Civil Rights - Men
Click on photos to enlarge.
Ahmaud Arbery
May 8, 1994 to February 23, 2020
Twenty-five-year-old Ahmaud Arbery was pursued and killed by three white men while jogging through a southern, Georgia neighborhood.
PHOTOS
Top: Ahmaud Arbery (Public Domain).
Second L and R: Burial site.
Bottom L and R: Burial site located on the grounds of the New Springfield Baptist Church.
SOURCES
Internet
Kennedy, Merrit and Diaz, Jaclyn. npr.org, "The 3 white men who killed Ahmaud Arbery are found guilty"
https://www.npr.org/2021/11/24/1058240388/ahmaud-arbery-murder-trial-verdict-travis-greg-mcmichael. Web
Bynum, Russ Associated Press. pbs.org. "Men who fatally shot Ahmaud Arbery convicted of murder" pbs.org, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/men-who-fatally-shot-ahmaud-arbery-convicted-of-murder.
Griffith, Janelle. nbcnews.com. "Ahmaud Arbery shooting: A timeline of the case" nbcnews.com, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ahmaud-arbery-shooting-timeline-case-n1204306. Web
Site Visits
Ahmaud Arbery gravesite, Waynesboro, GA
New Springfield Baptist Church. 1996 Hatcher Mill Road, Waynesboro, GA 30830
Interred
New Springfield Baptist Church Cemetery. 1996 Hatcher Mill Road, Waynesboro, GA 30830
Octavius Valentine Catto
February 22, 1839 to October 10, 1871
Forgotten Hero
Inscribed on the gravestone are the words:
"O.V. Catto was a prominent scholar and dominant leader in the Civil Rights Movement of the mid-1800’s who led efforts to register thousands of African Americans to vote. He worked tirelessly in the face of violence and open hostility towards Black participation in the political process. Catto was a member of numerous civic, literary, patriotic and political groups including the Franklin Institute and the Union League Association. He was the Headmaster at the Institute for Colored Youth later named Cheyney University. He served in the Pennsylvania National Guard as a major in the Union Army during the Civil War. He was assassinated on Election Day, October 10, 1871 in front of a polling place on the 700 block of South Street in South Philadelphia."
PHOTOS
L: Octavius Valentine Catto. R: Gravestone.
SOURCES
Headstone
Octavius Valentine Catto 2009. Eden Cemetery, Collingdale, PA, 30
Internet
"Octavius Valentine Catto" ovcattomemorial.org, http://www.ovcattomemorial.org/ov-catto-life-and-legacy. Web
Lecture
Cockroft, Mina. Historic Eden Cemetery, Collingdale, PA. Discussion.
Site Visit
Octavius Valentine Catto gravesite. Eden Cemetery, Collingdale, PA.
INTERRED
Eden Cemetery Company, 1434 Springfield Road, Collingdale, PA 19023. Phone: 610-583-8737. Map of cemetery.
Medgar Wylie Evers
July 2, 1925 to June 12, 1963
Hired in 1954 as a Field Secretary for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Medgar Evers worked in the delta region of Mississippi.
At a time when it was dangerous for African Americans to even talk about the NAACP, Evers traveled throughout Mississippi and was often threatened and at times beaten. A month before his murder in May of 1963, a bomb was tossed in his carport.
Evers advocated for the civil rights of African Americans, against the desires of racist groups like the Ku Klux Klan and the White Citizen’s Counsels. He participated in a boycott of white merchants and was instrumental in James Meredith segregating the University of Mississippi in 1962. He worked tirelessly to end lynchings throughout Mississippi. According to statistics provided by the Equal Justice Initiative, between 1877 and 1950, 576 African Americans were lynched in Mississippi; second highest of all Southern states. Georgia was first with 586 lynchings.
After returning home from a meeting with civil rights workers a few minutes after midnight on June 12, 1963, Medgar Evers was shot in the back getting out of his car. He died minutes later at a local hospital. His murder was a rallying point for the civil rights movement of the 60’s.
The shooter, Byron De La Beckwith, a known segregationist and Ku Klux Klan member was put on trial in 1963 and 1964. Both times the all-white male jury could not reach a verdict. In 1994, De La Beckwith was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison more than 30 years after he murdered Medgar Evers. The 1996 film Ghosts of Mississippi portrayed the 1994 retrial of Byron De La Beckwith.
