{"id":251748,"date":"2025-05-22T07:59:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T07:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/american-history\/americanstudies-may-22-2025-malcolm-xs-100th-a-cameo-in-selma\/"},"modified":"2025-05-22T07:59:00","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T07:59:00","slug":"americanstudies-may-22-2025-malcolm-xs-100th-a-cameo-in-selma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=251748","title":{"rendered":"AmericanStudies: May 22, 2025: Malcolm X\u2019s 100th: A Cameo in Selma"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"post-body-6203037253547983033\" itemprop=\"description articleBody\">\n<p>[<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nps.gov\/articles\/000\/malcolm-x-day-in-anacostia-park.htm#:~:text=Malcolm%20X%20was%20born%20Malcolm,%2C%201925%20in%20Omaha%2C%20NE.\">May 19<sup>th<\/sup><\/a> marks the<br \/>\n100<sup>th<\/sup> birthday of Malcolm Little, better known as <a href=\"https:\/\/kinginstitute.stanford.edu\/malcolm-x\">Malcolm X<\/a>. So this<br \/>\nweek I\u2019ll AmericanStudy a handful of cultural representations of Malcolm,<br \/>\nleading up to a special weekend post on what we can learn from Malcolm here in<br \/>\n2025!]<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 142.5pt;\"><span style=\"mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;\">On two<br \/>\nways to analyze Malcolm\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=W83gkp_4cSE\">brief<br \/>\nappearance<\/a> in Ava DuVernay\u2019s <i>Selma<\/i> (2014).<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 142.5pt;\"><span style=\"mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;\">Just over<br \/>\nten years ago, I <a href=\"https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/cafe\/selma-did-distort-history-and-was-right-to-do-so\">wrote<br \/>\na piece<\/a> about <i>Selma<\/i> and its representations of history for my<br \/>\nTalking Points Memo column. While I didn\u2019t address the film\u2019s depiction of<br \/>\nMalcolm X in that column, I\u2019m certainly continuing to consider those<br \/>\noverarching questions in this post, so in lieu of a first paragraph would ask<br \/>\nyou to check out that prior column and then come on back for those further<br \/>\nthoughts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 142.5pt;\"><span style=\"mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;\">Welcome<br \/>\nback! I know that my use of \u201cdistort\u201d in that column\u2019s title and main idea is a<br \/>\ncontroversial one, but I stand by my meaning: that our dominant narratives of<br \/>\nthe Civil Rights Movement, in cultural works as in every other layer of<br \/>\ncollective memory, have been those of white perspectives, and thus that we were<br \/>\nand remain long overdue for narratives shaped by Black perspectives instead<br \/>\n(even if, per the example on which I focused there, Lyndon Johnson comes off<br \/>\nlooking worse as a result). The film\u2019s depiction of Malcolm X is shaped in a<br \/>\nparallel but slightly different way: <i>Selma<\/i>\u2019s central shaping perspectives<br \/>\nare those of Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife Coretta Scott King; so when<br \/>\nMalcolm X enters the story (played by Nigel Thatch, who has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=liXcnRlTQ_s\">reprised the role<\/a> in the<br \/>\nrecent TV series <i>Godfather of Harlem<\/i>), it\u2019s through their eyes that we<br \/>\nsee him, especially in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=W83gkp_4cSE\">the<br \/>\nscene<\/a> when Coretta convinces Malcolm to support her husband despite their<br \/>\ndifferences. That makes Malcolm\u2019s role in the story the equivalent of what<br \/>\nliterary critics would call <a href=\"https:\/\/liberalarts.oregonstate.edu\/wlf\/what-foil-oregon-state-guide-literary-terms\">a<br \/>\nfoil<\/a>\u2014a supporting character (or other element of a text) who exists to shed<br \/>\nlight on the main character through comparisons and contrasts. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 142.5pt;\"><span style=\"mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;\">That\u2019s unquestionably<br \/>\nthe case for Malcolm\u2019s role in <i>Selma<\/i>, but I would also add this: Malcolm<br \/>\nand Coretta\u2019s conversation is one of many scenes in the film where multiple<br \/>\nAfrican American characters discuss strategy, usually without any white<br \/>\ncharacters present; indeed, I would argue that the majority of the movie\u2019s<br \/>\nscenes feature such conversations. (Including the best scene by far and one of<br \/>\nmy favorites in 21<sup>st<\/sup> century cinema to date, between King and the young<br \/>\nJohn Lewis; it doesn\u2019t seem to be online at the moment, but is well worth<br \/>\nseeking out.) This might seem like a given in a film about one of the key<br \/>\ncollective actions of the Civil Rights Movement, but I\u2019m pointing it out because<br \/>\nI believe it was truly groundbreaking in 2014, and is still a rarity (although<br \/>\nother recent films such as <i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/film\/2023\/nov\/19\/rustin-review-colman-domingo-dutiful-civil-rights-biopic-bayard-rustin-george-c-wolfe-netflix\">Rustin<\/a><\/i><br \/>\n[2023] have extended the tradition). Even the subject of yesterday\u2019s post, Spike<br \/>\nLee\u2019s Malcolm X biopic, due to its epic scope and multiple throughlines doesn\u2019t<br \/>\nmake such conversations a central element. Which means that even though Malcolm\u2019s<br \/>\nappearance in <i>Selma<\/i> is a brief one, it\u2019s also groundbreaking in its<br \/>\ncinematic depiction of his strategic thinking within the movement and in<br \/>\nconversation with other movement leaders\u2014making this a meaningful cameo to be<br \/>\nsure. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 142.5pt;\"><span style=\"mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;\">Last<br \/>\nMalcolmStudying tomorrow,<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 142.5pt;\"><span style=\"mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;\">Ben<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 142.5pt;\"><span style=\"mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;\">PS. What<br \/>\ndo you think? Representations or other sides of Malcolm X you\u2019d highlight? <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[May 19th marks the 100th birthday of Malcolm Little, better known as Malcolm X. So this week I\u2019ll AmericanStudy a handful of cultural representations of Malcolm, leading up to a special weekend post on what we can learn from Malcolm here in 2025!] On two ways to analyze Malcolm\u2019s brief appearance in Ava DuVernay\u2019s Selma [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12032],"tags":[16855,13299,7747,30215,29783],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-251748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-american-history","tag-100th","tag-americanstudies","tag-cameo","tag-malcolm","tag-selma"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>AmericanStudies: May 22, 2025: Malcolm X\u2019s 100th: A Cameo in Selma - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=251748\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"AmericanStudies: May 22, 2025: Malcolm X\u2019s 100th: A Cameo in Selma - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[May 19th marks the 100th birthday of Malcolm Little, better known as Malcolm X. 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