Studied by 1 person
Martin Luther King Jr
Christian background impacted qualities of early movement
President of SCLC
Born in South but educated in North -→ alienated from South but Northern connections get stuff done
Snappy, quotable figurehead
Connections in Kennedy + Johnson administrations
Radicals concerned with him cozying up to white power figures
Albany Movement (1961-62)
Key MLK led activity
Resistance against segregation
Wanted to desegregate the whole of Albany, New York
Series of protests and arrests
Successes but not really wide, sweeping instant desegregation (eventually though)
Criticism of MLK
People in SNCC
Dislike lack of violence, gradualism
Questioning MLK’s courage -→ MLK doesn’t want to be arrested, unwilling to join
Freedom Riders
Movement organisers
MLK sweeps in to bring attention but they deal with fallout and aggression
Protestors
More media attention to MLK specifically more than actual issues
Malcolm X
Doesn’t like the integrated society dream that MLK has
Government + FBI
Hate him, spied on him
Malcolm X
Opposite of MLK’s ‘preachy’ background -→ Northern
Not a good history: crimes and jail
Joins Nation of Islam in prison
Forms his emphasis on black pride
Background helped people relate to him with how bad his life was before
Charismatic and witty -→ appealed to desperate urban blacks
Criticism of MLK integration
US in inherently unequal
Black nationalism > assimilating into white society
Ballot or the Bullet speech
Black Pride
Celebration of african heritage eg. popularisation of afros
People find solidarity even if not in NOI
Idea of outside forces dividing them is technically true
Nation of Islam
Church that Malcolm joins while in prison
Initially helps him out with fundraising but they felt he gave them too much negative attention
They are a religion not an activist group so fighting isn’t their thing
Want to prepare and educate black people to take back control of the planet
Appeal of them
Self sufficiency + respect
Black run economy
Clean living (No vices)
Protection and salvation from the whites
What were some changes to Malcolm X’s stance post-NOI?
Broke from NOI because of disagreement with their non-political position
Had a pilgrimmage to Mecca -→ from Malcolm Little to Malcolm X
Less anti-white but still in favour of Pan-Africanism
Self defence > non-violence
Lyndon B Johnson
Feb 1965: promised MLK he’d act
Televised speech on voting rights in Congress -→ Voting Rights Act passed quickly
Thought blacks were ungrateful because of riots
Fair Housing Act (1968): issues Malcolm X brought up
Public vs. personal support is debatable
National Association for the Advancement of the Coloured People (NAACP)
Old organisation going back to WEB Dubois
Grandfather organisation of civil rights movement
Increase in memberships during WW2
Provided lots of help
Legal + finance for arrested students
Bail for freedom riders
Reprisal from authorities
Faded post-Civil Rights and Voting Rights acts
Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
Big names and respected activists
Used the church to gather support, used bible language, for support base
Preferred non-violence and pacifism
Employed Northern white people to use system to fix the system
Appeal to sympathetic whites
Viewed occasionally as inefficient and unreliable
Constant disagreements with NAACP and couldn’t unite
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
Young students who want direct action
Felt betrayed by the outset of MFDP -→ decision made behind their backs
Thought SCLC was ganging up with the whites
Betrayed a lot by the bigger organisations
Selma riots (1965) -→ everyone turned back before reaching police lines but SNCC wasn’t and had a lot of casualties
Dislike non-violence, want direct change and the inclusion of white people is distracting
How did the SNCC change post-1967?
Split between violent and nonviolent groups
Black Panther movement emerged with the leadership of Stokely Carmichael (1965)
Civil rights movement as a whole splintered and violence occurred
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