Between Malcolm X & Martin Luther King Jr.: Religion and the Politics of Freedom
Fall 2025,
T/Th 2:30–3:50PM
This course examines their personal biographies, speeches, writings, representations, FBI Files, and legacies as a way to better understand how the intersections of religion, race, and politics came to bare upon the freedom struggles of people of color in the U.S. and abroad.
Malcolm X (El Hajj Malik El Shabazz) and Martin Luther King, Jr. are both icons of the twentieth-century civil rights and black freedom movements. Often characterized as polar opposites—one advocating armed self-defense and the other non-violence against all provocation—they continue to be important religious, political, and intellectual models for how we imagine the past as well as for current issues concerning religion, race, politics and freedom struggles in the United States and globally. This course focuses on their political and spiritual lives. We will examine their personal biographies, speeches, and legacies as a way to better understand how the intersections of religion, race, and politics came to bear upon the freedom struggles of people of color in the US and abroad.
Course history:
Spring 2016: taught by Prof. Lerone Martin and Dr. Maryam Kashani
Spring 2018: taught by Prof. Lerone Martin
Spring 2021: taught by Prof. Lerone Martin and Prof. Tazeen Ali
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Definitely take this class if you have any interest in developing a deeper understanding of MLK's and Malcolm X's actual political philosophies, personal lives, and the nuances often absent in our presentation of their legacies.
— Spring 2018
I am definitely a better person for having taken this course.
