Civil Rights Movement

Nearly 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, African Americans in Southern states still inhabited a
starkly unequal world of disenfranchisement, segregation and various forms of oppression, including race-
inspired violence. Jim Crow laws at the local and state levels barred them from classrooms and bathrooms,
from theaters and train cars, from juries and legislatures. In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the
separate but equal doctrine that formed the basis for state-sanctioned discrimination, drawing national and
international attention to African Americans plight. In the turbulent decade and a half that followed, civil rights
activists used nonviolent protest and civil disobedience to bring about change, and the federal government made
legislative headway with initiatives such as the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Civil Rights Act of 1968.
Many leaders from within the African American community and beyond rose to prominence during the Civil
Rights era, including Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Andrew Goodman and others. They
riskedand sometimes losttheir lives in the name of freedom and equality.

Background
Because large segments of the populaceparticularly African-Americans, women, and men without property
have not always been accorded full citizenship rights in the American Republic, civil rights movements, or
freedom struggles, have been a frequent feature of the nations history. In particular, movements to obtain
civil rights for black Americans have had special historical significance. Such movements have not only secured
citizenship rights for blacks but have also redefined prevailing conceptions of the nature of civil rights and the
role of government in protecting these rights. The most important achievements of African-American civil
rights movements have been the post-Civil War constitutional amendments that abolished slavery and
established the citizenship status of blacks and the judicial decisions and legislation based on these
amendments, notably the Supreme Courts Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision of 1954, the Civil
Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Moreover, these legal changes greatly affected the
opportunities available to women, nonblack minorities, disabled individuals, and other victims of
discrimination.

Did You Know?

The 1955-56 Montgomery Bus Boycott, a protest against segregated public facilities in Alabama, was led by
Martin Luther King Jr. and lasted for 381 days.

The modern period of civil rights reform can be divided into several phases, each beginning with isolated,
small-scale protests and ultimately resulting in the emergence of new, more militant movements, leaders, and
organizations. The Brown decision demonstrated that the litigation strategy of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) could undermine the legal foundations of southern segregationist
practices, but the strategy worked only when blacks, acting individually or in small groups, assumed the risks
associated with crossing racial barriers. Thus, even after the Supreme Court declared that public school
segregation was unconstitutional, black activism was necessary to compel the federal government to implement
the decision and extend its principles to all areas of public life rather than simply in schools. During the 1950s
and 1960s, therefore, NAACPsponsored legal suits and legislative lobbying were supplemented by an
increasingly massive and militant social movement seeking a broad range of social changes.
Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference,
The initial phase of the black protest activity in the post-Brown period began on December 1, 1955. Rosa Parks
of Montgomery, Alabama, refused to give up her seat to a white bus rider, thereby defying a southern custom
that required blacks to give seats toward the front of buses to whites. When she was jailed, a black community
boycott of the citys buses began. The boycott lasted more than a year, demonstrating the unity and
determination of black residents and inspiring blacks elsewhere.

Martin Luther King, Jr., who emerged as the boycott movements most effective leader, possessed unique
conciliatory and oratorical skills. He understood the larger significance of the boycott and quickly realized that
the nonviolent tactics used by the Indian nationalist Mahatma Gandhi could be used by southern blacks. I had
come to see early that the Christian doctrine of love operating through the Gandhian method of nonviolence was
one of the most potent weapons available to the Negro in his struggle for freedom, he explained. Although
Parks and King were members of the NAACP, the Montgomery movement led to the creation in 1957 of a new
regional organization, the clergy-led Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) with King as its
president.

King remained the major spokesperson for black aspirations, but, as in Montgomery, little-known individuals
initiated most subsequent black movements. On February 1, 1960, four freshmen at North Carolina Agricultural
and Technical College began a wave of student sit-ins designed to end segregation at southern lunch counters.
These protests spread rapidly throughout the South and led to the founding, in April 1960, of the Student Non-
Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). This student-led group, even more aggressive in its use of nonviolent
direct action tactics than Kings SCLC, stressed the development of autonomous local movements in contrast to
SCLCs strategy of using local campaigns to achieve national civil rights reforms.

