Final Family Activity

As we wrap up our latest family activity tomorrow (Thurs, 4/24), let me describe our final family activity which I alluded to in class a week or two ago. This will involve each family making up questions for the final exam. More specifically, I want each family to make up FOUR short-answer questions on anything we have covered in this class over the course of the semester, focusing especially on lecture material, which would also include whatever lecture notes I posted on the blog. Not only do I want the questions but also what you consider the appropriate answers. PLEASE AVOID OPEN-ENDED, ESSAY-TYPE QUESTIONS. They should be direct, objective questions (see samples below). I will try to accept at least two questions from each family, for which participating family members will get 9 points (which brings us up to 25 activity points total). For each additional question I accept, that family will earn a bonus point. PLEASE DO NOT SUBMIT MORE THAN FOUR QUESTIONS; I WILL ONLY CONSIDER THE FIRST FOUR. I will need these questions NO LATER THAN FRIDAY, MAY 2ND, especially if we decide to have the final on the day of our last regular class meeting, Thurs., May 8th.

SAMPLE QUESTIONS (and expected answers):

1. Soon after Malcolm hooks up with Shorty in Boston, he gets a "conk." What is that, and why is Malcolm so critical of it? (2 points)
ANSWER: It is an awful, burning concoction you put in your hair to straighten the kinks. Malcolm criticized it because he believed it was all about imitating whites.

2. What did Malcolm X mean by referring to the assassination of President Kennedy as a case of "the chickens coming home to roost?" (1 point)
ANSWER: that Pres. Kennedy was killed because of a "climate of hate and violence" his administration helped foster (for example, by supporting assassination plots against foreign leaders).

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Just a reminder: Next Tuesday, Apr. 29 I will give you an IN-CLASS essay. It might be helpful to briefly review your notes and bring them and your books along, since it will be open notebook, open book.

New Family Activity & Extra Credit Opportunity

As promised yesterday, I am posting a description of a new family activity which we will get into tomorrow. Also remember to begin reading Dyson's book, Making Malcolm.

FAMILY ACTIVITY: At the end of Chapter 6, "A New Spirit of Resistance: Malcolm and Martin on Children and Youth," Lewis Baldwin observes that: "The ideas, activities, and contributions of Malcolm and Martin are not being properly taught in schools. Consequently, youngsters from the pre-school to the college level are deprived of important lessons from the two men about social evil and how it might be challenged and transcended." (p. 240) In this context, I want each family to address the question of how Malcolm in particular should be taught, especially to younger children in elementary school. You should consider any personal experiences you have had or have heard of about how Malcolm has been taught and how your approach might be similar or different. I want each family to write up a ONE-PAGE summary of your ideas to turn in to me and to present to the class next Tuesday (4/22). I will give you some time tomorrow to discuss this in class with your family members. This is worth 5 activity points.

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EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITY: For 3 extra credit points, you can attend Tim Tyson's talk tomorrow (Thurs. 4/17, 11AM, McMillan Theater, CLB) on the Montgomery Bus Boycott. In addition to attending, I want you to post a one or two-paragraph comment on the talk, identifying any aspect of it that you found interesting and insightful, and tie it in to any aspect of our course. Basically, I just want to see evidence that you attended and thought about the talk in terms of our class.

Reminders

A few reminders, especially for some of you who may have missed classes this past week:
(1) One person has not turned in Essay II, which was due this past Tuesday. And a couple of you have yet to turn in Journal #4, which was due yesterday (Thurs. 3/27). Also, I handed back essay II and journal #3.
(2) You need to give some thought to your paper topic. Remember, I want a brief (paragraph) description of what you plan to do by Tuesday, April 8th, our first class after the break. You are welcome to email me your proposal over the break. I will check my email a couple times over the break.
(3) Continue reading Between Cross and Crescent. I plan to finish commenting on that within roughly two weeks after we come back, so we can move on to Dyson's book. And for the sake of your paper (i.e., to possibly get some ideas about a topic), you might want to look ahead in the reading.
(4) When I get a chance, I may post some lecture notes over the break on Chapters 3 & 4 in Between Cross and Crescent so as not to get too far behind.

