Pillar of Fire

by Taylor Branch

  correspondents told their crews: Remarks of Charles Quinn and Richard Valeriani, at the University of Mississippi symposium, “Covering the South,” April 3-5, 1987.

  two abreast from Mount Zion: Garrow, Bearing the Cross, pp. 390-91; Fager, Selma 1965, pp. 72-74.

  correspondents instantly sent crews: Remarks of Charles Quinn and Richard Valeriani, at the University of Mississippi symposium, “Covering the South,” April 3-5, 1987.

  “Negroes could be heard”: NYT, Feb. 19, 1965, pp. 1, 29.

  Fifty state troopers: Ibid. The Selma Times-Journal counted twenty-one state trooper cars at the scene. STJ, Feb. 19, 1965, pp. 1, 5.

  bleeding into Mack’s Cafe: Mount Zion sources from above, plus NYT, Feb. 20, 1965, p. 1, and affidavit of Cager Lee, Feb. 23, 1965, collected by the Inter-Citizens Committee of Birmingham, Alabama.

  expelled one crippled customer: Affidavit of James Bell, Feb. 23, 1965.

  cafe owner saw troopers: Affidavit of Normareen Shaw, Feb. 23, 1965.

  shot him twice in the stomach: NYT, Feb. 20, 1965, p. 1; STJ, Feb. 19, 1965, p. 1; Fager, Selma 1965, p. 74; Hampton and Fayer, Voices, pp. 224-25; affidavit of Viola Jackson, Feb. 23, 1965; affidavit of Cager Lee, Feb. 23, 1965.

  George Baker: Affidavit of George Baker, Feb. 26, 1965. Witnesses also charged that patrol cars chased down random Negroes far out of town. Affidavit of George Sawyer, Feb. 22, 1965 (attacked at Piggly Wiggly store); affidavit of John C. Lewis, Feb. 22, 1965 (stopped by state troopers outside Marion on his way home from work, left unconscious on the car seat).

  “This situation can only”: MLK to Katzenbach, Feb. 19, 1965, A/KP21f11.

  Katzenbach replied: Katzenbach to MLK, Feb. 19, 1965, A/KP21f11. Katzenbach called J. Edgar Hoover the next morning, and was assured that an investigation was already under way. Hoover approved the same day a request by the Mobile SAC for six additional FBI agents in Selma. Hoover for Tolson et al., 9:52 A.M., Feb. 19, 1965, FCT-NR; Rosen to Belmont, Feb. 19, 1965, FDCA-440.

  “a nightmare of State Police”: Cited in Garrow, Protest, p. 62.

  Jimmy Lee Jackson: Jet, March 18, 1965, pp. 14-19; Bullard, Free at Last, pp. 76-77.

  Wilson Baker stopped him: Fager, Selma 1965, pp. 76-77.

  relief of some terrified: Int. Frank Soracco, Sept. 13, 1990; int. L. L. Anderson, May 27, 1990.

  “naming the places”: Congressional Record, Feb. 18, 1965, p. H3037.

  just lost an appeal: “High Court Refuses,” NYT, Jan. 19, 1965, p. 19; “Judgment Against Powell Is Increased to $210,000,” NYT, Feb. 12, 1965, p. 1.

  no more respectful attention: NYT, Feb. 15, 1965, p. 26, Feb. 19, 1965, p. 1, March 1, 1965, p. 17.

  Dirksen set the tone: Congressional Record, Feb. 18, 1965, p. S-3146ff; Frank Church Oral History dated Sept. 16, 1977, pp. 20-27, LBJ.

  “these former colonial regions”: Congressional Record, Feb. 17, 1965, pp. S-2869-89. Senator George McGovern of South Dakota delivered a similar speech the same day. Dirksen concentrated his attack on Church, most likely because of his seniority on the Foreign Relations Committee.

  Johnson was hosting another: Transcript from tape, Feb. 18, 1965, Congressional Briefings on Vietnam, Box 1, LBJ.

  As usual: Cf. transcript from tape, Feb. 18, 1965, Congressional Briefings on Vietnam, Box 1, pp. 16-17, LBJ. (LBJ: “They waked me the other morning at 1:30. I called the Situation Room, and they said the boys were off the deck. ‘They’re off, they’re on their mission, they’re on their way.’ And at 3:30 I waked up without anybody calling me, and I called them and said, ‘Where are my boys?’ And they said, ‘Well, they are all back but four….’”)