Birmingham and the March on Washington

The SCLC protest strategy achieved its first major success in 1963 when the group launched a major campaign
in Birmingham, Alabama. Highly publicized confrontations between nonviolent protesters, including
schoolchildren, on the one hand, and police with clubs, fire hoses, and police dogs, on the other, gained northern
sympathy. The Birmingham clashes and other simultaneous civil rights efforts prompted President John F.
Kennedy to push for passage of new civil rights legislation. By the summer of 1963, the Birmingham protests
had become only one of many local protest insurgencies that culminated in the August 28 March on
Washington, which attracted at least 200,000 participants. Kings address on that occasion captured the
idealistic spirit of the expanding protests. I have a dream, he said, that one day this nation will rise up and
live out the true meaning of its creedwe hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.

Although some whites reacted negatively to the spreading protests of 1963, Kings linkage of black militancy
and idealism helped bring about passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This legislation outlawed segregation
in public facilities and racial discrimination in employment and education. In addition to blacks, women and
other victims of discrimination benefited from the act.

Freedom Summer
While the SCLC focused its efforts in the urban centers, SNCCs activities were concentrated in the rural Black
Belt areas of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, where white resistance was intense. Although the NAACP and
the predominantly white Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) also contributed activists to the Mississippi
movement, young SNCC organizers spearheaded civil rights efforts in the state. Black residents in the Black
Belt, many of whom had been involved in civil rights efforts since the 1940s and 1950s, emphasized voter
registration rather than desegregation as a goal. Mississippi residents Amzie Moore and Fannie Lou Hamer
were among the grass-roots leaders who worked closely with SNCC to build new organizations, such as the
Mississippi Freedom Democratic party (MFDP). Although the MFDP did not succeed in its attempt to claim the
seats of the all-white Mississippi delegation at the 1964 National Democratic Convention in Atlantic City, it
attracted national attention and thus prepared the way for a major upsurge in southern black political activity.

After the Atlantic City experience, disillusioned SNCC organizers worked with local leaders in Alabama to
create the Lowndes County Freedom Organization. The symbol they chosethe black pantherreflected the
radicalism and belief in racial separatism that increasingly characterized SNCC during the last half of the 1960s.
The black panther symbol was later adopted by the California-based Black Panther party, formed in 1966 by
Huey Newton and Bobby Seale.

Selma to Montgomery March

Despite occasional open conflicts between the two groups, both SCLCs protest strategy and SNCCS organizing
activities were responsible for major Alabama protests in 1965, which prompted President Lyndon B. Johnson
to introduce new voting rights legislation. On March 7 an SCLC planned march from Selma to the state capitol
in Montgomery ended almost before it began at Pettus Bridge on the outskirts of Selma, when mounted police
using tear gas and wielding clubs attacked the protesters. News accounts of Bloody Sunday brought hundreds
of civil rights sympathizers to Selma. Many demonstrators were determined to mobilize another march,
andSNCC activists challenged King to defy a court order forbidding such marches. But reluctant to do anything
that would lessen public support for the voting rights cause, King on March 9 turned back a second march to the
Pettus Bridge when it was blocked by the police. That evening a group of Selma whites killed a northern white
minister who had joined the demonstrations. In contrast to the killing of a black man, Jimmy Lee Jackson, a few
weeks before, the Reverend James Reebs death led to a national outcry. After several postponements of the
march, civil rights advocates finally gained court permission to proceed. This Selma to Montgomery march was
the culmination of a stage of the African-American freedom struggle. Soon afterward, Congress passed the
Voting Rights Act of 1965, which greatly increased the number of southern blacks able to register to vote. But it
was also the last major racial protest of the 1960s to receive substantial white support.