Have a good break. See you in a week and a half.

Malcolm X: The Assassination by Michael Friedly & Other Notes

As I promised yesterday, I want to post some of the comments from Michael Friedly's book on the assassination, which I believe is the best, most credible one out there, along with Peter Goldman's The Death and Life Of Malcolm X.

First, with respect to the question of Louis Farrakhan's possible involvement. As I quoted from the book: "Farrakhan vehemently denies any role, directly or indirectly, in the assassination of Malcolm X, arguing that neither he nor the Honorable Elijah Muhammad gave any orders to kill their former colleague. 'I have never been investigated for any part or complicity in the assassination of Malcolm X. I have never been mentioned in the early writings on Malcolm's assassination. My name never came up, because I was not a major player in the Nation of Islam.'"
"But when Farrakhan claims that he has never been investigated for the assassination, he misses the point of arguments that he encouraged the assassination. In fact, only one of the five assassins has been investigated, but that does not prove the other four innocent. Farrakhan's claims that he never gave an order to kill Malcolm X are also misguided...."
(I would concur wholeheartedly, and add that Farrakhan's statement is completely disingenuous. The fact that he was never investigated and that four other assassins never paid for their crime is an indictment of our criminal justice system. We obviously did not care to get to the bottom of who killed Malcolm X and why.) Continuing...
"...the argument that Farrakhan was indirectly involved in the assassination is valid. His scathing articles in Muhammad Speaks and his vitriolic attacks on Malcolm X inside and outside his own mosque were certainly contributing factors in the assassination."
"Farrakhan helped create the climate of hatred that finally killed Malcolm X." (pp. 206-207)

The other passage I quoted underscored the need to remember that it was not just outside forces, such as the FBI, that hampered the civil rights movement, but also internal conflicts. As Friedly notes, "As in other movements, while the civil rights struggle was viciously attacked from the outside, it was also being challenged by internal dissension that was far less visible, but just as destructive." (p. 208)

Of course, also keep in mind those pages from The Death and Life of Malcolm X which I handed out in class about a week and a half ago.

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Notes: Remember to be giving some thought to a paper topic. I would like to have a paragraph description of what you propose, along with a suggested title. The deadline is TUESDAY, APRIL 8th.

Your 4th journal entry is due tomorrow (Thurs. 3/27). We'll have two of the three remaining people to present your entries. Then, we'll get back to Between Cross and Crescent, and hopefully get through at least Chapter 3.

Reminders & Concluding Lecture Notes on Autobiography

First, a few reminders for this upcoming week. On Tuesday, 3/11, our next class, we will take some time out to hear from each of the families regarding Spike Lee's film. Also, don't forget that your first essay is due. I know some of you missed, "Malcolm X: Make It Plain," but you can check it out of the library when you get a chance. It is a nice summation of his life with interviews with many of the actual people in his life, not to mention clips from some of Malcolm's own speeches and interviews. It is vastly superior to Spike Lee's valiant effort. As I noted in class, we are going to take some time this week to examine his assassination. I'll talk about that on Tuesday, and then we'll see another video program on Thursday which explores his assassination and some of the theories about it. Finally, as I noted in class last Thursday, we are going to postpone the due date of your next journal entry until next Tuesday, 3/18 because of the video presentation which will take up of the full time on Thursday (and then some -- about 15 minutes over).

And now to wrap up the Autobiography

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Epilogue by Alex Haley

A. Haley gives some insight into the process by which this book was written, how he collaborated with Malcolm X. Interestingly, he notes how he wasn't making much progress at first on drawing him out until he asked Malcolm about his mother.

1. Another interesting tidbit, Malcolm admitted to Haley that he had palmed that bullet in the Russian Roulette incident in his criminal days. see, p. 423.