PHOTOS
Top L: Medgar Evers. Courtesy of the Library of Congress. R: The family home.
Bottom L: Plaque attached to front of home. R: Arlington National Cemetery Grave marker.
SOURCES
Books
Appiah, Kwame, Anthony and Gates, Henry Louis, ed. "Africana The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience." 1st ed. New York: Civitas, 1999. Print.
Rubel, David. "The Coming Free: The Struggle for African-American Equality." New York: DK Publishing, 2005. Print.
Williams - Evers, Myrlie and Marable, Manning, ed. "The Autobiography of Medgar Evers." New York: Civitas, 2005. Print.
Internet
"The Legacy of Medgar Evers: 40 Years After Civil Rights Leader's Death, a Changed Mississippi." npr.org, https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1294360. Web.
"Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror." eji.org, Lynching Report (eji.org) pdf. Web.
Site Visit
Medgar Evers Home. Jackson, MS.
Medgar Evers gravesite. Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA.
INTERRED
Arlington National Cemetery.
Michael H. Schwerner - November 6, 1939 to June 21, 1964
James Earl Chaney - May 30, 1943 to June 21, 1964
Andrew Goodman - November 23, 1943 to June 21, 1964
The Murder
On June 21, 1964, during Freedom Summer, three young civil rights workers dedicated to registering Blacks to vote were killed near Philadelphia, Mississippi. Their names are Michael Schwerner, James Chaney, and Andrew Goodman.
Who were they? Michael Schwerner, a white 24-year-old graduate of Cornell University and a Social Worker in New York City. James Chaney, a Black, 21-year-old civil rights worker from Meridian, Mississippi and Andrew Goodman, a 20-year-old Queens College student.
In January of 1964, Schwerner headed a Black community center in Meridian and was later given the responsibility of leading the eastern half of the state’s summer project. Chaney and Schwerner traveled throughout Mississippi and other states during Freedom Summer registering Blacks to vote.
On June 16 while Chaney and Schwerner trained volunteers in Ohio, the Ku Klux Klan burned down Mt. Zion Methodist Church in Longdale, Mississippi and beat its members. The location was to be used as a Freedom School. When news of the fire and beatings reached Chaney and Schwerner they were in Oxford, Mississippi and decided to return to Meridian to offer support to the people involved in the summer project.
During the drive from Oxford back to Meridian, the two men stopped in Longdale to sleep for a few hours. Before continuing their trip, they picked up Andrew Goodman in Neshoba County. On their way to Meridian, they were stopped by deputy sheriff Cecil Price of Neshoba County. He arrested Chaney for speeding and the other two young men were detained for questioning. All three were held in a Philadelphia, Mississippi jail. At approximately 10:00 P.M. on June 21 the three men were released from jail and not seen again until their bodies were found two months later buried in an earthen dam.
Each of the young men were shot. James Chaney was tortured before he was killed. His arms were broken, he suffered trauma to the groin area and was shot three times.
The Trial
In October of 1964, the FBI arrested 18 men, but the state refused to prosecute them based on insufficient evidence. The federal authorities charged the men with conspiracy. Seven of them were found guilty and sentenced to three to ten years. None of the men served more than six years in prison. The all-white jury found eight of the men not guilty and three of the cases ended in a mistrial.
Edger Ray Killen, one of the men freed by the mistrial was believed to be the leader. His case was reopened and in January of 2005 Killen was charged with the murders of Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman. On June 21, 2005, 41 years after their death, Killen was found guilty of three counts of Manslaughter. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison on each count, to run consecutively. Killen was 80 years old at the time.
PHOTOS
First: FBI Missing Poster.
Second: Michael Schwerner. Third: James Chaney. Fourth: Andrew Goodman. Photos on granite memorial in front of Mt. Nebo Missionary Baptist Church.
Fifth: Mt. Nebo Missionary Baptist Church, 257 Carver Avenue, Philadelphia, MS 39350, 601-656-1446.
Sixth: Memorial to Schwerner, Chaney, and Goodman.
Seventh L: #Andrew Goodman and his parents' graves.
