In-Class work and Links

In your groups, answer each of the following questions. You'll hand in one set of responses for your group.

1) What do you think is Malcolm X's overall argument in the speech "What does Mississippi Have to do With Harlem?" (This should be a complete sentence or couple of sentences, and it should be an argument, not a fact, event, or emotion.)

2) Who do you think is the audience(s) for this speech? Do you think he wants different groups to get different things from his argument?

3) What specific historical events and political figures does the speech refer to? Explain these events and figures and their importance to his argument?

4) How does Malcolm X's speech relate to Nina Simone's song "Mississippi Goddam"? Refer to specific passages of both texts to explain the connection.




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Malcolm X describes one relationship between Mississippi and Harlem - North and South. We'll see more about this relationship in the first chapter of his autobiography and in James Baldwin's "Fifth Avenue, Uptown: A Letter from Harlem"

Some historical background about North and South: http://www.democracynow.org/2010/9/29/the_warmth_of_other_suns_the

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Here are some links to materials you might enjoy and that might help us think about our issues in class in a new way. Feel free to share you thoughts in the comments, on your blog for extra credit, and to offer any links you find to related articles or political works of art we might enjoy.
As with regular posts, be sure your responses are well thought out, specific, make specific reference to the text, and at least 300 words.


This article talks about the 'strong social ties' that helped the lunch counter sit-ins we've discussed come about and be successful. The author also argues that the internet promotes 'weak ties' that don't lead to successful, organized political change. It might be interesting to think about the role of art, music, writing and so on in creating 'strong' or 'weak' ties and whether the ways we communicate ideas about change affects the outcome.

This article discusses a current case of injustice in Mississippi. What does this article tell us about the state of Missisippi forty-six years after Freedom Summer? What connections do you see between the issues faced by civil rights activsts and those Herbert describes?

Here is more of the interview with Isabel Wilkerson about the Great Migration. How does her research help us understand the situation in the North that Baldwin describes?