Civil Rights Leaders (NCSS10)
I. General Information
Subject:
Unit:
Lesson:
US History
The 1950s
Civil Rights Leaders
Teacher:
Sarah Hendren
Grade:
11
# of Students: 24
II. Big Question For Today’s Lesson:
What role did three American leaders play in the early Civil Rights Movement? Simultaneously
the class will also see how turbulent the early 1960s were and how hot the topic of racial equality
was.
III. Content Narrative / Rationale:
By the end of WWII, the Civil Rights Movement was just picking up speed. Although
African Americans had fought against oppression and for equality since the end of slavery, only
in the late 1950s and early 1960s would much of their hope and dreams begin to be realized.
This lesson seeks to look at two black leaders and one president who had a role in the Civil
Rights Movement as it existed in the early 1960s. The interesting tie that each of these men have
to each other, is that they were prematurely assassinated at the height of their lives. They each
also represent three different ways in which different individuals through Civil Rights should be
approached.
This lesson would be best accomplished if performed in a computer lab, since audio links
of the speeches can be found online at http://www.webcorp.com/civilrights/, however this is not
a requirement for the lesson. The students can simply listen to the song as they walk in, read the
speeches, look at the pictures of the three men giving speeches, and finally hear the words of
peer as they read the paragraphs that describe the final moments of each of the three men’s lives.
IV. Goal: The student will be able to (TSWBAT),
•
Analyze the meaning of three speeches given in the early 1960s and evaluate the purpose
each leader had in giving the speech in order to explore three different, yet similar stances
on the Civil Rights Movement.
V. How does this lesson fit into the unit?
In the previous lesson the students examined early court cases that set out to desegregate
the army and America’s public schools. The students were introduced to the Civil Rights
Movement in this chronological way to show the headway that was being made. And yet, the
students also noted that many schools were extremely slow to abolish segregation not at all in
compliance with the Supreme Court’s decision that all schools should be desegregated “with all
deliberate speed.” Today the students are examining how three leaders are making their voices
heard with regards to civil strife that was simultaneously occurring in America.
Tomorrow’s activity will ask the students to conclude this activity (if they ran out of
time). In this way the paragraphs may need to be saved for the following day and to share their
completed KWL chart with the entire class. The day will continue as the teacher and students
seek to understand how the Civil Rights Movement continued without Martin Luther King,
Malcolm X and John F. Kennedy.
VI. Lesson Objectives:
Obj1 1. TSWBAT recall what they know about Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and John F.
Kennedy. (Knowledge)
Obj2 2. TSWBAT analyze and evaluate a speech and a photograph of the speaker in terms of
beliefs and contributions about the individuals belief in the Civil Rights Movement. (Analysis
and Synthesis)
Obj3 3. TSWBAT construct a presentation outlining the individual’s opinion of the Civil
Rights Movement and possible actions the individual might have taken. (Synthesis)
Obj4 4. TSWBAT reflect upon the lesson by listening to the paragraphs about Martin Luther
King, Malcolm X, and John F. Kennedy as the paper is read by a student. (Synthesis)
Obj5 5. TSWBAT finish the KWL chart with what they have learned about the short lives and
positions of Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and John F. Kennedy. (Synthesis)
VII. NCSS Themes with Indicators:
Individuals, Groups, and Institutions
NCSSV 1. TSWBAT: recognize the differences and similarities in the roles played by these three
men during the Civil Rights Movement. (This begins as the students read and present their
speech to the class.)
Power, Authority, and Governance
NCSSVI 1. TSWBAT: understand the role government had in restraining the African American
men and women and the students will also be able to note the differences between the beliefs of
Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. (This can be seen as the students read and present their
speech to the class.)
Civic Ideals and Practices
NCSSX 1. TSWBAT: identify the civic ideals and practices which drove the Civil Rights
Movement and these three leaders to give the three speeches which will be covered in this
lesson. (This begins with the JUST DO IT and continues throughout the lesson.)
VIII. Standards of Learning
Virginia and United States History SOL: 11
Skills
VUS.1
The student will demonstrate skills for historical and geographical analysis,
including the ability to
h) interpret the significance of excerpts from famous speeches and other
documents.
The United States since World War II
VUS.13
The student will demonstrate knowledge of the Civil Rights movement of the
1950s and 1960s by
b) describing the importance of the 1963 March on Washington,
IX. Essential Understandings, Knowledge, and Skills
1) Identify the importance of the March on Washington. (US.13 b)
2) Recognize the importance and significance of famous speeches. (US.1 h)
3) Recognize the roles played by John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Malcolm X.