2. Haley is particularly good in capturing the predicament Malcolm was in in Jan. 1965, a month before his death: "He talked about the pressures on him everywhere he turned, and about the frustrations, among them that no one wanted to accept anything related to him except 'my old 'hate' and 'violence' image.' He said 'the so-called moderate' civil rights organizations avoided him as 'too militant' and the 'so-called militants' avoided him as 'too moderate.' 'They won't let me turn the corner!' he once exclaimed, "I'm caught in a trap!'" (p. 431)

B. Haley's account of the assassination is not very good or precise. There are substantial questions, as we'll see.

Ossie Davis: On Malcolm X

A. I appreciate Mr. Davis's response to questions about why he eulogized Malcolm X, noting that only white people had asked him that, no black person. (If you read the eulogy, which I handed out, you'll know why.)

B. He respects Malcolm for his uncompromising commitment to search for and tell the truth.

C. And he recognizes the significant change in Malcolm's last year.


This brings to a close my comments on the Autobiography.

Again, tomorrow, in addition to hearing from you about Spike Lee's film, I'll talk about his assassination. See you then....

Next Week & More Lecture Notes on the Autobiography

Next Week: I'll be reading your journal entries over the weekend and should have them back to you on Tuesday. As I mentioned yesterday, be thinking about the film and your responses to the questions I want you to address in the family activity I described in a 2/20 post on this blog. I will give you some time next Tuesday to discuss this in class with your family members. You need to come to some consensus about your responses. On Tuesday 3/11 we will set aside some class time to hear from each of the families, and I also want each family to turn in a summary of your findings (which can be handwritten).

You should also be working on Essay I which I handed out yesterday. And remember, I want each of you to make a clear choice of which of Malcolm's conversions you believe was most significant and why.

I believe we are going to try to see "Malcolm X: Make It Plain" next Thursday, 3/6. This is one of the finest film biographies of anyone I have ever seen and it would be a fitting way to wrap up the Autobiography (which we should wrap up on Tuesday). Unfortunately, it is long (though not nearly as long as Spike Lee's movie) -- I believe 2 hrs and 15 minutes -- and I believe it is best seen as a whole. I hope most of you can stay the additional time (we should be able to wrap up by 5PM). I know a couple people will be absent, but you can see it on your own. It is the library's copy and in VHS format. If you don't have a VHS tape player, there is a room in the library where you can see it. Need to ask at the Circulation Desk. We can talk about this on Tuesday.

Below are some more lecture notes on the Autobiography. These should be the last ones I'll have to post. As you finish reading the Autobiography, make sure to read Alex Haley's Epilogue and Ossie Davis' "On Malcolm X."

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Chapter Eighteen: El Hajj Malik El Shabazz

A. Malcolm has an audience with Prince Faisal of Saudi Arabia. There is still the excitement about the "Muslim from America" (often mistaken for Muhammad Ali). Malcolm felt at a loss not knowing Arabic. Prince Faisal tells Malcolm bluntly that the American Black Muslims "have the wrong Islam." (p. 354)

B. Malcolm begins to think in more international terms -- says American power structure does not want Negroes to think internationally. Malcolm feels there is real concern abroad for the plight of Afro-Americans. He goes on to note that black leaders need to expand their vision: " I think the single worst mistake of the American black organizations, and their leaders, is that they have failed to establish direct brotherhood lines of communication between the independent nations of Africa and the American black people. Why, every day, the black African heads of state should be receiving direct accounts of the latest developments in the American black man's struggles -- instead of the U.S. State Department's releases to Africans which always imply that the American black man's struggle is being 'solved.'" (p. 353)

C. Malcolm makes an interesting comment (middle of p. 355) about how the lifestyles of women reflect the values of a culture.

D. Malcolm is also deeply impressed by the warm, down-to-earth, uninhibited reception he got from Africans. Nigerian Muslims even give him another name --"OMOWHALE" which means, "the son who has returned" (p. 357) In Nigeria, he seeks to counter the U.S. Information Agency propaganda that the American civil rights problem is being solved. Ghana receives him with open arms -- in particular a little expatriate colony of Afro-Americans, among them is Maya Angelou and the widow of W.E.B. DuBois. (p. 359) Malcolm regards his highest honor to be an audience with the leader of Ghana, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.