Rise of Black Nationalism

By the late 1960s, organizations such as the NAACP, SCLC, andSNCC faced increasingly strong challenges
from new militant organizations, such as the Black Panther party. The Panthers strategy of picking up the
gun reflected the sentiments of many inner-city blacks. A series of major riots (as the authorities called
them), or rebellions (the sympathizers term), erupted during the last half of the 1960s. Often influenced by
the black nationalism of Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X and by pan-African leaders, proponents of black
liberation saw civil rights reforms as insufficient because they did not address the problems faced by millions of
poor blacks and because African-American citizenship was derived ultimately from the involuntary
circumstances of enslavement. In addition, proponents of racial liberation often saw the African-American
freedom struggle in international terms, as a movement for human rights and national self-determination for all
peoples.

Post 1960s Civil Rights Movement

Severe government repression, the assassinations of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, and the intense
infighting within the black militant community caused a decline in protest activity after the 1960s. The African-
American freedom struggle nevertheless left a permanent mark on American society. Overt forms of racial
discrimination and government-supported segregation of public facilities came to an end, although de facto, as
opposed to de jure, segregation persisted in northern as well as southern public school systems and in other
areas of American society. In the South, antiblack violence declined. Black candidates were elected to political
offices in communities where blacks had once been barred from voting, and many of the leaders or
organizations that came into existence during the 1950s and 1960s remained active in southern politics.
Southern colleges and universities that once excluded blacks began to recruit them.

Despite the civil rights gains of the 1960s, however, racial discrimination and repression remained a significant
factor in American life. Even after President Johnson declared a war on poverty and King initiated a Poor
Peoples Campaign in 1968, the distribution of the nations wealth and income moved toward greater inequality
during the 1970s and 1980s. Civil rights advocates acknowledged that desegregation had not brought significant
improvements in the lives of poor blacks, but they were divided over the future direction of black advancement
efforts. To a large degree, moreover, many of the civil rights efforts of the 1970s and 1980s were devoted to
defending previous gains or strengthening enforcement mechanisms.

The modern African-American civil rights movement, like similar movements earlier, had transformed
American democracy. It also served as a model for other group advancement and group pride efforts involving
women, students, Chicanos, gays and lesbians, the elderly, and many others. Continuing controversies regarding
affirmative action programs and compensatory remedies for historically rooted patterns of discrimination were
aspects of more fundamental, ongoing debates about the boundaries of individual freedom, the role of
government, and alternative concepts of social justice.

The Readers Companion to American History. Eric Foner and John A. Garraty, Editors. Copyright 1991 by
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Martin Luther King Jr. Biography
Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist minister and social activist, who led the Civil Rights Movement in the United
States from the mid-1950s until his death by assassination in 1968.

But we come here tonight to be saved from that patience that makes us patient with anything less than freedom
and justice.
Martin Luther King Jr.

Synopsis
Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. King, both a Baptist minister and
civil-rights activist, had a seismic impact on race relations in the United States, beginning in the mid-1950s.
Among many efforts, King headed the SCLC. Through his activism, he played a pivotal role in ending the legal
segregation of African-American citizens in the South and other areas of the nation, as well as the creation of
the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. King received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964,
among several other honors. King was assassinated in April 1968, and continues to be remembered as one of the
most lauded African-American leaders in history, often referenced by his 1963 speech, "I Have a Dream."

Early Years
Born as Michael King Jr. on January 15, 1929, Martin Luther King Jr. was the middle child of Michael King Sr.
and Alberta Williams King. The King and Williams families were rooted in rural Georgia. Martin Jr.'s
grandfather, A.D. Williams, was a rural minister for years and then moved to Atlanta in 1893. He took over the
small, struggling Ebenezer Baptist church with around 13 members and made it into a forceful congregation. He
married Jennie Celeste Parks and they had one child that survived, Alberta. Michael King Sr. came from a
sharecropper family in a poor farming community. He married Alberta in 1926 after an eight-year courtship.
The newlyweds moved to A.D. Williams home in Atlanta.