  “what’s necessary to win that war”: Transcript from tape, Feb. 18, 1965, Congressional Briefings on Vietnam, Box 1, p. 7, LBJ.

  “choose up and the winner take it”: Ibid., p. 14.

  orders approved February 13: Gravel, Pentagon Papers, Vol. 3, p. 321.

  arrested General Nguyen Khanh: Karnow, Vietnam, p. 401.

  “Khanh Is Deposed”: NYT, Feb. 19, 1965, p. 1.

  Johnson announced that Head Start: Levitan, Poor Law, p. 136.

  “in view of the disturbed situation”: Gravel, Pentagon Papers, Vol. 3, pp. 324-25.

  “condition of virtual non-government”: Ibid., p. 323.

  Taylor put Khanh on an airplane: Ibid., p. 325.

  Final bomb clearance: The first sustained sorties were initiated for February 26, but a series of bad-weather days postponed them until March 2. Ibid., pp. 329-30. Also, Gravel, Pentagon Papers, Vol. 2, p. 354.

  ROLLING THUNDER: Karnow, Vietnam, p. 340. The hymn, “How Great Thou Art,” begins: “O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder/Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made/I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder/Thy power throughout the universe displayed.”

  “the United States had dropped”: Ibid., p. 341.

  first two American combat battalions: Gravel, Pentagon Papers, Vol. 2, p. 422, Vol. 3, pp. 389-90.

  “Now I pray several times”: mf [Marie Fehmer] to Buzz [Horace Busby], with LBJ dictation and Christian Science Monitor inquiry attached, Feb. 22, 1965, Box 52, Busby Papers, LBJ.

  “The air was heavy”: Int. Yusuf Shah (Captain Joseph), Oct. 17, 1991.

  Harlem temple felt the fury: Barboza, American Jihad, pp. 150-51.

  many distant captains: Goldman, Death and Life, p. 414.

  Ali checked into the Americana: Ibid., p. 314.

  Louis X of Boston presided: Magida, Prophet of Rage, p. 84.

  knew of the pressures: Robert Lipsyte, “Other Muslims Fear for Lives,” NYT, Feb. 22, 1965, p. 10.

  made and canceled trips: Goldman, Death and Life, pp. 265-68.

  “when I jump out and say”: Remarks on the Stan Bernard Contact program, WINS Radio, New York, Feb. 18, 1965, in Clark, ed., Final Speeches, pp. 184-229. Still, Malcolm seized upon detailed new inquiries. When his fellow radio guest, Aubrey Barnette, told listeners of being stomped the previous August, Malcolm begged program host Bernard’s indulgence to ask Barnette if he knew whether the defense lawyer for the attackers had been “retained by the Muslims in Boston or was he retained by the Chicago headquarters?” Barnette said Chicago, indicating that headquarters orchestrated even the aftermath of punishment.

  “It’s a time for martyrs now”: Life, March 5, 1965, p. 28ff.

  a secretary and four members: Goldman, Death and Life, pp. 409-19; Karim, Remembering Malcolm, pp. 191-93; int. Benjamin Karim, March 19, 1991; int. Yusuf Shah (Captain Joseph), Oct. 17, 1991; “Who Killed Malcolm X?”, CBS 60 Minutes, Jan. 17, 1982. Also (courtesy of William Kunstler) affidavit of Mujahid Abdul Halim (Talmadge X Hayer, alias Thomas Hagan), Feb. 25, 1978; affidavit of William M. Kunstler, Feb. 28, 1978; affidavit of William M. Kunstler, April 3, 1978; Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus, Muhammad Abdul Aziz (Norman 3X Butler) and Khalil Islam (Thomas 15X Johnson), Dec. 31, 1979; int. William Kunstler, Dec. 13, 1991.

  “Malcolm X paced backstage.”: Goldman, Death and Life, pp. 268-75; Alex Haley epilogue in Malcolm X, The Autobiography, pp. 431-46; Perry, Malcolm, pp. 364-66; Karim, Remembering Malcolm, pp. 191-193; int. Benjamin Karim, March 19, 1991.

