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Competing Voices of the Civil Rights Movement
—Curriculum Unit Overview—
Introduction
When most people think of the Civil Rights Movement in America, they think of
Martin Luther King, Jr. Delivering his "I Have a Dream" speech on the steps of
the Lincoln Memorial in 1963 and receiving the Nobel Peace Prize the following
year secured his fame as the voice of non-violent, mass protest in the 1960s.
But "the Movement" achieved its greatest results—the 1964 Civil Rights Act
and the 1965 Voting Rights Ac—due to the competing strategies and agendas
of diverse individuals. Even black Americans, the primary beneficiaries of this
landmark legislation, did not agree on the tactics that should be used to secure
the equal protection of their rights. This unit presents the views of several
important black leaders who shaped the debate over how to achieve freedom and
equality in a nation that had long denied a portion of the American citizenry
the full protection of their rights.
Martin Luther King, Jr. first came to national prominence through his leadership
of the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955-56, which helped desegregate public transportation
in Montgomery, Alabama. A gifted preacher and committed pacifist, King thought
that non-violent, direct action against racial segregation provided the best
means of securing the full integration of blacks into the mainstream of American
life. As he wrote in his famous "Letter from Birmingham Jail," "I have consistently
preached that nonviolence demands that the means we use must be as pure as the
ends we seek."
The connection between means and ends was not lost on a competing voice in
the debate over civil rights—Joseph H. Jackson. The president of the National
Baptist Convention from 1953 to 1982, Jackson argued that black Americans could
not afford to use methods that would "substitute panic and anarchy in the place
of law and order." In particular, Jackson thought that civil disobedience undermined
the very goal of the Civil Rights Movement—the full protection of the law
for all citizens. More constructive, less provocative, means should be pursued
by black Americans to promote progress in a nation with a majority-white population.
It was precisely the white population of America that Malcolm X took issue
with in the years he served as chief spokesman for the Nation of Islam (sometimes
referred to as the Black Muslims). Believing that blacks were God's chosen people,
Malcolm X preached that they should separate from whites, who were destined
for divine punishment because of their longstanding oppression of blacks. As
he once remarked, "You don't integrate with a sinking ship." Whites had proven
they were long on professing and short on practicing their ideals of equality
and freedom, and so Malcolm X thought only a separate nation for blacks could
provide the basis for their self-improvement and advancement as a people.
Upon completing this unit, students should have a better understanding of
the diversity of voices that shaped the debate over civil rights in 1960s America.
Guiding Questions
- Was King's nonviolent resistance to segregation laws, as opposed to working
within the bounds of the law and courts, the best means of securing civil
rights for black Americans in the 1960s?
- Is the separate black nation proposed by Malcolm X a better or nobler goal
than "the beloved community" of Martin Luther King, Jr.? What would Americans
need to believe, and how would they need to act, in order to achieve Malcolm
X's goal as opposed to King's goal?
Learning Objectives
After completing this unit, students should be able to:
- Explain Martin Luther King, Jr.'s concept of nonviolent resistance and the
role of civil disobedience within it.
- Articulate the primary concerns of the Alabama clergymen who rejected King's
intervention in Birmingham's racial conflicts in 1963.
- Describe how King defended his nonviolent campaign to the Alabama clergymen.
- Explain why the president of the National Baptist Convention, Joseph H.
Jackson, thought King's protest methods were unproductive and un-American,
and articulate the alternatives he recommended to secure civil rights for
black Americans.
- Evaluate the merits of the argument between King on one side of the debate,
and the Alabama clergymen and Jackson on the other, and decide which view
could better secure civil rights for black Americans.
- Explain why Malcolm X believed black Americans needed a nation of their
own-separate from the United States-to improve themselves, and why he thought
integration was a false hope for blacks in America.
- Articulate the reasons why Malcolm X thought integration was a false hope
for blacks in America.
- Explain why Malcolm X disagreed with both the goal and the method of Martin
Luther King, Jr.'s nonviolent protest strategy.
- Give reasons for the hope Martin Luther King, Jr. had that America could
be peacefully integrated.
- Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the arguments of both King and
Malcolm X, and judge which approach better secures civil rights for black
Americans.
Preparing to Teach this Curriculum Unit
Review the lesson plans in the unit. Locate and bookmark suggested materials and
links from EDSITEment reviewed websites used in this lesson. Download and print
out selected documents and duplicate copies as necessary for student viewing.
Alternatively, excerpted versions of these documents are available as part of
the downloadable PDF files.
Download the Text Documents for the lessons, available as PDF files. These
files contain excerpted versions of the documents used in each lesson, as well
as questions for students to answer. Print out and make an appropriate number
of copies of the handouts you plan to use in class.
Analyzing primary sources
If your students lack experience in dealing with primary sources, you might use
one or more preliminary exercises to help them develop these skills. The
Learning Page at the American Memory Project
of the Library of Congress (#) includes a set of such activities. Another useful
resource is the Digital Classroom
of the National Archives, which features a set of Document
Analysis Worksheets.
Unit Lesson Plans
Each lesson in this unit is designed to stand alone; taken together they present
a spectrum of alternative approaches to securing civil rights. If there is not
sufficient time to use both lessons in the unit, either lesson can be useful in
teaching students about Martin Luther King, Jr. by showing how his ideas contrasted
with that of important, opposing voices of the Civil Rights Movement. The first
lesson presents a debate between two Baptist ministers (King and Joseph H. Jackson),
both loyal to the United States but proposing alternative methods to promoting
civil rights. The second lesson offers a debate between two black preachers from
two different religions and with opposing loyalties with regards to America (King
and Malcolm X), with one seeking greater inclusion in the American way of life
and the other proposing a separate nation for blacks.
Selected EDSITEment Web Sites
- National Archives
http://www.archives.gov/
- National Park Service: Links to the Past
http://www.cr.nps.gov/
- Teaching American History
http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/
- A
Summing Up: Louis Lomax Interviews Malcolm X (November 1963)
http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/library/
index.asp?document=539
- Joseph
H. Jackson, Annual Address to the National Baptist Convention (September
10, 1964)
http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/library/
index.asp?document=642
- Malcolm
X, The Ballot or the Bullet (April 3, 1964)
http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/library/
index.asp?document=1147
- Malcolm
X, Message to the Grassroots (November 10, 1963)
http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/library/
index.asp?document=1145
- Martin
Luther King Jr., Commitment Card (1963)
http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/library/
index.asp?document=1130
- Martin
Luther King Jr., The Power of Nonviolence (June 4, 1957)
http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/library/
index.asp?document=1131
- Martin
Luther King Jr., Nonviolence
The Only Road to Freedom (October 1966)
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/
index.asp?document=1426
- Letter
to Martin Luther King (April 12, 1963)
http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/library/
index.asp?document=533
- University of Virginia Library
http://www.lib.virginia.edu/
Standards Alignment
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