Michael King Sr. stepped in as pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church upon the death of his father-in-law in 1931.
He too became a successful minister, and adopted the name Martin Luther King Sr. in honor of the German
Protestant religious leader Martin Luther. In due time, Michael Jr. would follow his father's lead and adopt the
name himself.
Young Martin had an older sister, Willie Christine, and a younger brother, Alfred Daniel Williams King. The
King children grew up in a secure and loving environment. Martin Sr. was more the disciplinarian, while his
wife's gentleness easily balanced out the father's more strict hand. Though they undoubtedly tried, Martin Jr.s
parents couldnt shield him completely from racism. Martin Luther King Sr. fought against racial prejudice, not
just because his race suffered, but because he considered racism and segregation to be an affront to God's will.
He strongly discouraged any sense of class superiority in his children which left a lasting impression on Martin
Jr.

Growing up in Atlanta, Georgia, Martin Luther King Jr. entered public school at age 5. In May, 1936 he was
baptized, but the event made little impression on him. In May, 1941, Martin was 12 years old when is
grandmother, Jennie, died of a heart attack. The event was traumatic for Martin, more so because he was out
watching a parade against his parents' wishes when she died. Distraught at the news, young Martin jumped from
a second story window at the family home, allegedly attempting suicide.

King attended Booker T. Washington High School, where he was said to be a precocious student. He skipped
both the ninth and eleventh grades, and entered Morehouse College in Atlanta at age 15, in 1944. He was a
popular student, especially with his female classmates, but an unmotivated student who floated though his first
two years. Although his family was deeply involved in the church and worship, young Martin questioned
religion in general and felt uncomfortable with overly emotional displays of religious worship. This discomfort
continued through much of his adolescence, initially leading him to decide against entering the ministry, much
to his father's dismay. But in his junior year, Martin took a Bible class, renewed his faith and began to envision
a career in the ministry. In the fall of his senior year, he told his father of his decision.

Education and Spiritual Growth

In 1948, Martin Luther King Jr. earned a sociology degree from Morehouse College and attended the liberal
Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania. He thrived in all his studies, and was valedictorian of
his class in 1951, and elected student body president. He also earned a fellowship for graduate study. But
Martin also rebelled against his fathers more conservative influence by drinking beer and playing pool while at
college. He became involved with a white woman and went through a difficult time before he could break off
the affair.
During his last year in seminary, Martin Luther King Jr. came under the guidance of Morehouse College
President Benjamin E. Mays who influenced Kings spiritual development. Mays was an outspoken advocate
for racial equality and encouraged King to view Christianity as a potential force for social change. After being
accepted at several colleges for his doctoral study, including Yale and Edinburgh in Scotland, King enrolled in
Boston University.

During the work on this doctorate, Martin Luther King Jr. met Coretta Scott, an aspiring singer and musician, at
the New England Conservatory school in Boston. They were married in June 1953 and had four children,
Yolanda, Martin Luther King III, Dexter Scott and Bernice. In 1954, while still working on his dissertation,
King became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church of Montgomery, Alabama. He completed his Ph.D.
and was award his degree in 1955. King was only 25 years old.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

On March 2, 1955, a 15-year-old girl refused to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery city bus in
violation of local law. Claudette Colvin was arrested and taken to jail. At first, the local chapter of the NAACP
felt they had an excellent test case to challenge Montgomery's segregated bus policy. But then it was revealed
that she was pregnant and civil rights leaders feared this would scandalize the deeply religious black community
and make Colvin (and, thus the group's efforts) less credible in the eyes of sympathetic whites.

