To Kill a Black Man the Shocking Parallel in the Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King
(Louis E. Lomax's "To Kill a Black Man" addresses the soci...)
Louis E. Lomax's "To Kill a Black Man" addresses the social and political dimensions of Malcolm's moral perspective. Many Americans believe that Malcolm X and King occupied violently opposed ethical universes, that their positions on the best solution to this country's racial crisis led them to a permanent parting of paths. More likely, though, they were the yin and yang of black moral responses to white racism, complementing more than contradicting each other in their last years. King began in 1966 to emphasize black pride, explore the virtues of "temporary segregation" to foster the economic health of black communities, and became more radical about the limits of social protest. And Malcolm X for his part became publicly political, acknowledged the militancy of integrationists, and even encouraged voter registration. Although King and Malcolm X met only once for a brief moment -- resulting in the famed photo of both figures smiling broadly at the Capitol in 1964 -- Malcolm did journey to Selma, Ala., in 1965 when King was in jail, to speak to civil rights workers before leaving for London. His remarks on that occasion to Coretta King -- less than a month before his death -- reveal his poignant awareness and acceptance of the distinct roles he and King played in the black freedom movement. "I want Dr. King to know that I didn't come to Selma to make his job difficult," he said. "I really did come thinking I could make it easier. If the white people realize what the alternative is, perhaps they will be more willing to hear Dr. King."
"To Kill a Black Man," written in the torturous aftermath of King's assassination in 1968, has all the virtues of historical immediacy -- impassioned narration, proximity to the feeling of the moment with unvarnished insight.
(Book is used and has been withdrawn from service from a L...)
Book is used and has been withdrawn from service from a Library. Book has a Library Binding and the usual Library Stamps, Stickers, Card Holder, Library Markings. May or May Not have a Dust Jacket.
(The Nation of Islam was the most controversial and polari...)
The Nation of Islam was the most controversial and polarizing organizations of the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Out of that organization came influential and beloved figures in American history such as Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali, yet the Nation of Islam has been denounced by many segments of America for its doctrine of racial separatism and other controversial positions on race. In this collection of essays that were previously published in “Malcolm X, Bob Marley, and Other Essays” and “Muhammad Ali, the Confederate Flag, and Other Essays,” the author addresses some of the important aspects of the Nation of Islam.
This work addresses questions such as who was Malcolm X, what made the Nation of Islam such an appealing organization to thousands of black people, why did Malcolm X leave the Nation of Islam, can the Nation of Islam be considered an organization that practiced reverse racism, and how did the Nation of Islam influence Muhammad Ali’s stance on the Vietnam War. Aside from these questions, and more, this work also seeks to both defend the Nation of Islam against many of its critics, while also critically assessing some of the organizations own faults.
(An alarming portrait of another Viet Nam in the making, t...)
An alarming portrait of another Viet Nam in the making, this compelling eye-witness report is the first full account of American military and political involvement in Thailand. The extent of the American commitment there - so long kept secret - the activities of the insurgents in the remote areas of the northeast, and the attitudes of the Thai masses are probed to reveal the startling developments in Thailand, the country that is the key to Southeast Asia.
When The Word Is Given: A Report on Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X, and the Black Muslim World
(WHAT IS "The Battle of Armageddon" which is to be waged i...)
WHAT IS "The Battle of Armageddon" which is to be waged in the wilderness of North America? Who is Elijah Muhammad and how did he come to power? How does this movement utilize Christianity to further its message? The answers to these questions are only a few of the many eye-opening facts presented in this important, informative work. Writing from many years of experience working with and talking to members of the Black Muslim group, Louis E. Lomax thoroughly and thoughtfully explores the entire movement: the Negro in America and in history, W. D. Fard and his growth to power, the movement's relationship with Islam, the present organization, its platform, and its leaders. There is an entire section of speeches by Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad, and an interview with Malcolm X as well.
Here, at a time when the American race issue seems at a climax, is a volume written by an outstanding social critic, giving a behind-the-scenes, inside view of the history, growing power and influence, and leaders of the Black Muslim movement.
Mr. Lomax is perceptively realistic in his view. "Chilling though it may be, the Black Muslims have erected their teaching on a group experience common to all American Negroes. Few of us concur in their conviction and sentencing of the white race. But none of us can question the accuracy of the indictment
on which that conviction rests." He continues, "These men are waiting for integration to fail. They will . . . make us continually aware of what can happen if white men don't learn to love before black men learn to hate."
Louis Emanuel Lomax was an African-American journalist and author.
Background
Louis Emanuel Lomax was born on August 16, 1922 and raised in Valdosta, Georgia, United States, where his family had lived for four generations. His parents were Emanuel C. Smith and Sarah Louise Lomax. His mother died shortly after his birth, and he spent his first eleven years with his maternal grandmother, Rozena Lomax, who was well known locally as an author of religious plays. Following her death, Lomax lived with his uncle and aunt, James L. and Fannie Hardon Lomax. Both were teachers in local public schools, and they encouraged and fostered his interest in learning and writing. The J. L. Lomax Junior High School was later named for James Lomax, who was also minister of the Macedonia First African Baptist Church in Valdosta and president of the Georgia Baptist Training Union Convention.
