Similarities Between Martin Luther King Jr And Malcolm X

Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X were both civil rights activist during the civil rights movement. Both activists gave speeches to large audiences and became very well known across the country. Both activists believed that they should have a program that will teach their philosophies. Although they both wanted to have programs teaching their beliefs, the beliefs they wanted to teach were different. Martin Luther King Jr.’s program would be focused on teaching people how to nonviolently campaign, while Malcolm X’s program would be focused on educating people how the government was working, or rather not working, during this time of civil injustice. The differences in these two civil rights activists’ beliefs do not end here. Martin Luther

In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” Martin Luther King Jr. writes, “...so am I, compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town,” (“Letter from Birmingham Jail”). By mentioning the gospel here, Martin Luther King Jr. is letting his Christian faith come through through his speech. While continuing to let his Christian faith come through, he explains why nonviolent direct action will be effective. He writes, “Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and establish such creative tension that a community that has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue…” (“Letter from Birmingham Jail”). Then, Martin Luther King Jr. goes on to explain why this sort of pressure is necessary when he writes, “My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain in civil rights without legal and nonviolent pressure,” (“Letter from Birmingham Jail”). Martin Luther King Jr. did an extraordinary job relating to the readers emotions, especially when he writes, “Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say wait. But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch

I see some enemies. In fact, I think we’d be fooling ourselves if we had an audience this large and didn't realize that there were some enemies present,” (“The Ballot or the Bullet”). Malcolm X begins by assuming that there are some people in his audience that would not like him and would not agree with him. Here, Malcolm X is already beginning to try and separate people out of the audience for being “enemies”. A statement such as this being made in the very beginning may make some audience members angry with Malcolm X from the very beginning. It is possible that anger may have been what Malcolm X wanted out of his listeners, though because Malcolm X supports black nationalism. Malcolm X says that, “Black nationalism is a self-help philosophy,” (“The Ballot or the Bullet”). Throughout his speech, Malcolm X talks about politics, whereas Martin Luther King Jr. mostly mentions his Christian faith. Malcolm X mentions that he is muslim, but he keeps his politics and religion separate from each other. While discussing politics Malcolm X says, “... until we become politically mature we will always be mislead, lead astray, or deceived or maneuvered into supporting someone politically who doesn’t have the good of our community at heart,” (“The Ballot or the Bullet”). To help people become more politically mature he mentions having a program to help educate us. Throughout his speech Malcolm X encourages the black