The words and images of Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X — part 5 of 7
Through Jan. 21, UNMC Today will feature photos and quotations from Martin Luther King Jr. and his political counterpart, Malcolm X. Today’s selections concern changing beliefs.
The weekday feature will lead up to the Jan. 21 presentation of “The Meeting,” a fictional portrayal of an encounter between Dr. King and Malcolm X. Hosted by UNMC and NHS, the play will be from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Lower Storz of NHS Clarkson Hospital (overflow attendance to Wittson Hall Amphitheater). The presentation is free and open to the public.
Malcolm X returned to New York City after his historic trip to Mecca and tour of the Middle East and Africa. Throughout his journey, Malcolm X was accorded the privileges of a head of state. Photo from “The Final Speeches of Malcolm X” (Pathfinder Press).
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Malcolm X
During my pilgrimage to Mecca, I first began to reappraise the ‘white man.’ It was when I first began to perceive that ‘white man,’ as commonly used, means complexion only secondarily; primarily it described attitudes and actions. In America, ‘white man’ meant specific attitudes and actions toward the black man, and toward all other non-white men. But in the Muslim world, I had seen that men with white complexions were more genuinely brotherly than anyone else had ever been. That was the start of a radical alteration in my whole outlook about ‘white’ men.
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Martin Luther King Jr.
Religion operates not only on the vertical plane but also on the horizontal. It seeks not only to integrate men with men but each man with himself. This means, at bottom, that Christian gospel is a two-way road; on the one hand it seeks to change the souls of men, and thereby unite them with God; on the other hand it seeks to change the environmental conditions of men so that the soul will have a chance after it is changed.
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Wedding day for Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King June 18, 1953. The ceremony was in the garden of the bride’s home in Heiberger, Ala. Photo from “The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr.” (Warner Books).
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