The Sword and the Shield
The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4154791 |
|---|---|
| Authors | James R Ralph (Middlebury College, corresponding author), James Ralph (Middlebury College , Middlebury, Vermont) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 109 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 718-719 |
| Publication date | 2022-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of American History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0021-8723 • E-ISSN: 1945-2314 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/jahist/jaac448 |
| OpenAlex | W4311807631 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
Peniel E. Joseph has again added to our understanding of the civil rights era with an accessible reinterpretation of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. as two defining figures of this period whose legacies continue to resonate. In broad terms, Joseph's study challenges a common view that casts King and Malcolm as adversaries and as opposites. It rejects a binary framing and instead stresses how their work and ideas were ever evolving and ultimately complementary. Joseph is not the first analyst to emphasize this reading. He cites James Baldwin's 1972 essay “Malcolm and Martin” as an inspiration for his interpretation (James Baldwin, “Malcolm and Martin,” Esquire, April 1, 1972. And Joseph's study warrants comparison with James H. Cone's influential analysis, Martin & Malcolm & America: A Dream or a Nightmare (1991). Like Joseph, Cone explores the relationship of the two world historical figures and the meaning of their lives, emphasizing their convergence toward the end of their lives. Both authors recognize the reality that King and Malcolm met only once in their lives, during a Senate hearing on civil rights legislation in the spring of 1964. And yet for both scholars that singular occasion can be interrogated to reveal much about the roles the two leaders played in the fight for racial justice and their personal intersection
Aesthetics · Dream · Political science · Reinterpretation · Sociology · American History and Culture · American Political and Social Dynamics · History · Law · Philosophy · Race, History, and American Society
| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2023 (3) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |