Questions
1. What is the name of the case that declared racial segregation illegal?
2. Who did Black protesters try to imitate?
3. How did white people respond to black protests?
4. What tactics were used by Martin Luther King during the movement?
5. Which American president was first to committee to civil rights for everyone?
6. Which groups were inspired by the black civil rights movement?
7. Describe a Hippy. What did they look like? What did they value?
8. How did Hippy’s react to the war in Vietnam? Give Examples
9. Why did some Blacks turn to the Nation of Islam and the Black Panthers?
10. What was the White Backlash?
Quotes from Malcolm X
"If violence is wrong in America, violence is wrong abroad. 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."
"It doesn't mean that I advocate violence, but at the same time, I am not against using violence in self-defense. I
don't call it violence when it's self-defense, I call it intelligence."
"If you've studied the captives being caught by the American soldiers in South Vietnam, you'll find that these
guerrillas are young people. Some of them are just children and some haven't reached their teens. Most are
teenagers. It is the teenagers abroad, all over the world, who are actually involving themselves in the struggle to
eliminate oppression and exploitation. In the Congo, the refugees point out that many of the Congolese
revolutionaries, they shoot all the way down to seven years old - that's been reported in the press. Because the
revolutionaries are children, young people. In these countries, the young people are the ones who most quickly
identify with the struggle and the necessity to eliminate the evil conditions that exist. And here in this country, it has
been my own observation that when you get into a conversation on racism and discrimination and segregation, you
will find young people more incensed over it - they feel more filled with an urge to eliminate it."
"I've never seen a sincere white man, not when it comes to helping black people. Usually things like this are done
by white people to benefit themselves. The white man's primary interest is not to elevate the thinking of black
people, or to waken black people, or white people either. The white man is interested in the black man only to the
extent that the black man is of use to him. The white man's interest is to make money, to exploit."
"I don't favor violence. If we could bring about recognition and respect of our people by peaceful means, well and
good. Everybody would like to reach his objectives peacefully. But I'm also a realist. The only people in this country
who are asked to be nonviolent are black people."
"I can't turn around without hearing about some 'civil rights advance'! White people seem to think the black man
ought to be shouting 'hallelujah'! Four hundred years the white man has had his foot-long knife in the black man's
back - and now the white man starts to wiggle the knife out, maybe six inches! The black man's supposed to be
grateful? Why, if the white man jerked the knife out, it's still going to leave a scar!"
"The common enemy is the white man."
Questions
1. What is it about Malcolm X’s message that would appeal to Black People?
2. Why was Malcolm X against Vietnam?
3. Do you think Violence is justified when seeking your rights? Why or Why Not?
4. Was Malcolm X a racist?
Quotes From Martin Luther King Jr.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of
their skin, but by the content of their character.
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
There is nothing more dangerous than to build a society, with a large segment of people in that society, who feel
that they have no stake in it; who feel that they have nothing to lose. People who have a stake in their society,
protect that society, but when they don't have it, they unconsciously want to destroy it.
I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the
bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become reality. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional
love will have the final word.
Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. It is impractical because it is a
descending spiral ending in destruction for all. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than
win his understanding; it seeks to annihilate rather than to convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred
rather than love.
1. Why were people attracted to King’s message
2. Why do you think that Martin Luther King is a more popular cultural hero in the United
States than Malcolm X?
3. Who better addressed the needs of Black people, King or Malcolm X? Explain why.