Who achieved more for the Black Americans, Martin Luther King Jr or Malcolm x? Explain your answer (50 marks) Introduction: Martin Luther King Jr was born into a Middle class family and had quite a privileged upbringing. His Father was a Pastor for the local Church so Martin had a religious family. Martin grew up to be a pastor in the church just like his Father, this may have been the reasoning behind his entirely peaceful methods which became one of his defining characteristics. Martin Luther King’s peaceful protest method worked far better in the South than they did in the North, this is because the African-Americans in the North had faced more abuse and hardship than African-Americans in the South. MLK was involved in many events, one of which was the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which came about due to Rosa Parks refusing to give her seat up for a white man and getting arrested and fined because of it. As well as this MLK lead the March on both Birmingham and on Washington, where he delivered his infamous “I have a dream” speech in front of his thousands of men and women, this was also broadcasted …show more content…
Malcolm’s father was a prominent member of a local Black power group which inadvertently caused Malcolm’s home to be firebombed when he was quite young, no one was hurt but it affected Malcolm in a way that may have caused him to start his campaign. This campaign was the reason for 930 books, 360 films and 350 sound recordings about Malcolm X, Malcolm X wasn’t exactly violent, but he was less peaceful than MLK, this is seen in his “Ballot or the Bullet” speech, also Malcolm was a member of the Nation Of Islam, while with them he converted Cassius Clay to Islam, Cassius later changed his name to Muhammad Ali. Malcolm X was very passionate about ending segregation, and though he may be not as well remembered as MLK, he still is one of the most influential people in the fight against