  “Get your hand out”: Ibid. Also SA [deleted] to SAC, New York, Feb. 21, 1965, FMXNY-5644; SAC, Philadelphia, to Director, Feb. 23, 1965, FMX-243; SAC, Philadelphia, to Director, Feb. 22, 1965, FMX-245; Bland to Sullivan, Feb. 22, 1965, FMX-259; Bland to Sullivan, Feb. 22, 1965, FMX-264; Baumgardner to Sullivan, Feb. 22, 1965, FMX-273; SAC, New York, to Director, Feb. 22, 1965, FMX-283; New York LHM dated March 12, 1965, FMX-360; New York report dated Sept. 8, 1965, FMX-418, pp. 4-9 Baltimore Afro-American, Feb. 27, 1965, p. 1.

  “I am deeply saddened”: MLK statement of Feb. 21, 1965, A/KP15f16.

  On Monday in Selma: SAC, Mobile, to Director, 2:10 P.M., Feb. 22, 1965, FDCA-425; SAC, Mobile, to Director, 6:00 P.M., Feb. 22, 1965, FDCA-422; SAC, Mobile, to Director, 6:10 P.M., Feb. 22, 1965, FDCA-411; SAC, Mobile, to Director, 11:42 P.M., Feb. 22, 1965, FDCA-431.

  �
��That is another matter”: NYT, Feb. 23, 1965, p. 16.

  Katzenbach called King: Garrow, Bearing the Cross, p. 392; CDD, Feb. 24, 1965, p. 5.

  “absolute extinction of all”: Fager, Selma 1965, p. 79.

  private objective of city officials: FBI agents reported to headquarters that Mayor Smitherman was complaining to Governor Wallace that state troopers occupied Selma and Brown Chapel without a specific request from local authorities. SAC, Mobile, to Director, 6:00 P.M., Feb. 23, 1965, FDCA-422.

  local citizens welcomed: NYT, Feb. 23, 1965, p. 16.

  “Followers of Malcolm X”: STJ, Feb. 22, 1965, p. 1. Elsewhere, the Charlotte Observer declared, “Black Nationalist Civil War Looms,” and U.S. News & World Report exclaimed, “Now It’s Negroes vs. Negroes in America’s Racial Violence,” in what writer Claude Clegg called “an exasperated tone.” Cited in Clegg, An Original Man, p. 230.

  Colonel Al Lingo: Branch, Parting, pp. 795-96, 891-93.

  “baseless and irresponsible”: Fager, Selma 1965, p. 80. The Alabama Senate toned down the wording of the original resolution, after some local news organizations protested the failure to protect reporters on the scene in Marion. STJ, Feb. 24, 1965, p. 1.

  “twilight march”: NYT, Feb. 24, 1965, p. 1.

  press conference Wednesday: Transcript (from an FBI recording) of MLK press conference at Delta Air Lines Crown Room, LAX, Feb. 24, 1965, A/KS.

  Christian Nationalist State Army: SAC, Los Angeles, to Director, 12:06 P.M., Feb. 24, 1965, FK-980; SAC, Los Angeles, to Director, 5:21 P.M., Feb. 24, 1965, FK-954.

  dynamite thefts by fugitives: LAT, Feb. 27, 1965, p. 12.

  guarding a theater on Sunset Boulevard: LAHE, Feb. 26, 1965, p. B1.

  “the biggest hypocrite alive”: J. Ann Williams, “Louis Lomas Unmasks Rev. King’s Hypocrisy,” LAHD, March 13, 1965, p. 1.

  “pitifully wasted”: “…He was a case history, as well as an extraordinary and twisted man, turning many true gifts to evil purpose…. He could not even come to terms with his fellow black extremists. The world he saw through those horn-rimmed glasses of his was distorted and dark. But he made it darker still with his exaltation of fanaticism…. It will take alertness and vigilance on the part of the police, especially in view of the ease with which lethal weapons are available, to make sure that violence is avoided.” NYT, Feb. 22, 1965, p. 20.

  “In Poland”: “The murder of Malcolm X has made no great impact on world opinion. Malcolm himself is not generally being treated as a martyr, even in African and Asian areas sensitive to the American race problem.” “World Pays Little Attention to Malcolm Slaying,” NYT, Feb. 28, 1965, p. 74.

  spilled in thousands: LAT, March 1, 1965, p. 5.

  Bevel returned to Selma: STJ, Feb. 26, 1965, p. 1.

  Rev. Lorenzo Harrison: NYT, March 1, 1965, p. 17.

