champion of civil rights, most American stillregarded SCLC and the civil rights movement as part of a regional disputeagainst anachronistic southern laws and institutions. A string of successful campaignsfollowing Rosa Park's glorious refusal to give up her seat on a Montgomerybus in 1955 catapulted Martin Luther King Jr. The Kennedy Administration had agreed not tointerfere with the march and had partially funded the event on thecondition that certain speakers (such as Malcolm X) not be allowed toaddress the marchers. X, M. However, Dr. King's death did not signal the end of theCivil Rights Movement. The black revolution. His death inaugurated a period of some of the worst race riots inAmerican history. From slavery to freedom: Ahistory of Negro Americans. Dr. King, perhaps alongwith Bobby Kennedy, represented one of the few voices in 1968 America ableto form any type of consensus among increasingly polarized groups insociety. Rising northernprotests and violent clashes over police brutality, school segregation, andhousing discrimination, culminated in the explosive Watts riots of 1965(Ralph, 1993, 7). Dr. King had perceived that the southern civil rights movement hadlost some momentum in 1965. X, M. New York: McGraw-Hill Publishing Company. In Malcolm X speaks:Selected speeches and statements. To some, the optimistic speeches of theWashington March rang hollow in the ashes of the firebombed BirminghamChurch where four black children died (Franklin & Moss, 1988, 447). San Francisco: Harper. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. However, to a far greater degree,King's death signaled an alienation among white supporters of the Movementwho saw in King their opportunity to participate (and many said control)the Movement, while whites opposed to the Movement hardened their stance inthe face of the emerging drive for black self-determination. In the wider context of American society, Dr. King's deathleft Black Power advocates polarized against whites who opposed any furthercivil rights concessions. The new interpretation which Malcolm X spoke of appeared in 1965 whenthe term "Black Power" emerged. The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Carmichael andHamilton were challenging Dr. King's tactics with a new paradigm in whichblacks controlled their own organizations and thus had a greater voice inself-determination. The Nation of Islam and other black nationalists derided King's marchon Washington because they felt he had ceded control of the movement to theKennedy Administration. Carson, C. Cambridge: Harvard UniversityPress. The late 195 s and early 196 s represented the heyday of Dr. King'snonviolent approach to Civil Rights. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.