The Lomax family's strong religious roots and social consciousness led to friendship with the family of Martin Luther King, Jr. Lomax first met King when the former was in college and the latter was in junior high school. Although Lomax was raised in a prominent middle-class family that he later described as part of the black bourgeoisie, he was still conscious of blatant segregation. He did not know any whites well. He recalled hearing his white employer recite, with obvious relish, vivid accounts of black lynchings. Later, putting an arm on Lomax' shoulder, the man claimed that he would not hurt him. Such experiences had a profound and lasting impact.
Education
Lomax graduated from Dasher High School in Valdosta and received his Bachelor of Arts from Paine College in Augusta, Georgia, in 1942. He was an editor of the college newspaper, the Painette. He received his Master of Arts from American University, Washington, D. C. , in 1944 and a master's degree in philosophy from Yale University in 1947.
Career
Lomax began his professional career as a reporter on the Afro-American and as assistant professor of philosophy at Georgia State University in 1942. He became a staff feature writer for the Chicago American in 1947, and he went to Montgomery, Alabama, to cover the bus boycott in 1956. Two years later he moved to New York City, where he was employed by WNTA-TV, as the first black television newsman, and he worked as a newswriter for "The Mike Wallace Show. "
He became a news analyst for KTTV and for Metropolitan Broadcasting in Los Angeles, California, in 1964, and hosted a television program, "Louis Lomax, " in 1967. He was a syndicated columnist for the North American Newspaper Alliance during the same interval. During the 1960's Lomax' articles, which appeared in national journals, were varied and showed objective reporting. He traveled to Africa and to the Caribbean. In 1966 he was the first American newspaper correspondent invited to visit North Vietnam. However, the invitation was withdrawn at the last minute and he visited Thailand instead. Lomax reported on the Duvalier regime in Haiti, on the tension between blacks and whites in Africa, and on the bitterness of African blacks toward American blacks.
As a writer and producer, Lomax used television and other media to arouse northern white interest in Jim Crow laws and in segregationist policies of the South and North. He organized and produced a telethon that raised $50, 000 for CORE's Freedom Ride into the Deep South to test segregation laws in July 1961, and in 1963 he covered the CORE demonstrations against Harlem Hospital, which had not hired a sufficient number of blacks to construct a new hospital annex. He was the associate producer of an ABC-TV award-winning documentary "Walk in My Shoes, " and, with Mike Wallace, wrote and produced "The Hate That Hate Produced, " a documentary on the Black Muslims.
Lomax met Malcolm X in Harlem in 1959, and they became close friends. Lomax helped edit and write the first few issues of the Islamic News, later known as Mr. Muhammed Speaks. He held a debate with Malcolm X at the Chicago Opera House on May 23, 1964.
Lomax' first book was The Reluctant African (1960). The Negro Revolt (1962) dealt with emergent black leadership and the failures of the NAACP. When the Word Is Given (1964) studied the Black Muslim movement under the leadership of Malcolm X. Thailand: The War That Is, the War That Will Be (1967) was a devastating exposé of American action in one theater of the Vietnam War. To Kill a Black Man (1968) examined the conspiracy that led to the murder of Malcolm X. Critics such as August Meier questioned the accuracy of Lomax' black history and his antagonism toward the NAACP. They argued that his work reflected a bias against the NAACP and in favor of younger organizations such as CORE and SNCC, and that by describing black political movements as revolutionary and radical or conservative and ineffectual Lomax provided ammunition for white racists.
He died in an automobile accident near Santa Rosa, New Mexico. At the time of his death he was a writer in residence at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, having joined the faculty as professor of humanities and social science in 1969. Lomax left an unfinished three-volume history of American black people. His writing style has been compared to the narrative and rhetoric of Baptist preachers. His reportorial skills and unbiased observation of human affairs brought a new focus to the study of racism. His critics included partisans from every quarter, and he experienced threats of assassination from both black and white extremists. His early death ended the evolution of a gifted intellect that was grappling with the basic problems of human relationships in worldwide contexts.
Achievements
Lomax was an important author and journalist in the mid-20th century. He became the first African-American television journalist to host a 90-minute twice-a-week interview format television show. He also authored a number of books. In 1966 his book, "The Reluctant African" (1960), won the Anisfield-Wolf Saturday Review Award as the best book on racial problems. But he was best known, however, for "The Negro Revolt", published in 1962.
Lomax claimed that the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was obsolete, since it refused to organize demonstrations against segregation. He added that the NAACP gave tacit support to demonstrations only because it was forced to do so. He described the emergence of young black leadership and felt that more militant groups such as the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) would produce change. Lomax wrote of dissension among young black leaders and believed that their strong individualism and lack of unified leadership hindered the black community in its struggle for equality.
Lomax did not share Malcolm's bitterness toward whites, and Lomax insisted that the ancestors of American blacks were not Muslims. He did not advocate a separate independent nation for American blacks. He also believed that the federal government supported civil rights for blacks, that changes had come and that more would follow. Lomax felt that blacks should assert themselves and work boldly toward both integration and black pride.
Connections
On September 19, 1961, Lomax married radio personality Betty Frank. His fourth marriage, which took place on March 1, 1968, was to Robinette Kirk.