  Their marriage cracked: Jet, May 6, 1965, pp. 42-43; Chicago Tribune, April 6, 1965, April 12, 1969; int. Bernard Lafayette, May 28, 1990; int. Diane Nash, Oct. 26, 1997; int. James Bevel, Nov. 23, 1997.

  “Oh, yeah.”: Int. Bernard Lafayette, May 28, 1990.

  “I tell you, the death”: NYT, Feb. 27, 1965, p. 10.

  pulled up two texts: Fager, Selma 1965, pp. 82-83; Hampton and Fayer, Voices, p. 226. Fager dates the Bevel sermon proposing the Montgomery march to Feb. 28, two days later than Roy Reed’s account in the Times. It is possible that Bevel gave two sermons building upon the same ideas. The author has conflated the two accounts to the earlier date. David Garrow, in Bearing the Cross, p. 394, traces the idea of the Montgomery march to Marion activist Lucy Foster, on information from SCLC’s James Orange.

  “I must go see the king”: Fager, Selma 1965, pp. 82-83.

  “Be prepared to walk”: NYT, Feb. 27, 1965, p. 10.

  retained their life’s pledge: Int. Diane Nash, Oct. 26, 1997.

  500,000 nonregistered Negro voters: Garrow, Protest at Selma, pp. 7, 11, 20, 189.

  telegram of condolence: “…While we did not always see eye to eye on methods to solve the race problem, I always had a deep affection for Malcolm and felt that he had the great ability to put his finger on the existence and root of the problem…. Always consider me a friend….” MLK telegram to “Mrs. Malcolm X,” Feb. 26, 1965, A/KP15f16.

  tiny march of twelve: Fager, Selma 1965, p. 84.

  oppose the escalating war: Garrow, Bearing the Cross, p. 394.

  “love will conquer hate”: Webb and Nelson, Selma, Lord Selma, pp. 80-82.

  “We will bring”: NYT, March 2, 1965, p. 1.

  EPILOGUE

  appeared in dramatic submisson: Chicago’s American, Feb. 25, 1965, p. 1, in FBI files as FMXNY-5705.

  Malcolm’s own brothers: Perry, Malcolm, pp. 375-77.

  crowd of two thousand: Baumgardner to Sullivan, Feb. 27, 1965, FMX-NR.

  “Put the light on him”: Magida, Prophet of Rage, p. 90.

  “I judged my father”: Ibid., p. 89. Also, Goldman, Death and Life, p. 301; Clegg, An Original Man, p. 231.

  baker, welder, painter: Employment history on Wallace D. Muhammad job application for Motorola, Inc., in file No. 589, RS, CHS; int. W. D. Mohammed (W. D. Muhammad), Nov. 14, 1991; Clegg, An Original Man, p. 245; “The Islam Connection,” Playboy, May 1980, p. 201.

  Doubleday canceled: Tim Warren, “The Rocky Road to Publication of Book on Malcolm X,” Baltimore Sun, Nov. 16, 1992, p. D-1.

  “understood, perhaps more profoundly”: “An Eloquent Testament,” NYT, Nov. 5, 1965, p. 35.

  fn “shocked when former secretaries”: I. F. Stone, The New York Review of Books, Nov. 11, 1965, pp. 3-5.

  fifteen languages: Tim Warren, “The Rocky Road to Publication of Book on Malcolm X,” Baltimore Sun, Nov. 16, 1992, p. D-1.

  At the trial: Goldman, Death and Life, pp. 318-59.

  Marks sentenced: SAC, New York, to Director, April 14, 1966, FMX-441.

  conspiracy theories: cf. Farmer, Lay Bare, pp. 230-37; Breitman, The Last Year, pp. 141-52; Goldman, Death and Life, pp. 359-73.

  spent decades: Int. Yusuf Shah (Captain Joseph), Oct. 17, 1991; int. Benjamin Karim, Aug. 31, 1991; Karim, Remembering Malcolm, pp. 192-93.

  Police wrecked the Newark: Jet, Jan. 13, 1966, pp. 24-27.

  “swindled”: Magida, Prophet of Rage, p. 105.

  a bank, a Learjet: Clegg, An Original Man, pp. 251-54.

  filched $23,000 cash: Ibid., p. 261.

  killed Hakim Jamal: Ibid., pp. 261-62.

  Hamaas Abdul-Khaalis: Ibid., pp. 262-64; Goldman, Death and Life, pp. 433-34; interview of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, in Barboza, American Jihad, pp. 213-22.