X. Prerequisite Skills
If done in the computer lab, the students need to be able to operate a webpage only so far
as to bring up the specific one the teacher gives them and maneuver their way to the audio files
for Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and John F. Kennedy.
It not done in the computer lab, the students only need to be able to read and understand
the speeches, sometimes letting them take corners of the room and having one student read the
speech softly allowed to the other students in the group gives the students a feel for how the
speech might have originally been experienced. Aside from reading skills the students need
cooperative learning and presentation skills.
XI. Lesson Format
Objectives
Method / Activity
Lesson Introduction
As the students walk into the classroom the teacher will be
playing the 1970s song about Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther
King, and John F. Kennedy. “Anybody here, seen my friend
Martin…” (I don’t remember the name!) This will set the tone of
the lesson for the day.
NCSSX (this
begins here
JUST DO IT: Students will create a KWL chart that outlines
and continues what they know and what they want to know about John F.
throughout
Kennedy, Martin L. King, and Malcolm X.
the remainder
The teacher will say,
of the lesson)
“You will have four minutes to being a KWL chart on your own
paper. Please write what you know and what you want to know
Obj1
about the three men who’s names are written on the board.”
After the students have finished in these four minutes they will
share their findings with the class.
Lesson Activity:
Directions
The students will now be grouped into six groups of four. The
teacher will count off by six and the groups will easily be formed
Time
7 minutes
5 minutes
Obj2
NCSSV
NCSSVI
Obj3
NCSSV
NCSSVI
Obj4
Obj5
that way. The teacher will then hand out the packets of
information to each group. Each packet includes a speech by one
of the three men set to be studied today as well as a picture of the
man giving a speech. (Materials)
Activity
The class will then be given time to read the speeches and
prepare a presentation about each individual’s stances with regards
to Civil Rights.
The teacher will say,
“You will now read the speech and collect your opinions as to
what each individual thought of the coming Civil Rights
movement. Write down some actions that your leader might have
taken if given the opportunity.” (These directions can appear on an
overhead or written on the chalkboard)
If done in the computer lab or if a computer is available, some
students may listen to the individuals give their speeches allowed at
the following website: http://www.webcorp.com/civilrights/.
Each group will present and share their individual with the
class. Since each individual is shared by two groups then one
group will share the individuals opinion of the Civil Rights
movement and the other group will offer possible actions that the
individual may take in the realm of Civil Rights. Each group will
have two minutes to present.
If time runs out this activity can be continued on the following
day.
Closure
To conclude the lesson the teacher will ask an individual to
come up and read the final paragraphs that discuss the assassination
of each of these men (Materials). This will be a moving moment
and the teacher may ask that the students listen carefully and
quietly.
Students will finish their KWL chart that they began in the
JUST DO IT. The students will place what they learned during the
lesson in the “L” portion of the chart. This can be done if time
allows or finish the chart in class.
Lesson Assessment
15 minutes
12 minutes
6 minutes
As time
allows or
as
homework.
Formative Assessment: The lessons will be assessed through a
participation evaluation as the teacher wanders throughout the
class.
Summative Assessment: This material will also be seen in the
exam in the form of content based questions regarding the origins
of the Civil Rights movement and the lives and premature deaths of Total: 45
these three men.
minutes
XII. Lesson Modification
As in much of the lessons the groups can be strategically assigned by the teacher so that
although it looks like randomly counting off, the teacher insures that Special Education students
work with more advanced students. This ensures that Special Education students will be given
additional help. Also Special Education students can be given the speech ahead of time or
placed in one group to work with a special education teacher if that one educator is available to
the classroom. Finally a KWL chart can be made in advance (like the overhead or chalk board
chart the teacher will chose to use) for the Special Education students.
XIII. Materials and Equipment
All of the following materials are provided in Section XIII.
•
•
•
•
24 copies of the speeches (each speech needs eight copies)
24 copies of the pictures page
one copy of the final paragraphs page
an overhead or chalkboard depending upon where the teacher decides to put the
directions for the KWL chart and the speech activity.
