8.10 The African American Civil Rights Movement (1960s)
- Rosie Jayde Uyola
- 8 hours ago
- 4 min read
Learning Objective L: Explain how and why various groups responded to calls for the
expansion of civil rights from 1960 to 1980.
Learning Objective M: Explain the various ways in which the federal government
responded to the calls for the expansion of civil rights.
Learning Target: I can compare the goals and approaches of Martin Luther King Jr. and
Malcolm X.
DO NOW:
Directions: Complete the first two columns of this handout before learning more about Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. At the end of class, return to the last two columns and complete. After you have finished the chart, complete the sentence frames below.
| Words that first come to my mind about this historical figure are.... | I think or I know... | Words that now come to my mind about this historical figure are.... | I learned that... |
Martin Luther King Jr. |
|
|
|
|
Malcolm X |
|
|
|
|
Write three sentences for each frame:
Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X both....
Martin Luther King Jr. differed from Malcolm X because King…
Malcolm X. differed from Martin Luther King Jr. because Malcolm X…
Directions: Analyze and compare Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X’s points of view on various topics. Be prepared to return to your chart from earlier.
Brief Background | |
Martin Luther King Jr. | Malcolm X |
● Both King and his father served as reverends at Baptist churches.
● King helped organize the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
● King was a leader of the SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference).
● For more information, refer to the PBS site.
| ● Malcolm X served as a minister to a Nation of Islam’s temple.
● Malcolm X was born as “Malcolm Little” but he later changed his name due to the belief that “Little” was his “slave name.”
● His parents were followers of Marcus Garvey.
● For more information, refer to the PBS site. |
Thoughts on the Vietnam War | |
Martin Luther King Jr. | Malcolm X |
“We are taking the young black men who had been crippled by our society and sending them 8 thousand miles away to guarantee liberties in Southeast Asia which they had not found [at home]. We have been repeatedly faced with the cruel irony of watching Negro and white boys on TV screens as they kill and die together for a nation that has been unable to seat them together in the same schools.” | “If it is wrong to be violent defending black women and black children and black babies and black men, then it is wrong for America to draft us and make us violent abroad in defense of her. And if it is right for America to draft us, and teach us how to be violent in defense of her, then it is right for you and me to do whatever is necessary to defend our own people right here in this country.” |
How do these points of view compare?
| |
Thoughts on Voting and Civil Disobedience | |
Martin Luther King Jr. | Malcolm X |
The Selma Marches intended to bring national awareness to the issue of voter oppression. Watch this video of a compilation of remarks from King about Selma. | “This is why I say it’s the ballot or the bullet. It’s liberty or it’s death. It’s freedom for everybody or freedom for nobody. America today finds herself in a unique situation. Historically, revolutions are bloody. Oh, yes, they are. They haven’t never had a blood-less revolution, or a non-violent revolution. That don’t happen even in Hollywood. You don’t have a revolution in which you love your enemy, and you don’t have a revolution in which you are begging the system of exploitation to integrate you into it. Revolutions overturn systems. Revolutions destroy systems.” |
How do these points of view compare?
| |
Thoughts on the Assassination of John F. Kennedy | |
Martin Luther King Jr. | Malcolm X |
“I am shocked and griefstricken at the tragic assassination of President Kennedy. He was a great and dedicated President. His death is a great loss to America and the world. The finest tribute that the American people can pay to the late President Kennedy is to implement the progressive policies that he sought to initiate in foreign and domestic relations.” | Elijah Muhammad censored Malcolm X for ninety days after his remarks on the JFK assassiniation where he said, “chickens come home to roost.” Malcolm X explains what he meant in this one minute video. |
How do these points of view compare?
| |
Thoughts on the 1963 March on Washington | |
Martin Luther King Jr. | Malcolm X |
Martin Luther King Jr. led the famous March on Washington in 1963. This is where he delivered his famous, “I Have a Dream Speech.” | “It’s just like when you’ve got some coffee that’s too black, which means it’s too strong. What you do? You integrate it with cream; you make it weak. If you pour too much cream in, you won’t even know you ever had coffee. It used to be hot, it becomes cool. It used to be strong, it becomes weak. It used to wake you up, now it’ll put you to sleep. This is what they did with the march on Washington. They joined it. They didn’t integrate it; they infiltrated it. They joined it, became a part of it, took it over. And as they took it over, it lost its militancy. They ceased to be angry. They ceased to be hot. They ceased to be uncompromising. Why, it even ceased to be a march. It became a picnic, a circus. Nothing but a circus, with clowns and all.” |
How do these points of view compare?
| |
Nearing Assassination | |
Martin Luther King Jr. | Malcolm X |
Watch the speech King delivered the night before his assassination. | |
How do these actions or points of view compare?
| |