  “Let this be a warning”: Magida, Prophet of Rage, pp. 97-98; Evanzz, The Judas Factor, p. 321.

  murder of Minister James: Clegg, An Original Man, p. 262; Barboza, American Jihad, p. 115.

  war among factions: Some NOI officials of that era assert that enforcers and officers took advantage of police intimidation to shake down drug dealers and deal drugs themselves, sometimes squabbling over a cut for the mosque. Int. Agieb Bilal, Nov. 6, 1990; int. Benjamin Karim, Aug. 31, 1991.

  “Cut off their heads”: Magida, Prophet of Rage, pp. 99-100.

  “My son’s got it right”: W. D. Muhammad pamphlet, As the Light Shineth From the East (1980), pp. 143-46.

  broken refrigerator door: Int. Agieb Bilal, March 19, 1991.

  ministers swore fealty: MS, March 14, 1975, pp. 1-3.

  “I was born for this mission”: MS, March 21, 1975, p. 1.

  “suspended” to “abolished”: Goldman, Death and Life, pp. 434-36; Clegg, An Original Man, pp. 277-81.

  “punch your teeth out”: Barboza, American Jihad, pp. 94-104.

  “What we should see”: W. D. Muhammad taped address, November 1980.

  “If he hadn’t hurt me”: W. D. Muhammad taped address, Chicago, Dec. 13, 1977.

  “with fire in my ears”: Int. Wazir Muhammad (Randolph X Sidle), March 27, 1991.

  fn “recent behavior and attitude”: LAT, March 3, 1965.

&n
bsp; Farrakhan broke away: Clegg, An Original Man, pp. 281-82; Magida, Prophet of Rage, pp. 115-38.

  reviving his sectarian doctrines: Farrakhan preserved Elijah’s teachings on creation by Yacub, white devils, the “Mother ship,” Allah as carnate being, and his elaborate numerologies, but he did allow members of the Nation to vote, beginning in 1984. Magida, Prophet of Rage, p. 145.

  hire several of the deceased: Ibid., pp. 135-36.

  entangled probate: Clegg, An Original Man, p. 279.

  Joseph could not accept: Int. Yusuf Shah (Captain Joseph), Oct. 17, 1991; int. Agieb Bilal, Nov. 6, 1990.

  Arthur X Coleman: Int. Nuri Salaam (Arthur X Coleman), April 10, 1991.

  Hayer filed affidavits: Goldman, Death and Life, pp. 423-29; Barboza, American Jihad, p. 150; W. D. Muhammad taped address, November 1980; Karl Evanzz, “Deadly Crossroads,” WP, Dec. 10, 1995, p. C3; int. William Kunstler, Dec. 13, 1991.

  insulted American Jews: Magida, Prophet of Rage, pp. 139-72.

  “Nothing that I wrote”: Steven Barboza, “A Divided Legacy,” Emerge, April 1992, p. 32. Continuing to speak ambiguously of the Malcolm X murder, Farrakhan told an interviewer in 1994, “I can’t say that I approved and I really didn’t disapprove.” On Feb. 26, 1993, Farrakhan spoke of Malcolm’s death to his NOI convention in Chicago: “I loved Elijah Muhammad enough so that I would kill you…yesterday, today, and tomorrow. We don’t give a damn about no white man’s laws when you attack what we love.” Clegg, An Original Man, p. 251; Karl Evanzz, “Deadly Crossroads,” WP, Dec. 10, 1995, p. C3.

  Qubilah was charged: WP, Jan. 13, 1995, p. 1.

  truce on the stage: “Farrakhan Seeks End of Rift with Shabazz/Apologizes for ‘Hurt’ but Denies Involvement in Malcolm X Death,” WP, May 8, 1995, p. 1.

  home fire that killed: NYT, June 2, 1997, p. 1; June 24, 1997, p. 1; Aug. 5, 1997, p. 1.

  “one who bares his teeth”: W. D. Muhammad taped address, Chicago, Dec. 13, 1977.

  “They shut themselves out”: “Appeal to Minister Farrakhan,” Bilalian News, April 28, 1978, p. 7.

  “not even the Muslims”: W. D. Mohammed (W. D. Muhammad) address, Washington, D.C., Nov. 18, 1990.

  “The person wrapped up”: Ibid.

  Muslim American Society: W. D. Mohammed (W. D. Muhammad) address, East Rutherford, N.J., Aug. 30, 1997.