On December 1, 1955, they got another chance to make their case. That evening, 42-year-old Rosa Parks
boarded the Cleveland Avenue bus to go home from an exhausting day at work. She sat in the first row of the
"colored" section in the middle of the bus. As the bus traveled its route, all the seats it the white section filled
up, then several more white passengers boarded the bus. The bus driver noted that there were several white men
standing and demanded that Parks and several other African Americans give up their seats. Three other African
American passengers reluctantly gave up their places, but Parks remained seated. The driver asked her again to
give up her seat and again she refused. Parks was arrested and booked for violating the Montgomery City Code.
At her trial a week later, in a 30-minute hearing, Parks was found guilty and fined $10 and assessed $4 court
fee.

On the night that Rosa Parks was arrested, E.D. Nixon, head of the local NAACP chapter met with Martin
Luther King Jr. and other local civil rights leaders to plan a citywide bus boycott. King was elected to lead the
boycott because he was young, well-trained with solid family connections and had professional standing. But he
was also new to the community and had few enemies, so it was felt he would have strong credibility with the
black community.

In his first speech as the group's president, King declared, "We have no alternative but to protest. For many
years we have shown an amazing patience. We have sometimes given our white brothers the feeling that we
liked the way we were being treated. But we come here tonight to be saved from that patience that makes us
patient with anything less than freedom and justice."

Martin Luther King Jr.'s fresh and skillful rhetoric put a new energy into the civil rights struggle in Alabama.
The bus boycott would be 382 days of walking to work, harassment, violence and intimidation for the
Montgomery's African-American community. Both King's and E.D. Nixon's homes were attacked. But the
African-American community also took legal action against the city ordinance arguing that it was
unconstitutional based on the Supreme Court's "separate is never equal" decision in Brown v. Board of
Education. After being defeated in several lower court rulings and suffering large financial losses, the city of
Montgomery lifted the law mandating segregated public transportation.

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference

Flush with victory, African-American civil rights leaders recognized the need for a national organization to help
coordinate their efforts. In January 1957, Martin Luther King Jr., Ralph Abernathy, and 60 ministers and civil
rights activists founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to harness the moral authority and
organizing power of black churches. They would help conduct non-violent protests to promote civil rights
reform. King's participation in the organization gave him a base of operation throughout the South, as well as a
national platform. The organization felt the best place to start to give African Americans a voice was to
enfranchise them in the voting process. In February 1958, the SCLC sponsored more than 20 mass meetings in
key southern cities to register black voters in the South. King met with religious and civil rights leaders and
lectured all over the country on race-related issues.

In 1959, with the help of the American Friends Service Committee, and inspired by Gandhi's success with non-
violent activism, Martin Luther King visited Gandhi's birthplace in India. The trip affected him in a deeply
profound way, increasing his commitment to America's civil rights struggle. African-American civil rights
activist Bayard Rustin, who had studied Gandhi's teachings, became one of King's associates and counseled him
to dedicate himself to the principles of non-violence. Rustin served as King's mentor and advisor throughout his
early activism and was the main organizer of the 1963 March on Washington. But Rustin was also a
controversial figure at the time, being a homosexual with alleged ties to the Communist Party, USA. Though his
counsel was invaluable to King, many of his other supporters urged him to distance himself from Rustin.

In February 1960, a group of African-American students began what became known as the "sit-in" movement in
Greensboro, North Carolina. The students would sit at racially segregated lunch counters in the city's stores.
When asked to leave or sit in the colored section, they just remained seated, subjecting themselves to verbal and
sometimes physical abuse. The movement quickly gained traction in several other cities. In April 1960, the
SCLC held a conference at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina with local sit-in leaders. Martin Luther
King Jr. encouraged students to continue to use nonviolent methods during their protests. Out of this meeting,
the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee formed and for a time, worked closely with the SCLC. By
August of 1960, the sit-ins had been successful in ending segregation at lunch counters in 27 southern cities.

