Malcolm X at Oxford University 1964

We love finding these vintage media gems. Below, we have Malcolm X speaking at Oxford University in 1964. In this classic speech, you get a good feel for Malcolm X’s presence and message and also the social issues that were alive during the day. You’ll hear X’s famous claim that liberty can be attained by “whatever means necessary,” including force, if the government won’t guarantee it. Then there’s his notion that “intelligently directed extremism” can achieve liberty more effectively than pacifist strategies (e.g., what MLK had in mind). You can listen to the speech in its entirety here (Real Audio), something that is well worth doing. But we’d also encourage you to watch (see below) the dramatic closing minutes and pay some attention to the nice rhetorical slide — to how we get from Hamlet’s doubts (“To be or not to be”) to taking up arms against state enshrined racism. This piece of video is added to our YouTube playlist.

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