5016c) Dorothy Ashby - 1965 Event Program for Afro-American Broadcasting Company Awards Night Presentation at which El Hadj Malik Shabazz aka Malcolm X gave his last major speech and the Dorothy Ashby Trio performed. Page 3
5016c) Dorothy Ashby - 1965 Event Program for the Afro-American Broadcasting Company Awards Night Presentation held on February 14, 1965 at the Ford Auditorium in Detroit, Michigan. At that event the Dorothy Ashby Trio performed jazz music and El Hadj Malik Shabazz (aka the famous historical African-American figure widely known as Malcolm X) gave his last major speech before being assassinated exactly one week later on Feb 21, 1965.- Front Cover
This is an original issue 1965 event program booklet that was published to commemorate an event on February 14, 1965 at which Malcolm X gave his last major message just 7 days before his assassination on February 21, 1965. This event happened on the very same day that Malcolm X (or El Hajj Malik El Shabazz as was his preferred name at this time) had his Queens, New York home firebombed. Because of the damage his home suffered that night, he was not wearing his customary coat and tie because most of his clothes had been destroyed.
The "Afro American Broadcasting Company" was an African American organization that was formed in 1964 primarily to produce over the air radio programs that "met with African-American approval as spiritually free Black people". The organization began in 1964 to produce and distribute its own radio programs about the African American experience for radio stations throughout the Northeastern United States. The organization was formed in response to widespread dissatisfaction in the African American community with the content and character of radio programs produced about African Americans on "white radio stations". The purpose of the event held that Valentine's Day in 1965 was to raise money by selling tickets to the event itself. The money was to be used to provide scholarships to Afro American youth to enter the field then known as "mass communications". Malcolm X was particularly interested in supporting the African American media at this time because he recognized the importance of his speeches being accurately reported to the public by the mass media. Malcolm X's concern for accurate reporting of his views would explain his supporting this organization.
The event at which Malcolm X spoke that night was actually an awards event called the "First Annual Dignity Projection and Scholarships Award Night" sponsored by the Afro American Broadcasting Company. The event was complete with live music and famous persons being honored for their achievements including African-Americans such as Rosa Parks, Sidney Poitier, and Marion Anderson. The Dorothy Ashby Trio was part of the entertainment for this event. Malcolm X was the scheduled keynote speaker and he was the final speaker for that evening.
What was not commonly known is that the FBI, was very active in monitoring aka spying on the life of Malcolm X as well as others active in the civil rights movement. The FBI was concerned enough about the impact that this particular event in Detroit, Michigan might have. In fact the FBI was so concerned about this event that the FBI instituted what Malcolm X described later in his speech that night as a “Blackout” In this case a “blackout” meant that the FBI instituted a “counterintellengence” (COINTEL) action against the event by contacting and discouraging the larger sponsors such as Ford Motor Company, Chrysler Motor Company and others from supporting this event.
Near the end of his speech Malcolm X thanked his Detroit audience for attending the event. Apparently the fact that the FBI had attempted to sabotage this event was well known to Malcolm X. The FBI effort to peel support away from this event was at least successful enough so that the attendance was less than expected.
So few copies of this event program exist that I myself was contacted by a Detroit historian to provide photo scans of this copy.
The only other known copy of this event program noted on the Internet is a copy formerly owned by Rosa Parks, who was one of the individuals honored and pictured in the program. Distribution for this program may have been limited to the honorees and to the individuals and groups providing entertainment for the event.
This event program is not part of any collection that originated directly from Malcolm X or his family. It was and still is traditional to publish a very limited number of programs such as this to commemorate an event and then sell or give them away at the event. Since the program is dated on the front and was published strictly for this event, it is highly unlikely that the program was distributed after the date on the front. Because of the government pressure to suppress this historic event, chances are that any surviving copies of the event program were destroyed after the event.
This event program booklet is both extremely rare and very historic. Photographs of a corresponding 2 LP record set of Malcolm X's speech that night is included elsewhere in the Dorothy Ashby Legacy Photograph Collection only to give an additional historical reference as to what other recorded media was spawned as a result of the 1965 event that that this program commemorates.
5016c) Dorothy Ashby - 1965 Event Program for Afro-American Broadcasting Company Awards Night Presentation at which El Hadj Malik Shabazz aka Malcolm X gave his last major speech and the Dorothy Ashby Trio performed. Page 3
5016c) Dorothy Ashby - 1965 Event Program for the Afro-American Broadcasting Company Awards Night Presentation held on February 14, 1965 at the Ford Auditorium in Detroit, Michigan. At that event the Dorothy Ashby Trio performed jazz music and El Hadj Malik Shabazz (aka the famous historical African-American figure widely known as Malcolm X) gave his last major speech before being assassinated exactly one week later on Feb 21, 1965.- Front Cover
This is an original issue 1965 event program booklet that was published to commemorate an event on February 14, 1965 at which Malcolm X gave his last major message just 7 days before his assassination on February 21, 1965. This event happened on the very same day that Malcolm X (or El Hajj Malik El Shabazz as was his preferred name at this time) had his Queens, New York home firebombed. Because of the damage his home suffered that night, he was not wearing his customary coat and tie because most of his clothes had been destroyed.
The "Afro American Broadcasting Company" was an African American organization that was formed in 1964 primarily to produce over the air radio programs that "met with African-American approval as spiritually free Black people". The organization began in 1964 to produce and distribute its own radio programs about the African American experience for radio stations throughout the Northeastern United States. The organization was formed in response to widespread dissatisfaction in the African American community with the content and character of radio programs produced about African Americans on "white radio stations". The purpose of the event held that Valentine's Day in 1965 was to raise money by selling tickets to the event itself. The money was to be used to provide scholarships to Afro American youth to enter the field then known as "mass communications". Malcolm X was particularly interested in supporting the African American media at this time because he recognized the importance of his speeches being accurately reported to the public by the mass media. Malcolm X's concern for accurate reporting of his views would explain his supporting this organization.
The event at which Malcolm X spoke that night was actually an awards event called the "First Annual Dignity Projection and Scholarships Award Night" sponsored by the Afro American Broadcasting Company. The event was complete with live music and famous persons being honored for their achievements including African-Americans such as Rosa Parks, Sidney Poitier, and Marion Anderson. The Dorothy Ashby Trio was part of the entertainment for this event. Malcolm X was the scheduled keynote speaker and he was the final speaker for that evening.
What was not commonly known is that the FBI, was very active in monitoring aka spying on the life of Malcolm X as well as others active in the civil rights movement. The FBI was concerned enough about the impact that this particular event in Detroit, Michigan might have. In fact the FBI was so concerned about this event that the FBI instituted what Malcolm X described later in his speech that night as a “Blackout” In this case a “blackout” meant that the FBI instituted a “counterintellengence” (COINTEL) action against the event by contacting and discouraging the larger sponsors such as Ford Motor Company, Chrysler Motor Company and others from supporting this event.
Near the end of his speech Malcolm X thanked his Detroit audience for attending the event. Apparently the fact that the FBI had attempted to sabotage this event was well known to Malcolm X. The FBI effort to peel support away from this event was at least successful enough so that the attendance was less than expected.
So few copies of this event program exist that I myself was contacted by a Detroit historian to provide photo scans of this copy.
The only other known copy of this event program noted on the Internet is a copy formerly owned by Rosa Parks, who was one of the individuals honored and pictured in the program. Distribution for this program may have been limited to the honorees and to the individuals and groups providing entertainment for the event.
This event program is not part of any collection that originated directly from Malcolm X or his family. It was and still is traditional to publish a very limited number of programs such as this to commemorate an event and then sell or give them away at the event. Since the program is dated on the front and was published strictly for this event, it is highly unlikely that the program was distributed after the date on the front. Because of the government pressure to suppress this historic event, chances are that any surviving copies of the event program were destroyed after the event.
This event program booklet is both extremely rare and very historic. Photographs of a corresponding 2 LP record set of Malcolm X's speech that night is included elsewhere in the Dorothy Ashby Legacy Photograph Collection only to give an additional historical reference as to what other recorded media was spawned as a result of the 1965 event that that this program commemorates.