By 1960, Martin Luther King Jr. was gaining national notoriety. He returned to Atlanta to become co-pastor
with his father at Ebenezer Baptist Church, but also continued his civil rights efforts. On October 19, 1960,
King and 75 students entered a local department store and requested lunch-counter service but were denied.
When they refused to leave the counter area, King and 36 others were arrested. Realizing the incident would
hurt the city's reputation, Atlanta's mayor negotiated a truce and charges were eventually dropped. But soon
after, King was imprisoned for violating his probation on a traffic conviction. The news of his imprisonment
entered the 1960 presidential campaign, when candidate John F. Kennedy made a phone call to Coretta Scott
King. Kennedy expressed his concern for King's harsh treatment for the traffic ticket and political pressure was
quickly set in motion. King was soon released.

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'I Have a Dream'

In the spring of 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. organized a demonstration in downtown Birmingham, Alabama.
Entire families attended. City police turned dogs and fire hoses on demonstrators. Martin Luther King was
jailed along with large numbers of his supporters, but the event drew nationwide attention. However, King was
personally criticized by black and white clergy alike for taking risks and endangering the children who attended
the demonstration. From the jail in Birmingham, King eloquently spelled out his theory of non-violence:
"Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community, which has
constantly refused to negotiate, is forced to confront the issue."

By the end of the Birmingham campaign, Martin Luther King Jr. and his supporters were making plans for a
massive demonstration on the nation's capital composed of multiple organizations, all asking for peaceful
change. On August 28, 1963, the historic March on Washington drew more than 200,000 people in the shadow
of the Lincoln Memorial. It was here that King made his famous "I Have a Dream" speech, emphasizing his
belief that someday all men could be brothers.

"I have a dream that my four 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." Martin Luther King, Jr. / "I Have A Dream" speech, August
28, 1963

The rising tide of civil rights agitation produced a strong effect on public opinion. Many people in cities not
experiencing racial tension began to question the nation's Jim Crow laws and the near century second class
treatment of African-American citizens. This resulted in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 authorizing
the federal government to enforce desegregation of public accommodations and outlawing discrimination in
publicly owned facilities. This also led to Martin Luther King receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for 1964.

King's struggle continued throughout the 1960s. Often, it seemed as though the pattern of progress was two
steps forward and one step back. On March 7, 1965, a civil rights march, planned from Selma to Alabama's
capital in Montgomery, turned violent as police with nightsticks and tear gas met the demonstrators as they tried
to cross the Edmond Pettus Bridge. King was not in the march, however the attack was televised showing
horrifying images of marchers being bloodied and severely injured. Seventeen demonstrators were hospitalized
leading to the naming the event "Bloody Sunday." A second march was cancelled due to a restraining order to
prevent the march from taking place. A third march was planned and this time King made sure he was on it. Not
wanting to alienate southern judges by violating the restraining order, a different tact was taken. On March 9,
1965, a procession of 2,500 marchers, both black and white, set out once again to cross the Pettus Bridge and
confronted barricades and state troopers. Instead of forcing a confrontation, King led his followers to kneel in
prayer and they then turned back. The event caused King the loss of support among some younger African-
American leaders, but it nonetheless aroused support for the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

From late 1965 through 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. expanded his Civil Rights Movement into other larger
American cities, including Chicago and Los Angeles. But he met with increasing criticism and public
challenges from young black-power leaders. King's patient, non-violent approach and appeal to white middle-
class citizens alienated many black militants who considered his methods too weak and too late. In the eyes of
the sharp-tongued, blue jean young urban black, King's manner was irresponsibly passive and deemed non-
effective. To address this criticism King began making a link between discrimination and poverty. He expanded
his civil rights efforts to the Vietnam War. He felt that America's involvement in Vietnam was politically
untenable and the government's conduct of the war discriminatory to the poor. He sought to broaden his base by
forming a multi-race coalition to address economic and unemployment problems of all disadvantaged people.