John F. Kennedy
January 20, 1961
Inagural Speech
Vice President Johnson, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chief Justice, President Eisenhower, Vice President Nixon,
President Truman, Reverend Clergy, fellow citizens:
We observe today not a victory of party but a celebration of freedom--symbolizing an end as well as a
beginning--signifying renewal as well as change. For I have sworn before you and Almighty God the
same solemn oath our forbears prescribed nearly a century and three-quarters ago.
The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of
human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our
forebears fought are still at issue around the globe--the belief that the rights of man come not from the
generosity of the state but from the hand of God.
We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from this
time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans-born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient
heritage--and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation
has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.
Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden,
meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
This much we pledge--and more.
To those old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share, we pledge the loyalty of faithful
friends. United there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided there is little we can
do--for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder.
To those new states whom we welcome to the ranks of the free, we pledge our word that one form of
colonial control shall not have passed away merely to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny. We shall
not always expect to find them supporting our view. But we shall always hope to find them strongly
supporting their own freedom--and to remember that, in the past, those who foolishly sought power by
riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.
To those people in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery,
we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required--not because the
communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right. If a free society
cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.
To our sister republics south of our border, we offer a special pledge--to convert our good words into
good deeds--in a new alliance for progress--to assist free men and free governments in casting off the
chains of poverty. But this peaceful revolution of hope cannot become the prey of hostile powers. Let all
our neighbors know that we shall join with them to oppose aggression or subversion anywhere in the
Americas. And let every other power know that this Hemisphere intends to remain the master of its own
house.
To that world assembly of sovereign states, the United Nations, our last best hope in an age where the
instruments of war have far outpaced the instruments of peace, we renew our pledge of support--to
prevent it from becoming merely a forum for invective--to strengthen its shield of the new and the weak-and to enlarge the area in which its writ may run.
Finally, to those nations who would make themselves our adversary, we offer not a pledge but a
request: that both sides begin anew the quest for peace, before the dark powers of destruction unleashed
by science engulf all humanity in planned or accidental self-destruction.
We dare not tempt them with weakness. For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we
be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed.
But neither can two great and powerful groups of nations take comfort from our present course--both
sides overburdened by the cost of modern weapons, both rightly alarmed by the steady spread of the
deadly atom, yet both racing to alter that uncertain balance of terror that stays the hand of mankind's final
war.
So let us begin anew--remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity
is always subject to proof. Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.
Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us.
Let both sides, for the first time, formulate serious and precise proposals for the inspection and control
of arms--and bring the absolute power to destroy other nations under the absolute control of all nations.
Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors. Together let us explore the
stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths and encourage the arts and commerce.
Let both sides unite to heed in all corners of the earth the command of Isaiah--to "undo the heavy
burdens . . . (and) let the oppressed go free."
And if a beachhead of cooperation may push back the jungle of suspicion, let both sides join in
creating a new endeavor, not a new balance of power, but a new world of law, where the strong are just
and the weak secure and the peace preserved.
All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first one
thousand days, nor in the life of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But
let us begin.
In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course.
Since this country was founded, each generation of Americans has been summoned to give testimony to
its national loyalty. The graves of young Americans who answered the call to service surround the globe.
Now the trumpet summons us again--not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need--not as a call to
battle, though embattled we are-- but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year
out, "rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation"--a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny,
poverty, disease and war itself.
Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global alliance, North and South, East and West, that
can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind? Will you join in that historic effort?
In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending
freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility--I welcome it. I do not
believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy,
the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it--and the
glow from that fire can truly light the world.
And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for
your country.
My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do
for the freedom of man.
Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us here the same high
standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward,
with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and
His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own.
Martin Luther King
August 28, 1963
Lincoln Memorial, “I Have a Dream”
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the
Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of
Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to
end the long night of captivity. But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is
still not free.
One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of
segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island
of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still
languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land.
So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition. In a sense we have come to our
nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the
Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every
American was to fall heir.
This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note
insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has
given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to
believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the
great vaults of opportunity of this nation.
So we have come to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of
freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the
fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing
drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit
path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the
time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the
determination of the Negro. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass
until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a
beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a
rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in
America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights.
The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day
of justice emerges. But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold
which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of
wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness
and hatred.
We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. we must not
allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the
majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.
The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to
distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today,
have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound
to our freedom.
We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We
cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be
satisfied?" we can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain
lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the
Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as a
Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No,
no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness
like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of
you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom
left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have
been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is
redemptive.
Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back
to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be
changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the
difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the
American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We
hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." I have a dream that one day on the red
hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down
together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state,
sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and
justice. 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. I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping
with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black
boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as
sisters and brothers. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every
hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be
made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. This is our
hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the
mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of
our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to
pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that
we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My
country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's
pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring." And if America is to be a great nation, this must
become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from
the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks
of California! But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from
Lookout Mountain of Tennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi.
From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every
state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white
men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the
old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
Malcolm X
March 29, 1964
Washington Heights, NY, “It Shall be the Ballot or the Bullet”
It is very very heartening and encouraging for me to see so many of our people take time to come
out, especially on Easter Sunday night. You and I are not a people who are used to going anywhere on
Easter night--or on Easter Sunday night--to hear anything to do with African-Americans, or so-called
Negroes.
One of the reasons that it is bad for us to continue to just refer to ourselves as the so-called Negro,
that's negative. When we say so-called Negro that's pointing out what we aren't, but it isn't telling us what
we are. We are Africans, and we happen to be in America. We are not Americans. We are a people who
formerly were Africans who were kidnaped and brought to America. Our forefathers weren't the
Pilgrims. We didn't land on Plymouth Rock; the rock was landed on us. We were brought here against
our will; we were not brought here to be made citizens. We were not brought here to enjoy the
constitutional gifts that they speak so beautifully about today. Because we weren't brought here to be
made citizens--today, now that we've become awakened to some degree, and we begin to ask for those
things which they say are supposedly for all Americans, they look upon us with a hostility and
unfriendliness.
So our unwanted presence--the fact that we are unwanted is becoming magnified in all of
America's preachments today and the only way that we who are...[interruption]
The first step for those of us who believe in the philosophy of Black Nationalism is to realize that
the problem begins right here. The first problem is right here. We have to elevate our thinking right here
first--not just the thinking of a handful, that won't do it. But the thinking of 22 million black people in
this country must be elevated. They must be made to see it as we see it. They must be made to think as
we think, and then they'll be ready to act just as we're ready to act.
The black nationalists don't realize this. The black nationalists will fail as other groups have
failed. Any philosophy that you have that can't be implemented is no good. A "preaching" or a gospel is
no better than its ability to be carried out in a manner that will make it beneficial to the people who accept
it.
When you have a philosophy or a gospel--I don't care whether it's a religious gospel, a political
gospel, an economic gospel or a social gospel--if it's not going to do something for you and me right here
and right now--to hell with that gospel! In the past, most of the religious gospels that you and I have
heard have benefitted only those who preach it. Most of the political gospels that you and I have heard
have benefitted only the politicians. The social gospels have benefitted only the sociologists.
You and I need something right now that's going to benefit all of us. That's going to change the
community in which we live, not try to take us somewhere else. If we can't live here, we never will live
somewhere else.
Number one: Why is it so difficult to get so many of our people in this country interested in
going to Africa? And I have to point this out because today the entire question has reached a new level of
thought. There was a time when you talked about going to Africa, and you heard about it out on the
corner--125th Street and 7th Avenue. But today on college campuses across the country you have
students who are interested in nationalism. Nationalism is the wave of the present and the future. It is
nationalism that is bringing freedom to oppressed people all over the world. It was nationalism that
brought freedom to the Algerians. It was nationalism that brought freedom to the Nigerians and to the
Ghanaians. It was nationalism that brought freedom to the people of Uganda and Tanganyika and Sudan
and Somaliland. It was nationalism that has brought about the freedom of every oppressed people. They
have studied the tactics and the strategy and the message of all of the African nations who have emerged
and have won their independence. And they have seen that the Africans did not get it by sitting in. They
did not get it by waiting in. They did not get it by singing, "We Shall Overcome;" they got it through
nationalism. And you and I will get it through nationalism.
What is it that makes it difficult for the philosophy of nationalism to spread among the so-called
Negroes? Number one, they think they have a stake in America. They think they have an investment in
this country. Which we do: We've invested 310 years of slave labor. 310 years, every day of which your
and my mother and father worked for nothing. Not eight hours a day--there was no union in that day.
They worked from sunup until sundown--from can't see in the morning until can't see at night. They
never had a day off! And on Sunday they were allowed to sit down and sing about when they died they
wouldn't be slaves no more-- when they died, they wouldn't be slaves no more. They'd go up in the sky
and every day would be Sunday. That's a shame.
