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Similarities Between Martin Luther King Jr And Malcolm X

1431 Words6 Pages

Selene Maldonado Lopez
Dr. Brandon Wolfe- Hunnicutt
History 3640
27 October 2015
Martin Luther King Jr. vs. Malcom X The Civil Rights Movement was a period of awakening, conflict, and influence. The strength and intensity of the movement was due prominently to the poignant and prophetic discourse of its two most prominent leaders, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. These men helped lead to create a sense of distinctiveness by expressing compacted problems to discourse, direct courses of action, and hope for a future of freedom and equality in America. Through Martin Luther King`s Letter for Birmingham Jail and Malcolm X`s The Ballot or the Bullet speech. Their efforts to improve the lives of many African Americans Martin and Malcolm …show more content…

In response to several white southern clergy men who opposed and criticized the civil rights movement. Kings’ Letter for Birmingham Jail, employs the discussion between just and unjust laws. King explains that there are ethical views and perpetual laws that are god given and if man made laws that conflict and have an obligation not to obey these man made laws. King alludes this to St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas in his argument that moral laws exist above secular laws, and he pacifies opposition in his argument that “an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him that it is unjust and willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse that conscience of the community over its injustice in reality expressing the highest respect for law.” Moreover, Malcolm’s X`s The Ballot or the Bullet speech contains a different source of language as compared to King`s. Malcolm places a different aspect between civil rights and human rights. Compared to King, Malcolm addresses the issue many Africans faced. However, instead he places it into two options for the future of the blacks in America by compelling them for their “human rights” either by exerting political power or by …show more content…

Malcolm succumbs to realize that the people of complexions are Muslims and that racial pressures are non-existent in his pilgrimage. Thought he had such a strong political conscious of both African and African Americans. He extended his idea of unity beyond race. In his autobiography, Malcolm describes his vison more towards “humanity”. Which he urges complete “respect”,” non-violence” , and stronger communities which are good and noble ideals. Ultimately, he goes on further admitting that his personal experiences led to him to “respond positively” to the notion that white men were devils and that he was “ignorant” . On the other hand, Martin Luther King`s views were more coherent towards the struggle in Vietnam. Clearly, he saw more than anyone during the Civil Rights Movement. However, his views shifted more towards his growing distress over the war in Vietnam. King became “gripped by the suffering of the Vietnamese” . Significantly, many of his reflections on racism, black empowerment and the war led to shift in emphasis and meaning regarding the themes of “love, justice, and hope” . Like Malcolm, Martin started to develop the earlier ideals Malcolm X had strongly perished. However, instead of Black Nationalism, King was mostly grounded upon his faith in the God of the biblical and black traditions. Which strongly influenced him to stand up for his

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1963 and 1964, two pivotal years in American history. In 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. wrote “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and in 1964 Malcom X wrote “The Ballot or the Bullet”. Before, during, and after these two years the United States was a place where racial equality was inexistent. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X were pioneers in bringing attention to this issue. Both men wrote letters and released them to the public, one from a jail cell and another recited his letter in a church.

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Organized into six topical groups, the author did an excellent job in comparing and contrasting King and Malcolm’s views on subjects including integration, the American dream, means of struggle, and opposing racial philosophies that needless any improvement. An interpretive introductory essay, chronology, bibliography, document headnotes, and questions for consideration provide further pedagogical support for students. The author explains how Malcolm X came closer than any social reformer in history to embodying and articulating the totality of the African experience in America while Martin Luther King was not only the most important figure in American religious history in the 20th century, he was arguably its most brilliant

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Throughout the 1960s and 70s, the partakers of the Civil Rights Movement changed their views on how to achieve equality, although they faced multiple challenges, but throughout these difficulties I believed that Malcolm

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During the 1960s, the civil rights movement was in full swing, and one of the most influential leaders during this time was Malcolm X. He was an idol for many African-Americans during that time, a great debater, a powerful public speaker, his followers looked up to him and embraced his “the

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Malcolm X was an activist and powerful voice of the Black Muslim faith and the Civil Rights Movement. He believed in black separatism, a philosophy that urges Black Americans to cut political, social and economic ties with the white community (X, 1). Unlike Dr. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X did not want African-Americans to cooperate or interact with Caucasians. He strongly believed that violence was the way to defend his people against the Caucasian oppressors. He presents radical ideas, which are influenced by his experience as he faced racial discrimination.

