Beschreibung:

Lot of 11 press photographs covering Malcolm X, Nation of Islam, and other California Black Muslims during the first half of the 1960s, especially focused on the events of April 27, 1962. Ten images approx. 8 x 11 in., with one panoramic image 11.75 x 7.5 in. The verso of each bears a Los Angeles or San Francisco Examiner reference library stamp with date and subject headings, most reading "Nation of Islam." Includes an image of a typewritten testimony signed "Jeffers" with a police badge, dated March 22, 1961, to the verso. The document recounts information about black Muslims learned from an informant named "Catfish," ending with the warning "They mean trouble, much trouble from what Catfish has heard and seen. They are mean Negros and brought here just to make trouble in court." The document perpetuates the worst fear that police and many white political leaders held about the Nation of Islam and black Muslims and foreshadows the events of April 27, 1962. Six of the images, with UPI Telephoto captions in negative, concern the arrest and trial of 14 black Muslims who were arrested on April 27, 1962. On that evening, two white police officers approached two black men and a struggle ensued. The officers shot their way into Mosque No. 27, situated only a block away. In the process, black Muslim Ronald Stokes was fatally shot, fellow Muslim William Rogers was shot in the back and paralyzed, and five other Muslims were injured by gunfire. All of them were unarmed. The white press perpetuated the police story that the firefight was instigated by the mosque members and 14 men were arrested and put on trial. Included in this photographic archive are six images from April 28, 1862, the day after the shooting, to July 31, 1963, the day of the verdict. The earliest image caption grossly mischaracterizes the events as a "riot", parroting the police accounts, "Police handcuff two members of the extremist Black Muslim sect after a total of 75 police officers managed to quell a riot...The officers were attacked by members of the sect." An image dated May 2, 1962 shows the arrested men awaiting arraignment and are described as "fanatical anti-white sect." The events occurred in an era of growing tensions in Los Angeles and within the Civil Rights Movement. An image dated April 29, 1963 shows African American anti-Muslim picketers outside the courthouse during the trial of the 14 men. A May 3, 1963 image depicts Muslim leader Malcolm X and three black Muslim women as they watch the trial. The caption quotes him, "'Los Angeles is more on trial than these men...they are not getting a fair trial. If they were, there would be no need for a trial. You usually don't try men who were shot.'" Many biographers note that the events of April 27, 1962, and the subsequent trial caused a significant shift in Malcolm X's ideological development and eventual break with Elijah Muhammad and split with the Nation of Islam. A second image of Malcolm X dated May 28, 1963 is included. He is seen reading an issue of Life magazine with an article titled, "Black Muslims Cry Grows Louder: 'The white devil's day is almost over." Another newspaper, almost certainly an African American publication, is visible with the headline more sympathetic of those shot, "Seven Unarmed Negroes Shot in Cold Blood by Los Angeles Police." The in negative caption does note that they were awaiting the verdict of "an all-white jury." A final image from the events dated July 31, 1963, depicts the courtroom as the verdicts were being read. Again, the caption belies its bias referring to the defendants as "cult members." Also includes four images from 1965 which document the continued antagonism between the police and the Nation of Islam. An image dated February 24, 1965, shows San Francisco's Mohammad's Mosque No. 26 with a clipping from the San Francisco Examiner article from the same day tipped to the verso. A March 5, 1965 image shows bullet holes fired by "persons unknown" at the house