Assassination and Legacy

By 1968, the years of demonstrations and confrontations were beginning to wear on Martin Luther King Jr. He
had grown tired of marches, going to jail, and living under the constant threat of death. He was becoming
discouraged at the slow progress civil rights in America and the increasing criticism from other African-
American leaders. Plans were in the works for another march on Washington to revive his movement and bring
attention to a widening range of issues. In the spring of 1968, a labor strike by Memphis sanitation workers
drew King to one last crusade. On April 3, in what proved to be an eerily prophetic speech, he told supporters,
"I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people,
will get to the promised land." The next day, while standing on a balcony outside his room at the Lorraine
Motel, Martin Luther King Jr. was struck by a sniper's bullet. The shooter, a malcontent drifter and former
convict named James Earl Ray, was eventually apprehended after a two-month, international manhunt. The
killing sparked riots and demonstrations in more than 100 cities across the country. In 1969, Ray pleaded guilty
to assassinating King and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. He died in prison on April 23, 1998.

Martin Luther King Jr.'s life had a seismic impact on race relations in the United States. Years after his death,
he is the most widely known African-American leader of his era. His life and work have been honored with a
national holiday, schools and public buildings named after him, and a memorial on Independence Mall in
Washington, D.C. But his life remains controversial as well. In the 1970s, FBI files, released under the Freedom
of Information Act, revealed that he was under government surveillance, and suggested his involvement in
adulterous relationships and communist influences. Over the years, extensive archival studies have led to a
more balanced and comprehensive assessment of his life, portraying him as a complex figure: flawed, fallible
and limited in his control over the mass movements with which he was associated, yet a visionary leader who
was deeply committed to achieving social justice through nonviolent means.
Malcolm X

Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little on May 19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. His mother, Louise Norton Little,
was a homemaker occupied with the familys eight children. His father, Earl Little, was an outspoken Baptist
minister and avid supporter of Black Nationalist leader Marcus Garvey. Earls civil rights activism prompted
death threats from the white supremacist organization Black Legion, forcing the family to relocate twice before
Malcolms fourth birthday.

Regardless of the Littles efforts to elude the Legion, in 1929, their Lansing, Michigan home was burned to the
ground. Two years later, Earls body was found lying across the towns trolley tracks. Police ruled both
incidents as accidents, but the Littles were certain that members of the Black Legion were responsible. Louise
suffered emotional breakdown several years after the death of her husband and was committed to a mental
institution, while her children were split up among various foster homes and orphanages.

Eventually, Malcolm and his long-time friend, Malcolm Shorty Jarvis, moved back to Boston. In 1946, they
were arrested and convicted on burglary charges, and Malcolm was sentenced to 10 years in prison, although he
was granted parole after serving seven years.

Recalling his days in school, he used the time to further his education. It was during this period of self-
enlightenment that Malcolms brother Reginald would visit and discuss his recent conversion to the Muslim
religion. Reginald belonged to the religious organization the Nation of Islam (NOI).

Intrigued, Malcolm began to study the teachings of NOI leader Elijah Muhammad. Muhammad taught that
white society actively worked to keep African-Americans from empowering themselves and achieving political,
economic, and social success. Among other goals, the NOI fought for a state of their own, separate from one
inhabited by white people. By the time he was paroled in 1952, Malcolm was a devoted follower with the new
surname X (He considered Little a slave name and chose the X to signify his lost tribal name.).

Intelligent and articulate, Malcolm was appointed as a minister and national spokesman for the Nation of Islam.
Elijah Muhammad also charged him with establishing new mosques in cities such as Detroit, Michigan, and
Harlem. Malcolm utilized newspaper columns, as well as radio and television, to communicate the NOIs
message across the United States. His charisma, drive, and conviction attracted an astounding number of new
members. Malcolm was largely credited with increasing membership in the NOI from 500 in 1952 to 30,000 in
1963.

