Interview with , conducted by Blackside, Inc. on November 21, 1988, for . Washington University Libraries, Film and Media Archive, Henry Hampton Collection. These transcripts contain material that did not appear in the final program. Only text appearing in bold italics was used in the final version of
QUESTION 1

JACKIE SHEARER: OK, Mrs. King can you tell me again about February '65 when you met Malcolm X in Selma.
CORETTA SCOTT KING: Yes, I was in Selma to visit my husband who was in jail in connection with the, ah, voting rights campaign in Selma. Because he had been in jail for a day or so and, ah, because the campaign had been in progress, I was little bit weary because naturally I was so involved in it, ah, even though I was not there all the time. So when I walked into the church where the mass meetings were held at noon time. Andy Young said to me, ah, "Coretta you're going to have to speak today because Malcolm X is here. He's just spoken and he has aroused the people and you need to speak because you need to, ah, you know, to set a nonviolent tone." And I said to Andy, "Well, I really don't feel like speaking. I'm not in the mood to speak today." He said, "Oh, but you've got to speak. You need to. You'll be able to do it. You'll feel like it. And you're going to have to speak." And finally of course I gave in and I did speak. Ah, so I walked out on the platform, or the, and sat down next to him in the pulpit, I guess it was. Ah, well you know I, I felt a little nervous because I hadn't met him before and I really didn't know what he was going to be like. But, ah, you know, after I had spoken. He leaned over and said to me, ah, "Mrs. King, I want you to tell your husband that I had planned to visit him in jail here in Selma but I won't be able to do it now. I have to go back to New York, ah, because I, I have to attend a conference in Europe, an African student conference and I want you to say to him that I didn't come to Selma to make his job more difficult but I thought that if the White people understood what the alternative was that they would be more inclined to listen to your husband. And so that's why I came." And of course I thanked him. And I was naturally, ah, somewhat surprised because I didn't expect him to say that. I don't know what I expected. But he had such a gentle manner and he seemed very sincere and I kept thinking, ah, you know I kept thinking about what he had said and the way he had said it. And of course within about a couple weeks or more he was assassinated and it affected me very deeply because I had met him now and I felt that it was such a tragic loss because he had come around to understand better, I think, non-violence and, and my husband's position and would have been a, I think a force for reconciliation and healing because there was a great need I think between Blacks and Blacks, ah, for that kind of thing. And I felt also that if he had lived, ah, particularly in the latter part of the '60s that he probably could have been a tremendous, ah, bridge, you know, in bringing Black Muslims and, and, other Black people, ah, in the Civil Rights Movement together. Ah, and, for days I had this pain almost like, this feeling in my chest, a feeling of depression, and, ah, just feeling as if, ah, I had lost someone very dear to me, and I, you know, I couldn't quite understand but then I began to realize, ah, I guess what an impact he had made on me in that very short period of time in knowing him.
QUESTION 2

JACKIE SHEARER: Mrs. King can you share with us some of the points of, of agreement and disagreement between your husband and Malcolm X?
CORETTA SCOTT KING: I think that Martin and Malcolm agreed, ah, in terms of the ultimate goal of the freedom struggle. I don't think there was any difference there. I think it was basically one of strategy. Ah, my husband believed to accomplish the goal of freedom and justice and equality, ah, that, ah, it was necessary to use non-violent means. Ah, particularly in a society such as ours where we were 10 percent of the population. And, ah, he believed finally that non-violence was the only alternative that oppressed people had in, in this kind of a society. I think Malcolm felt that, ah, ah, people had a right to use any means necessary, even violence, ah, to achieve goals of their freedom. And I think that was the basic difference, ah, Martin I don't think ever spoke, ah, ah, publicly against Malcolm in any form. I think Malcolm did against Martin unfortunately. But that was because Martin was committed to non-violence, and non-violence, ah, seeks not to humiliate or do, ah, ah, depersonalize human beings but to ennoble human beings, human personality. But he never held that against him. They, ah, I think they respected each other. Martin had the greatest respect for Malcolm and he agreed with him in, and, in terms of the feeling of racial pride and the fact that Black people should, ah, believe in themselves and see themselves as, as lovable and beautiful. Ah, the fact that, ah, Martin had, had a strong feeling of connectiveness to Africa and so did Malcolm. Ah, I think if he had lived, ah, and if the two had lived, ah, I am sure that at some point they would have come closer together and would have been a very strong force in the total struggle for liberation and self determination of Black people in our society.
QUESTION 3
JACKIE SHEARER: Now you've spoken about your feelings of Malcolm X's death. Do you recall any specific, um, um, comments or observations or feelings that your husband had on Malcolm's assassination?
CORETTA SCOTT KING: Well, I'm, I'm, I am sure Martin had sim- similar feelings that I had, ah, I, I think when I first got the news, I wasn't near him so, you know, usually that's when you get these reactions. Ah, Martin, abhorred violence of any kind and particularly, ah, you know, assassinations of the leadership at all. Malcolm of course in '65 and, and, ah, Medgar Evers in '63 and in many ways it was, you know, it's like who was next? Ah, and in '65 while we were in Selma, ah, that was a time when Martin received numerous threats and I really feel that he had felt that something was going to happen to him in Selma that he might be killed in Selma. Ah, as a matter of fact, ah, when we were in Oslo, Norway in December of '64, ah, he talked about the fact that when we went into Selma which we had planned to do the first of January in 1965 and did, ah, to begin the voting rights campaign that somebody was going to get killed. And, ah, as we always did in the movement, we would, we would make jokes about these things. I mean, you know, this is the way, you, you kind of begin to accept the fact of the reality, ah, and he would say to people on the trip, "Well, you better have a good time and enjoy yourself because when we go to Selma somebody is going to get killed." And they had already sent people out to talk to the White community and they came back but, you know, the reports were not very good. So there was that strong feeling. And then as we were moving in Selma, you know, there was so many, many threats, ah, rumors of plots of his assassination that took place. And having had Malcolm's assassination to come while he was at Selma, I'm sure it reminded him more of the possibility of his own fate, you know, that ultimate fate.