Bottom L: James Chaney's and his mother Fannie Lee Chaney's, Grave. Forty-five years after his death, vandals desecrated Chaney's grave. His picture, previously located at the top of Chaney's gravestone, has been shot out. Support beams were attached to the headstone to stop it from being pushed over. Bottom R: Close up of Chaney's grave cover.
#New Picture
SOURCES
Internet
Douglas, Martin. "Fannie Lee Chaney, 84, Mother of Slain Civil Rights Worker, Is Dead." nytimes.com, Fannie Lee Chaney, 84, Mother of Slain Civil Rights Worker, Is Dead - The New York Times (nytimes.com). Web.
Haberman, Clyde. "A Life of Protest and Forgiveness." nyctimes.com, https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/21/nyregion/21nyc.html. Web.
"The James Earl Chaney Foundation." jecf.org, http://www.jecf.org/History.htm. Web.
Lecture
Chaney, Ben. James Chaney: Freedom Rider. Franklin P. Backus Courthouse, Alexandria, VA.
Interview.
Site Visit
Mt. Judah Cemetery, Queens, NY.
Mt. Judah Cemetery, Queens, NY.
James Chaney gravesite. Okatibbee Cemetery Meridian, MS.
Mt. Nebo Missionary Baptist Church. Philadelphia, MS.
INTERRED
Michael Schwener - Cremated.
James Chaney - Okatibbee Cemetery. Fish Lodge Road, Meridian, MS 39306.
Andrew Goodman - Mount Judah Cemetery. 81-14 Cypress Avenue, Ridgewood, NY 11385. Phone: 718-821-1060
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
January 15, 1929 to April 4, 1968
On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated while visiting Memphis, TN. He was there to march with sanitation workers on strike for better pay and equality in the workplace. Also, see 1963 March on Washington, Dr. Kings' Childhood Home and The King Memorial.
PHOTOS
First L: Dr. King and Lyndon Johnson, public domain. R: Plaque in front of Lorraine Motel.
Second L: The Lorraine Motel. The wreath shows where Dr. King stood when he was killed. R: Lorraine Motel Sign. R: Caisson pulled by two mules through the streets of Atlanta from Ebenezer Baptist Church to Morehouse College. The mule drawn cart symbolized Dr. King’s work with the poor.
Third L: The caisson as it looks today. Photo taken inside the MLK JR. Center for Nonviolent Social Change. R, Bottom: MLK JR. Center for Nonviolent Social Change and the tomb of Dr. and Mrs. King.
Video: First TV interview 1957.
INTERRED
The MLK JR. Center for Nonviolent Social Change. 449 Auburn Avenue, NE Atlanta, GA 30312. Phone: 404-526-8900.
Continued next section.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. continued
PHOTOS
First L: Dr. King's childhood home for the first 12 years of his life. R: Home walkway.
Second L: The King Family circa 1939. (First row, left to right: Alfred Daniel "A.D.", Christine and Martin. Standing left to right: MLK Jr.'s mother Alberta Williams King, MLK Sr. and maternal grandmother Jennie Williams who lived with the family until her death in 1941.) R: Dr. King with Martin III and Yolanda. Photos of Birthplace History Marker.
Third L: The room in which Dr. King was born. R: Living room. Photos of the Home History Marker.
Fourth L: Kitchen. Photo from the Home History Marker. R: Picture posted on a billboard near Atlanta alleging MLK Jr. is a communist. UPI picture taken June 16, 1965.
Bottom: *History Markers. Also, see 1963 March on Washington, Dr. King in Memphis and The King Memorial.
New photos taken April 27, 2012.
SOURCES
Books
Appiah, Kwame, Anthony and Gates, Henry Louis, ed. "Africana The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience." 1st ed. New York: Civitas, 1999. Print.
Branch, Taylor. "Parting the Waters, America in the King Years 1954-1963." New York: Simon and Schuster, 1988. Print.
Rubel, David. "The Coming Free: The Struggle for African-American Equality." New York: DK Publishing, 2005. Print.
Internet
"Dr. Martin Luther King Jr - Interview 1957 part 1." youtube.com, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ll4QmvnGcU. Web.
"Dr. Martin Luther King Jr - Interview 1957 part 2." youtube.com, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXlfeeh_Wqg. Web.
"Dr. Martin Luther King Jr - Interview 1957 part 3." youtube.com, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TS8ehUnfJiI. Web.