And it is that 310 years of slave labor that was my and your contribution into this particular
economy and political system.
You and I should let them know now that either we collect our investment right here, right now,
and then if we can't collect it here, our people will then be ready to go back home. Let's go ahead and join
in with them and make these men pay these back wages. Make him give us the back pay.
-------------Our forefathers weren't the
Pilgrims. We didn't land on
Plymouth Rock; the rock was landed on us.
-------------Let's join in--if this is what the Negro wants, let's join him. Let's show him how to struggle. Let's
show him how to fight. Let's show him how to bring a real revolution.
Let's make him stop jiving!
If you're interested in freedom, you need some judo, you need some karate--you need all the
things that will help you fight for freedom. If we don't resort to the bullet, then immediately we have to
take steps to use the ballot. Equality of opportunity, if the constitution at the present time [doesn't offer
it], then change it. Either it offers it, or it doesn't offer it. If it offers it--good, then give it to us--if it
doesn't offer it, then change it. You don't need a debate. You don't need a filibuster. You need some
action!
So what you and I have to do is get involved. You and I have to be right there breathing down
their throats. Every time they look over their shoulders, we want them to see us.
We want to make them--we want to make them--pass the strongest civil-rights bill they ever
passed, because we know that even after they pass it, they can't enforce it.
In order to do this, we're starting a voters' registration drive. We have to get everybody in Harlem
registered, not as Democrats or Republicans, but registered as Independents. We're going to organize a
corps of brothers and sisters who, after this city is mapped out, they won't leave one apartment-house door
not knocked on. There won't be a door in Harlem that will not have been knocked on to see that whatever
black face lives behind that door is registered to vote by a certain time this year. Nobody will have an
excuse not to be registered. We'll ask him to let us see your card. If you don't have the sense of
responsibility to get registered, we'll move you out of town.
It's going to be the ballot or the bullet... *
*The phrase, “ballot or bullet,” was actually coined by Abraham Lincoln, who used it in
campaign speeches arguing against emancipation, which he thought would lead to war.
Encouraging people to resolve differences peacefully, Lincoln said, "The ballot is stronger than
the bullet." The line was shortened and was first used as a warning, the way Malcolm X used it,
by Father Coughlin in 1935.
Malcolm X
John F. Kennedy
Martin Luther King
Final Paragraphs
One student will come up after all the presentations to read these paragraphs aloud. Each
paragraph describes the death of the individual and may relate (Malcolm X) to the speeches at
hand.
John F. Kennedy
By 1963 President Kennedy was thinking ahead to the presidential campaign of 1964.
His administration thus far had been immersed in controversy not just because of rising Civil
Rights tensions, but the Bay of Pigs invasion in April of 1961. In order to promote harmony
between warring factions of the Democratic Party in Texas, he traveled there in November 1963.
While driving in a motorcade through Dallas on November 22, he was shot in the head and died
within an hour.
President Johnson appointed the Warren Commission to investigate the assassination. It
concluded that the killer, acting alone, was 24-year-old Lee Harvey Oswald. No motive was
established. Speculation persisted over the years, however, that Kennedy was the victim of a
conspiracy.
Malcolm X
In 1964, after a pilgrimage to Mecca, he announced his conversion to orthodox Islam and
his new belief that there could be brotherhood between black and white. In his Organization of
Afro-American Unity, formed after his return, the tone was still that of militant black nationalism
but no longer of separation.
In February 1965, eleven months after his address, Malcolm X was shot and killed by
assassins in the same auditorium from which he had spoken. His assassins were vaguely
identified as Black Muslims, but this is a matter of controversy. After his death, Malcolm X's
"ballot or bullet" decree became the slogan of Black Power groups and caught the attention of
the press.
Martin Luther King
Dr. King was shot while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis,
Tennessee on April 4, 1968, by James Earl Ray. James Earl Ray was arrested in London,
England on June 8, 1968 and returned to Memphis, Tennessee to stand trial for the assassination
of Dr. King. On March 9, 1969, before coming to trial, he entered a guilty plea and was
sentenced to ninety-nine years in the Tennessee State Penitentiary. Dr. King had been in
Memphis to help lead sanitation workers in a protest against low wages and intolerable
conditions. His funeral services were held April 9, 1968, in Atlanta at Ebenezer Church and on
the campus of Morehouse College, with the President of the United States proclaiming a day of
mourning and flags being flown at half-staff.