Library Exhibit on Black Activism

 Fighting for Racial Equality:
Black Activism in Urban America, 1950-1970

What:
An exhibit exploring black activism in urban America, 1950-1970.

When:
Now through Friday, June 8, 2007 (during Library’s open hours)

Where:
John F. Kennedy Memorial Library, 2nd Floor Bridge

Who:
An exhibit compiled by Dr. Martin Schiesl, Professor Emeritus of History

Background:
Through the first half of the 20th century, the African American population encountered considerable racism in nearly every institution in the nation’s cities.   Black activist groups in the 1950s and 1960s saw this grim situation as intolerable and sought to tear down the walls of racial oppression.

 Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X
Photo courtesy:
Malcolm X: the great photographs by Thulani Davis

Particularly forceful were the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the Nation of Islam, and the Black Panther Party.

The NAACP filed successful lawsuits against segregation, conducted mass boycotts, and campaigned against discriminatory voting regulations. 

Martin Luther King and the SCLC courageously and brilliantly moved civil rights issues to another plateau.  They placed the problems of discrimination and segregation in a highly moral context, organized and led mass demonstrations of black and white people against economic and social injustice, and secured the passage of far reaching civil rights laws.

The Nation of Islam, led by Elijah Muhammad and charismatic Malcolm X, had a much different program.  It preached self-discipline and economic self-sufficiency, militantly criticized police abuse of black citizens, and established businesses, schools, and other institutions in urban ghettos.

The Black Panther party went further.  Founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland, Calif., in 1966, it strongly promoted revolutionary socialism, threatened armed retaliation against police repression, and provided vital social services to poor black populations.

All of these individuals and groups pursued the same goals: justice, freedom, and total equality for African American citizens.    

-- Martin Schiesl

For more information on the exhibit, please call (323) 343-4435.