1. He also recounts an awkward encounter with Muhammad Ali who had chosen to stay with the NOI.

E. Malcolm comes back to America to face the U.S. press in NYC, most of whom asked questions about the racial violence in Harlem, as if he was somehow to blame. They did not want to hear of his plan to bring the issue of human rights in the case of Afro-Americans to the United Nations.

1. He acknowledges changes in his views of whites, yet he fairly argues that racism is so deeply engrained in the white consciousness that whites are not even aware of it. (see bottom p. 369 - 370)


That brings us up to Chapter Nineteen: 1965, where we will begin on Tuesday.

Lecture Notes on the Autobiography of Malcolm X (continued from 2/22)

Before I continue my commentary on the Autobiography, let me remind you again that we will see "X" tomorrow afternoon and that will last until around 5:45PM. Also, you should be thinking about the family activity in connection with the film, which I described last week on this blog.

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Chapter Sixteen: Out

A. Malcolm comments on the worsening health of Elijah Muhammad.

B. Malcolm expresses great pride in having advanced the NOI in America. But he also identifies reservations and disappointments. As he says on p. 295, near the bottom of the page: "If I harbored any personal disappointment whatsoever, it was that privately I was convinced that our Nation of Islam could be an even greater force in the American black man's struggle -- if we engaged in more action. By that I mean I thought privately that we should have amended, or relaxed, our general non-engagement policy." He goes on to note how "militantly disciplined" Black Muslims should have been present at some of the civil rights' demonstrations such as in Birmingham. Read the following paragraph as well which continues over to p.296.

1. He notes that he personally helped open over 100 mosques throughout the U.S. As you might imagine, he had an impossible travel and speaking schedule.

C. Malcolm began to hear negative remarks about him from the upper echelon of the NOI -- that he was trying to run the whole show. Evidence of envy and jealousy. There was the completely unfounded rumor that Malcolm was making a pile of money on the side. (He was as frugal as Dr. King, who had to confront similar rumors.) There is the first hint of betrayal by Elijah Muhammad, which Malcolm caught wind of from his son, Wallace.

1. The NOI paper, Muhammed Speaks, began printing as little as possible about Malcolm. Soon, he was completely balcked out.

D. Malcolm tells the story of how he learned of Mr. Muhammad's sexual promiscuity -- two former secretaries filed paternity suits against him. Malcolm spoke with them and confirmed their stories.

E. Malcolm's comment following the Kennedy assassination leads to him being silenced by Mr. Muhammad. Check out how he justified saying it was a case of "the chickens coming home to roost." (p.307 bottom)

F. Malcolm and his family get a much needed rest when then, Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) invited them down to his training camp in Florida. Note what Malcolm says about why he liked him. (p.310) Malcolm was in Clay's corner at the Clay-Liston fight (on which one of my uncles won $500 because no one, except Malcolm and a few others, thought Clay had a chance). Malcolm gave it a Muslim vs. Christian spin. After the fight, they celebrated with ice cream!

G. Back to Mr. Muhammad, Malcolm said that, ultimately, what he could not ignore was Mr. Muhammad's deceit -- wanting to cover it up or not own up to it.

H. Malcolm discovers the first direct order for his death -- the person selected to carry this out (Bejamin 2X Goodman)went to Malcolm and told him of the plot.

I. Malcolm stresses his rapport with the ghetto masses -- that he still understands the language of the ghetto hustler. He saw black anger seething just beneath the surface of the ghetto. See pp. 317-318 He goes on to point out how the black man is "sick" spiritually, economically, politically. see p. 319 bottom - 320.
Unquestionably, there is still evidence of such sickness today.


Again, either copy or print out these notes. This brings us up to Chapter 17: Mecca, which I will begin with on Thursday.