WE SHALL OVERCOME – The Civil Rights Movement (Part
II)
1. The Path Divides I: Alternative Visions
Like all human activities, the Civil Rights movement was
characterized by differences in view. King’s philosophy was not the only vision
of an African-American future. Open the link below and look up the article on Nation
of Islam. Read the article, and answer the questions below.
a. What were the central tenets of the Nation of Islam
during the leadership of Elijah Muhammad?
b. How does the philosophy of Muhammad and the Nation of
Islam differ from that of King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
in its analysis of the problems of African-Americans and their solution?
2. The Path Divides II: Black Power
The separatist strand in African-American liberation philosophy
was not simply as Islamic phenomenon, but had a distinct secular element,
represented by the Black Panther Party. The link below contains the platform of
the Black Panther Party. Read the platform and answer the questions below.
a. The platform represents a political philosophy,
applied to a racial problem. What is the political philosophy in
question, and how has it been amended from its original European context?
b. What difficulties does the platform pose as a practical
political program?
c. How might the platform affect white support for Civil
Rights, and to what extent does this influence the thinking of the Black
Panther Party?
3. The Path Divides III: The Philosophy of Malcolm X.
The link below contains numerous quotes from Malcolm X,
Muslim and separatist. Read the quotes, and select THREE examples that
seem to you to best illustrate the difference of view between Malcolm X and
Martin Luther King.
4. The Path Divides IV: The Limits of Morality.
From the mid-Sixties onwards, radical black leaders, who
privately mocked him as “De Lawd”, criticized King as overly cautious and
egotistical. King moved sharply to the Left, and attempted to build an
interracial radical national coalition against poverty. King’s attempt to
expand his base failed, and his influence declined. A key element in King’s
loss of mainstream support was his decision to speak out about the war in
Vietnam. The text of his speech in is in the link below. Read the speech and
answer the questions below.
- What effect does King accuse the war of having on the Poverty Program, i.e. Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society policy of attacking poverty through massive Federal programs?
- Of which grotesque social inequality does King accuse the war?
- How does King link violence in Vietnam with violence in black ghettos in the U.S.?
- How does King see Vietnam in relation to America’s soul?
- In what two senses does King see himself as working for the “brotherhood of man”?
- What “five concrete things” does King suggest as a starting point for action?
- King expands his criticism of U.S. policy in Vietnam to a much wider thesis. What is it?
- What difficulties does the speech pose in terms of practical politics?
- Do you regard King as a practical politician?
5. The Path Divides V: Saint Martin – Great American or
Holy Fool?
Put together in your mind all you have learned of Martin
Luther King and his extraordinary life. Now draft a paragraph in which you take
a position on the central question of King as a historical figure: was the
absolute and unwavering moral dimension of his thinking a source of strength or
a source of weakness in the struggle for Civil Rights?