Site Visits
Dr. King's Childhood Home. Atlanta, GA.
Tomb. King Center. Atlanta, GA.
Martin Luther King National Historic Site Visitor's Center. Atlanta, GA.
Lorraine Motel. Memphis, TN.
Dr. King's Childhood Home. Atlanta, GA.
Tomb. King Center. Atlanta, GA.
INTERRED
The King Center. 449 Auburn Avenue, NE Atlanta, GA 30312. Phone: 404-526-8900.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial
1964 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20418
On August 28, 1963, more than 250,000 people peacefully demonstrated in Washington, DC for Jobs and Freedom in a march led by Martin Luther King Jr. Dedication made to the King, Jr. Memorial on August 28, 2011, marked the forty-eight-year anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington, DC.
PHOTOS
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.
SOURCES
Internet
“Building the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial.” smithsonianmag.com, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/building-the-martin-luther-king-jr-national-memorial-54721785/?no-ist=&page=2. Web.
"Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial." nps.gov, https://home.nps.gov/mlkm/learn/news/soft-opening-and-dedication-information.htm. Web.
Site Visit
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. Washington, DC.
INTERRED
The King Center. 449 Auburn Avenue, NE Atlanta, GA 30312. Phone: 404-526-8900.
Homer Adolph Plessy
March 17, 1862 to March 1, 1925
In 1891, it was illegal for a Black person in Louisiana to sit next to a white person on a train traveling within the state. On June 2, 1892, Homer Plessy, a Black man, boarded a train in New Orleans, sat in the white only section and was arrested for violating the 1891 Louisiana Separate Car Act No. 111. The Louisiana law required Black and white passengers to ride in separate railcars as assigned to them based on their race.
As a member of the Citizens Committee for Annulment of Act No. 111, Plessy and committee members viewed the law as unconstitutional under the 13th and 14th Amendments and challenged it through Plessy’s act of civil disobedience. In November of 1892, in the case of Plessy v. Louisiana State, Judge John Ferguson ruled against Plessy as did the Louisiana Supreme Court.
The case Plessy v. Ferguson, as it became known, was appealed to the United States Supreme Court. On May 18, 1896, in a 7-1 decision the Supreme Court ruled against Plessy. States adopted the Separate but Equal doctrine and used it to establish Jim Crow laws throughout the south. The Supreme Court Written Decision. In 1954, the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education struck down Plessy v. Ferguson in a 9-0 decision.
PHOTOS
Top: Homer Plessy tomb.
Second L: Inscription front of tomb. R: History plaque of Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court case.
Bottom: History Marker.
SOURCES
Books
Hall, Kermi, L. and Ely Jr, James, W., "The Oxford Guide to United States Supreme Court Decisions Second Edition." New York: Oxford, 2009. Print.
Internet
"Plessey v. Ferguson 1896." ourdocuments.gov, https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/plessy-v-ferguson. Web.
"Plessey v. Ferguson 1896." loc.gov, https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib//ourdocs/plessy.html. Web.
Site Visit
Homer Plessy grave/tomb. St. Louis Cemetery, New Orleans, LA. 29 Apr 2011.
Plessy v. Ferguson History Marker. Royal Street and Homer Plessy Way, New Orleans, LA 70117 28 Dec. 2019
INTERRED
Saint Louis Cemetery 1, 425 Basin Street, New Orleans, LA 70112. Phone: 504-596-3050.
Dred Scott
ca. 1799 to September 17, 1858
Born around 1799 in Virginia, Dred Scott was enslaved Black, the property of Peter Blow. When Blow moved to St. Louis, Missouri in 1830, he took with him his wife, children, and Dred Scott. Two years later Blow died, and Army Surgeon John Emerson later purchased Scott. In May of 1836, Scott traveled with Emerson to the free state of Illinois. After living there for two and a half years, they relocated to the free territory of Wisconsin. Scott sued for his and his family's freedom based on having lived in territories where slavery was illegal. The case made its way through state and federal courts. In February of 1856, the US Supreme Court heard the case of Scott v. Sanford.
On March 6, 1857, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney delivered the 7 to 2 majority opinion. "They (African Americans) had for more than a century before been regarded as beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations; and so far inferior, that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect; and that the negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit." The ruling also declared the Missouri compromise unconstitutional and indicated that states had no right to prohibit slavery.