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During the Civil Rights Movement, America was filled with segregation and racism. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X both had an uncompressing love for their people, they both wanted to see the blacks in the best position possible during this time of hardship and pain. Many Americans inappropriately thought of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X as the perfect opposites. For example. Martin Luther was a minster who believed in love and non-violent action as forces of political and social changes.

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Malcolm X reconsidered how many African Americans understood White America as a system of racial oppression which he thought they themselves can solve. Today, Dr. Martin King and Malcolm X as two opposite dogma in terms of today’s history. This misconception, breaches the influences of what each man (King and Malcolm X) had. Although, Martin Luther strongly believed in racial integration and Malcolm X himself believed in racial separatism and Black Nationalism.

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Martin Luther King and Malcolm X were two influential men who served as important figures for the Civil Rights Movement. The two men came from diverse backgrounds and had contrasting views in life about religion and African American’s stance in society. Malcolm X was born in Nebraska and had great amounts of exposure to racism. Martin Luther King was born in an educated family in Atlanta, where he experienced racism, but to a lower extreme than Malcolm X. Although they passed away long time ago, they continue to live on today in a world independent of segregation. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X used opposing principles to achieve equality for blacks; King utilized integration of both races and nonviolence as opposed to Malcolm X who separated the same races and employed non violence so as to achieve the same goal.

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Martin Luther King’s views helped create a better environment for every race and I really think his political views and strategies were more efficient than Malcolm

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Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X are two of the most influential African - American leaders in history despite this, the two have vastly opposing views on positive and negative liberty. Using their noted differences in opinion we will explore what the two leaders would have advised the Cherokee Indians to do in the face of the Indian Removal Act. The Indian Removal Act was a law signed into order by the U.S. that gave the government the right to displace Cherokee Indians out of their rightful land east of the Mississippi River to move to the west. This resulted in a multitude of Indians losing their rightfully owned property, and ultimately their lives. Martin Luther King Jr. was an advocate for positive liberty and reforming procedural justice.

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Malcolm was not a man who believed that the problem of the African Americans would be solved through a peaceful, quiet means and nuances, he believed the problem has graduated through the centuries and has come to a stage when the assertion of African Americans’ existence as humans has to be forcefully done or never. Malcolm’s methods were mainly campaigns and speeches aimed at restoring the dignity of the black man, his confidence in himself and a complete freedom as Americans

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Focusing specifically on the opposition of racial segregation, The Civil Rights movement symbolized the need for change across America. Between the years of 1950 and 1960, events such as; the March on Washington, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, speeches, protests, and sit-ins, directly defined such opposition. Due to such events, two outstanding leaders of their time, Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X emerged into the public eye and began to impact the Civil Rights movement. At a turning point of the century, the two men took charge and became icons across the world while resonating significantly with African American minorities. With such in mind, the two men had extreme differences in their morals, ideals, and religions; however, both deemed

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Malcolm X and his ideals are arguably a representation of the transition from the early 1950 's non-violent movement for integration to a more aggressive black power movement. Evidence of this is shown through powerful strands of his novel “The Ballot or the Bullet” including when he writes, “I don 't mean go out and get violent, but at the same time you should never be non-violent unless you run into some non-violence.” (Malcolm 439). In writing that members of the civil rights movement should never be non-violent he does so facetiously. This excerpt indicates a call for violence as a more powerful method for achieving the equality he feels they deserve.

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Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the most influential leaders of his time and played a crucial role in the African-American Civil Rights movement. Luther was a charismatic leader who took a firm stand against the oppressive and racist regime of the United States (US), devoting much of his life towards uniting the segregated African-American community of the US. His efforts to consolidate and harmonise the US into one country for all is reflected in many of his writings and speeches spanning his career. As a leader of his people, King took the stand to take radical measures to overcome the false promises of the sovereign government that had been addressing the issues of racial segregation through unimplemented transparent laws that did nothing to change the grim realities of the society. Hence, King’s works always had the recurring theme of the unity and strength of combined willpower.

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After he went to Mecca his philosophy about the use of violence change after encountering a wide variety of different races who are all Muslim from the places he visited. Malcolm X views of whites had changed because before visiting Mecca, he believed the whites are “devils”, but after he went to Mecca his views on whites had

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