News & Articles

Malcolm X: Fighting for Human Rights by Jeff Burlingame tells the life story of Malcolm X, an African-American whose family was frequently harassed by the Ku Klux Klan during his childhood. Malcolm knew this harassment was unfair and began to channel his anger and resentment into systematic activism. His father was killed in 1931, so Malcolm had to quit school to help his family. Eventually, he was able to live in Boston with the help of his sister, but he spent a significant amount of time in prison for street crime.

The March Against Fear: The Last Great Walk of the Civil Rights Movement and the Emergence of Black Power by Ann Bausum tells the story of James Meredith’s 1966 200+ mile march from Memphis, Tennessee to Jackson, Mississippi. The purpose of the march was to represent the determination of African Americans in a discriminatory society, yet Meredith was shot by a gunman about a week into the march. As a result, other African American leaders (such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Stokely Carmichael) decided to hold the march on his behalf.