After the Supreme Court’s decision, Peter Blow's sons purchased Scott and his family and released them from enslavement.
PHOTOS
Top L: Dred Scott, courtesy of the Library of Congress Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-5092 (b&w film copy neg.) R: Dred Scott and family, courtesy of the Library of Congress Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-79305 (b&w film copy neg.)
Second L: Dred and Harriet Statue. R: Dred and Harriet Statue plaque.
Third L: Front of Dred Scott's grave. R: Dred Scott memorial marker.
Fourth L: Back of Dred Scott headstone. R: Harriet Scott's memorial.
Fifth: Dred Scott plot.
Bottom: Dred Scott and Blow Family History Marker.
SOURCES
Books
Hall, Kermi, L. and Ely Jr, James, W., "The Oxford Guide to United States Supreme Court Decisions Second Edition." New York: Oxford, 2009. Print.
Kagen, Neil and Hyslop, Stephen, G., "Eyewitness to the Civil War - The Complete History From Secession to Reconstruction." Washington, DC: National Geographic, 2006. Print.
Internet
"Transcript of Dred Scott v, Sanford (1857)." ourdocuments.gov, https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/dred-scott-v-sandford. Web.
"Missouri's Dred Scott Case, 1846-1857." sos.mo.gov, https://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/africanamerican/scott/scott.asp. Web.
"Dred Scott's Fight for Freedom 1846 - 1857." pbs.org, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2932.html. Web.
Site Visits
Dred Scott gravesite. Calvary Cemetery and Mausoleum, St. Louis, MO.
Old St. Louis Courthouse, St. Louis, MO.
Dred and Harriet Scott Statue, St. Louis, MO.
History Marker. Capron, VA.
INTERRED
Calvary Cemetery and Mausoleum, 5239 West Florissant Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63115.
Emmett Louis "Bobo" Till
July 25, 1941 to August 28, 1955
Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black boy was killed in Money, Mississippi for whistling at a white woman.
Emmett grew up in Chicago and was sent by his mother, Mamie Till to spend the summer of 1955 with his cousins and great uncle, Moses Wright in Money, MS.
On August 24, 1955, Emmett and his cousin Wheeler walked into Bryant Store to buy some candy and soda. Wheeler having made his purchase, walked out. Emmett was in the store a short time before his cousin Simeon went in to check on him. Emmett paid for his items and the two of them left the store together. Carolyn Bryant, co-owner of the store, came out behind them walking in the direction of her car, that is when Emmett allegedly whistled at Carolyn. Several days later Carolyn's husband, Roy Bryant and his half-brother J.W. Milam kidnapped Emmett in the middle of the night from his great uncle's home and drove him to a farm where they tortured and beat him to death.
When Emmett's partially submerged body was found in the Tallahatchie River on August 28, he had been beaten, shot in the head and a 75 pound cotton gin fan was tied around his neck with barbed wire. On September 22, 1955, Jet Magazine published an article which included horrific pictures of Emmett’s beaten and disfigured body. The story was seen by thousands of people and is believed to have been the catalyst for the civil rights movement of the 1950’s and 60’s.
Bryant and Milam were charged with murder. The trial was held at Tallahatchie County Courthouse in Sumner, Mississippi. The case lasted from September 19 to September 23 of 1955. An all-white, male jury found both men not guilty. In an article published in January of 1956 in Look Magazine, Bryant and Milam admitted to killing Emmett Till. They were paid $4000. for their story.
PHOTOS
Top L: Emmett Till, courtesy of the Library of Congress Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-111241 (b&w film copy neg.) R: Open casket, Chicago Defender.
Second: Bryant's store side and front view.
Third L: Sumner Sign. R: Courthouse in Sumner, Miss.
Fourth R: Inside Courtroom. L: Robert’s Temple Church of God and Christ, site of Emmett Till's Funeral.
Bottom L: Chicago Historic Landmark Plaque. R: Emmet Till's grave.
Video: Emmett Till - 60 Minutes part 1. Video: Emmett Till - 60 Minutes part 2. Video: Who Killed Emmett Till?
SOURCES
Books
Bullard, Sara, ed. "A History of the Civil Rights Movement & Those Who Died In The Struggle." Montgomery: Southern Poverty Law Center. 2005. Print.