The crowds and controversy surrounding Malcolm made him a media magnet. He was featured in a weeklong
television special with Mike Wallace in 1959, called The Hate That Hate Produced. The program explored the
fundamentals of the NOI, and tracked Malcolms emergence as one of its most important leaders. After the
special, Malcolm was faced with the uncomfortable reality that his fame had eclipsed that of his mentor Elijah
Muhammad. In addition to the media, Malcolms vivid personality had captured the governments attention. As
membership in the NOI continued to grow, FBI agents infiltrated the organization (one even acted as Malcolms
bodyguard) and secretly placed bugs, wiretaps, cameras, and other surveillance equipment to monitor the
groups activities.
Malcolms faith was dealt a crushing blow at the height of the civil rights movement in 1963. He learned that
his mentor and leader, Elijah Muhammad, was secretly having relations with as many as six women within the
Nation of Islam organization. As if that were not enough, Malcolm found out that some of these relationships
had resulted in children.

Since joining the NOI, Malcolm had strictly adhered to the teachings of Muhammad, which included remaining
celibate until his marriage to Betty Shabazz in 1958. Malcolm refused Muhammads request to help cover up
the affairs and subsequent children. He was deeply hurt by Muhammads actions, because he had previously
considered him a living prophet. Malcolm also felt guilty about the masses he had led to join the NOI, which he
now felt was a fraudulent organization built on too many lies to ignore.

Shortly after his shocking discovery, Malcolm received criticism for a comment he made regarding the
assassination of President John F. Kennedy. [Kennedy] never foresaw that the chickens would come home to
roost so soon, said Malcolm. After the statement, Elijah Muhammad silenced Malcolm for 90 days.
Malcolm, however, suspected he was silenced for another reason. In March 1964, Malcolm terminated his
relationship with the NOI. Unable to look past Muhammads deception, Malcolm decided to found his own
religious organization, the Muslim Mosque, Inc.

That same year, Malcolm went on a pilgrimage to Mecca, which proved to be life altering for him. For the first
time, Malcolm shared his thoughts and beliefs with different cultures and found the response to be
overwhelmingly positive. When he returned, Malcolm said he had met blonde-haired, blued-eyed men I could
call my brothers. He returned to the United States with a new outlook on integration and a new hope for the
future. This time when Malcolm spoke, instead of just preaching to African-Americans, he had a message for all
races.

After Malcolm resigned his position in the Nation of Islam and renounced Elijah Muhammad, relations between
the two had become increasingly volatile. FBI informants working undercover in the NOI warned officials that
Malcolm had been marked for assassinationone undercover officer had even been ordered to help plant a bomb
in Malcolms car.

After repeated attempts on his life, Malcolm rarely traveled anywhere without bodyguards. On February 14,
1965 the home where Malcolm, Betty, and their four daughters lived in East Elmhurst, New York was
firebombed. Luckily, the family escaped physical injury.

One week later, however, Malcolms enemies were successful in their ruthless attempt. At a speaking
engagement in the Manhattans Audubon Ballroom on February 21, 1965, three gunmen rushed Malcolm
onstage. They shot him 15 times at close range. The 39-year-old was pronounced dead on arrival at New Yorks
Columbia Presbyterian Hospital.

Fifteen hundred people attended Malcolms funeral in Harlem on February 27, 1965 at the Faith Temple Church
of God in Christ (now Childs Memorial Temple Church of God in Christ). After the ceremony, friends took the
shovels away from the waiting gravediggers and buried Malcolm themselves.

Later that year, Betty gave birth to their twin daughters.

Malcolms assassins, Talmadge Hayer, Norman 3X Butler, and Thomas 15X Johnson, were convicted of first-
degree murder in March 1966. The three men were all members of the Nation of Islam. Malcolm Xs legacy has
moved through generations as the subject of numerous documentaries, books, and movies. A tremendous
resurgence of interest occurred in 1992 when director Spike Lee released the acclaimed movie, Malcolm X. The
film received Oscar nominations for Best Actor (Denzel Washington) and Best Costume Design.

Malcolm X is buried at the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York.