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Malcolm X June 14, 1963 Freedom Handbill Washington DC Protest 2 Days After Medgar Evers Assassination
Several examples have sold in the $1000 range during the past year (screen shot of June 2023 Hindeman sale provided in photos above for reference). I am a collector of these types of items. This is a duplicate that I can sell at considerable discount!
My description below includes much more information and really fleshes out significance of the event:
Broadside handbill (5.5 x 8.5 inches) advertising the Civil Rights protest held in Washington DC on June 14, 1963. Extremely rare and significant handbill from this historic event which featured Malcolm X’s prominent participation. Ephemera items relating to Malcolm X and Civil Rights (pre-assassination) are extremely rare.
This was a particularly noteworthy and well-documented march on several counts:
A precursor to the famous 1963 March on Washington event on August 28, 1963, this June 14, 1963 Freedom March was held just two days following the murder of Medgar Evers. The activists gathered outside of the Department of Justice to protest the murder of Mississippi Civil Rights leader Medgar Evers and to demand civil rights legislation.
The march shared many of the same themes of the upcoming larger event planned in August, and was a rare civil rights event that was joint-sponsored by all three leading Civil Rights organizations together: the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the NAACP, and the SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference). Of special note, Malcolm X and members of the Nation of Islam (NOI) joined the protest.
Malcom X did not endorse the larger August 28 March on Washington (which he called “a farce” that was organized “by whites in front of a statue of a president who has been dead for a hundred years and who didn’t like us when he was alive.” The much smaller June 14, 1963 march (according to newspaper reports it drew between 2500 to 3000 protestors), with its different organization, format, and more militant tone demanding action and justice in the wake of Medgar Evers’ assassination, met with his approval and support, and motivated Malcolm X to prominently participate in the protest, speaking out for black justice.
Robert Kennedy also attended the demonstration and according to newspaper reports was put on the defensive by CORE leader Julius Hobson regarding numerous issues relating to civil rights and race relations.
Lightly toned due to age but in Excellent condition. 5.5 inches x 8 inches.
This is one example from a very small find (approximately 13 in total, though not all Excellent condition as this example) that were saved in the family of one of the original organizers. From past experience, these will all easily find homes. The first several examples I have offered sold quickly. I will eventually sell (or preferably trade) the few that remain. When they are gone, they’re gone.
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Here are two links (which can easily be accessed by cutting-and-pasting) that include photos and coverage of the protest:
Malcolm X joins DC protest: 1963 | Malcolm X, minister in th… | Flickr
In the photos in this listing of the handbill / broadside, I have also borrowed a couple of the photos from the internet of Malcolm X at the protest. Obviously, these photos are not included (but can easily be printed out in photograph form at photo store or by computer and I think are ideal for display with original 1963 handbill).
For convenience, here is a cut-and-paste of one online article:
On June 14, 1963, a group of activists gathered outside of the Department of Justice to protest the recent murder of Mississippi Civil Rights leader Medgar Evers and to demand civil rights legislation.
Malcolm X joins DC protest: 1963
Malcolm X, minister in the Nation of Islam, chats with people outside the Justice Department on 9th Street in Washington D.C. on June 14, 1963 during a civil rights demonstration.
Attorney General Robert Kennedy gave an impromptu speech at the Justice Department to demonstrators defending the administration, but conceding there was more work to do on civil rights.
Malcolm X observed the crowd from the outskirts of the demonstration and told a reporter his thoughts:
“Whenever sheep try to integrate with the wolf, then there is a step forward for the wolf, not the sheep….They have fair housing in New York, but it is worse perhaps than here. This is nothing more than political trickery. The law means nothing when you are Jim Crow….The whites here and Kennedy were just salving their guilty consciences.”
Kennedy was confronted by local CORE leader Julius Hobson who asked Kennedy why FBI agents in Jackson, Mississippi did not act when they saw an African American man beaten. Kennedy responded that, “The FBI is not a national police force and has no authority beyond gathering evidence in such cases.”
Kennedy was also asked why the Justice Department didn’t hire more African Americans. Kennedy responded that when their administration took over there were only 10 of 500 attorneys in the department that were black and now there were 60.
Demonstrators challenged Kennedy that 60 out of now 900 attorneys was not enough. Kennedy responded that, “He was not going to go out and hire a Negro just because he wasn’t white.”
The Congress of Racial Equality began staging a series of demonstrations in Washington, D.C. June 14, 1963 against job bias and housing discrimination in the city and to mourn the death of NAACP leader Medger W Evers who was shot by a sniper in Mississippi.
The march grew to 2,500 with different groups of people beginning at 15th & Fuller Streets NW and 8th & H Streets NE.
The marchers passed The White House, the Justice Department and the District Building (now Wilson Building).
