For my dissertation I was very interested in looking into the Civil Rights Movement in America during the 50’s and 60’s. As it is such a wide topic, I have chosen to look at ‘The Politics of the Memory of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King’, where I will be looking at the memorialization of X and King in the US and also outside of the US.
Secondary Sources
1. Martin Luther King, Jr.: History and Memory, Reflections on Dreams and Silences
Harry A. Reed
The Journal of Negro History
Vol. 84, No. 2 (Spring, 1999), pp. 150-166 (17 pages)
Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History
This is a journal that I found on JSTOR when looking to find something on Martin Luther King. This source includes the history and memory on King and talks about some of the important and unforgettable speeches made by him.
2. The King’s Body: The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial and the Politics of Collective Memory
Kevin Bruyneel, History and Memory, Vol. 26, No. 1 (Spring/Summer 2014), pp. 75-108 (34 pages)
This is another article that I found on JSTOR and it examines the politics of memory stemming from the development and reception of the Martin Luther King Jr. National memorial and stone of Hope statue of king in Washington D.C. I picked this source as I will be looking at the memory that both King and Malcolm X left and believe this will help to answer that question.
3. The Political and Social Relevancy of Malcolm X: The Stability of African American Political Attitude.
Darren W. Davis and Christian Davenport ,The Journal of Politics, Vol. 59, No. 2 (May, 1997), pp. 550-564 (15 pages)
Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Southern Political Science Association
This source looks into how the most recent Malcolm X film has had an impact and influence on political attitudes among African Americans and how the film led them to become more racially conscious and more concerned about race relations. These are just some of the sources so far that I have found and wanted to use.
Primary sources
1. https://cnu.libguides.com/peoplecivilrightsam/malcolmx
Watch Malcolm X Debate at Oxford, Quoting Lines from Shakespeare’s Hamlet (1964)
This link leads you to a video of Malcolm X when he went to Oxford University in 1964 to deliver a speech on the racial and social problems which were going on in America. He uses his trademark claim that ‘ liberty can be attained by whatever means necessary’, and that ‘intelligently directed extremism’ will achieve liberty far more effectively than pacifist strategies. It is a very powerful speech as he also uses Shakespears Hamlet to justify his claim of ‘ by whatever means necessary’ position. It’s also powerful to see a black man deliver this speech to a room full of English white men, with who many were impressed with his speech.
2. https://cnu.libguides.com/peoplecivilrightsam/malcolmx
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/071.html
For an extra primary source, I found the eulogy for Malcolm X, which was given by Ossie Davis who was a fellow activist and close friend of both X and King. Some of the things mentioned in this eulogy are very powerful and show the impact that Malcolm X had on his followers.
3.The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr
Carson, Clayborne, Ralph Luker, and Penny Russell. The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. Volume I: Called to Serve, January 1929-June 1951. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992.
I found this seven- volume source in the university’s library, and decided to pick this as it has a comprehensive collection of Kings most significant sermons, speeches, published writings and unpublished manuscripts.
Well done, Caitlin, on getting started on building your bibliography!
Your first three journal articles will be useful for your dissertation – they are on the history and memory of X and King. I recommend that foe each entry in your annotated bibliography, you provide in your own words the central scholarly argument of the work. You can find this in its introduction (“This article/book will argue/prove/demonstrate that…”), or even in its abstract.
Well done on finding the footage of X debating at Oxford – I did n ot know this existed, and now I will be including it in my own resources! Think about how this source can be helpful to you – maybe some of X’s debating was memorialized later – did Spike Lee’s movie used any of it? (Also Stephen Tuck wrote a whole book on this event – you could check it for anything about how people at Oxford / in Britain remember X.)
Great catch of the eulogy of X – this will be helpful, as it was trying to shape his memory shortly after his death, right?
As for the King papers – you will need to be quite selective – you are researching his memory, and not his life and times, unless only what he said/wrote about X after X died!