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Excerpt from Oral History Interview with Floyd B. McKissick Sr., December 6, 1973. Interview A-0134. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) See Entire Interview >>

Change in civil rights movement underway even before King's assassination

McKissick argues that while the assassination of Martin Luther King had a profound effect on the civil rights movement, some of the changes that followed were already underway before King's death.

Citing this Excerpt

Oral History Interview with Floyd B. McKissick Sr., December 6, 1973. Interview A-0134. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Full Text of the Excerpt

WALTER DEVRIES:
What was the effect of the assassination of Dr. King?
FLOYD MCKISSICK:
I think that there were numerous effects. It changed the organization in one sense. I think that Dr. King was by far, he was the leader, and I'm saying that all of them were very good, I think that King's presence sort of overshadowed the leadership parade. I think it had a profound effect on the movement, I think it changed the character of the movement. Yet, I would think that the movement was changing in that direction even when King was alive. You move as far as you can with what you've got. That's the way a movement goes. Then, if you reach a concrete barrier, then you've either got to find a method to go around the walls or go over the walls. And the movement had reached a concrete barrier. And there were people who had ideas as to how to go around the wall and how to crack the wall, how to blow the wall down, and how to just march around it. And the struggle continues to move on now.