On the morning after President John F. Kennedy’s (1917–1963) June 11, 1963, televised address to the nation, announcing that he soon would ask Congress to enact landmark civil rights legislation, Minister Malcolm X (1925–1965), a Nation of Islam leader; Allan Morrison (1916–1968), New York editor of Ebony magazine; and James Farmer (1920–1999), executive director of the Congress of Racial Equality, debated the speech on a panel moderated by Richard D. Heffner (1925–2013) for The American Experience, broadcast June 16, 1963, on Metromedia Broadcasting Television. SCLC’s executive director, Rev. Wyatt Tee Walker (not shown in this clip) also participated in the discussion.

Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division. Courtesy Thirteen Productions LLC, WNET

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