Chafe, William H. "Remembering Jim Crow." New York: The New Press, 2001. Print.
Niebuhr, Reinhold, ed. Mississippi Black Papers. New York: Random House, 1965.
Rubel, David. "The Coming Free: The Struggle for African-American Equality." New York: DK Publishing, 2005. Print.
Wright, Simeon and Boyd, Herb. "Simeon's Story." Chicago: Lawrence Hill Books, 2010. Print.
DVD’s
The Murder of Emmett Till: Stanley Nelson. DVD. PBS Home Video, 2004.
The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till: Steven Laitom, Edgar Beauchamp, Ali Bey, Jacki Ochs. DVD. ThinkFilm LLC, 2005.
Internet
"NAACP Press Release September 1, 1955."crmvet.org, https://www.crmvet.org/docs/550901_naacp_till.pdf. Web.
"Emmett Till - 60 Minutes " youtube.com, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjr6XLcCXgU. Web.
"Mourners pay tribute to Rosa Parks." cnn.com, http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/11/02/rosa.parks/. Web.
Magazines
“Emmett Till’s Day in Court.” Life Magazine 3 Oct. 1955: 36-38. Print.
Huie, William Bradford. “The Shocking Story of Approved Killing in Mississippi.” Look Magazine 24 Jan. 1956: 46-50. Print.
“Will Mississippi Whitewash the Emmett Till Slaying?” Jet Magazine September 22, 1955: 8-12.
Site Visits
Bryant's Store. Money, MS.
Emmett Till's Grave, Burr Oak Cemetery, Alsip, IL.
Mamie Till, Burr Oak Cemetery, Alsip, IL.
Robert’s Temple Church of God and Christ, site of Emmett Till's Funeral, Chicago, IL.
Sumner County Courthouse, Sumner, MS.
Sumner County Courthouse, Sumner, MS.
INTERRED
Burr Oak Cemetery, 4400 W. 117th Street and 44th Avenue, Alsip, Illinois 60658 Phone: 312-842-6645 or 773-233-5676. On July 9, 2009, stories ran in newspapers and on television referencing the historic Black cemetery. Felony charges were filed against four cemetery workers who allegedly dug up bodies and dumped them in a wooded area or stacked them in existing graves. Workers were also accused of reselling the plots. The cemetery was closed for several months but is currently open.
Malcolm X, (El Hajj Malik El Shabazz) - May 19, 1925 to February 21, 1965
Dr. Betty Shabazz - May 28, 1936 to June 23, 1997
In May of 1964 after returning from a pilgrimage to Mecca, Malcolm X changed his name to El Hajj Malik El Shabazz to reflect his recent trip and his more inclusive views on racial differences. He formed the Organization of African American Unity, (OAAU). Its goal was to raise the Negro’s struggle from the level of civil rights to the level of human rights and to charge the United States government, through the United Nations, with discrimination and genocide. On February 21, 1965, while addressing the audience at an OAAU gathering, El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz was shot several times and killed. The killers were alleged to be member of the Nation of Islam.
PHOTOS
Top L: Malcolm X, courtesy of Library of Congress, LC-USZ62-115058. L: The gravesite of El Hajj Malik El Shabazz (Malcolm X) and Dr. Betty Shabazz.
Bottom R: Audubon Ballroom 3940 Broadway, NY, NY 10032.
SOURCES
Books
Appiah, Kwame, Anthony and Gates, Henry Louis, ed. "Africana The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience." 1st ed. New York: Civitas, 1999. Print.
Davis, Thulani. "Malcolm X, The Great Photographs." New York: Steward, Tabori and Chang, 1993. Print.
Strickland, William. "Malcolm X, Make it Plain." New York: Viking, 1994. Print.
Haley, Alex. "The Autobiography of Malcolm X." New York: Random House, 1987. Print.
Haley, Alex. "The Playboy Interviews." New York: Ballantine Books, 1993. Print.
Rubel, David. "The Coming Free: The Struggle for African-American Equality." New York: DK Publishing, 2005. Print.
Site Visits
Audubon Ballroom. New York, NY.
Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz gravesite. Ferncliff Cemetery, Hartsdale, NY.
INTERRED
Ferncliff Cemetery, 280-284 Secor Road, P.O. Box 217, Hartsdale, NY 0530. Phone:(914-693-4700.