Compare And Contrast Malcolm X And Martin Luther King Jr

The Civil Rights Movement in the United States is synonymous with two key figures. Both Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. played roles of their own in progressing their race forward in 1950s America. While they both took very different routes and had competing ideologies in how the African American race would move forward they were equally important. When studying key activists it is important to understand their motivations, where they came from, and what they had hoped to achieve. Key speeches given by both of the highly talented protagonists of this essay are an important medium from which to gather this information. This essay, therefore, endeavours to compare and contrast the roles of both King and Malcolm X as two men fighting for

Coming from a family which saw both his Grandfather and Father attending and graduating from the prestigious Morehouse College, his success was almost inevitable arguably bolstering his abilities in his future career, as intelligence and strategic planning were very much his ally. Malcolm X on the other hand came from a family dealing with the negative effects of having an outspoken black right activist within its mists. Born Malcolm Little in 1925, in Omaha, Nebraska, Malcolm’s family were notorious in an area known for, what the Klu Klux Klan called, “good Negroes.” Malcolm’s father Earl Little, himself from a family of activists for civil rights; was a prominent supporter of the ‘Back to Africa movement’ proposed by Marcus Garvey in the 1920s. Reinvigorated under the “Universal Negro Improvement Association” by Garvey the movement caused the Klan in Omaha to take matters into their own hands, regarding the Little Family. Eventually causing the children, including Malcolm, to go into care, the events of Earl’s life as a “crazy ni**er,” according to Malcolm himself were his first experiences of segregation.

Whilst King, as has already been explained, used his Christian ethics and non-violent protesting form to champion the end of segregation, pushing for integration, hence the title “integrationist”. Malcolm X was not the friend of the white man, he wanted to remain segregated, he was a “Black Nationalist” and a proud supporter and follower of Elijah Muhammad, and the Nation of Islam. A black supremacist the role of Malcolm X is enshrined in the Nation of Islam for a significant time of his life. He first became known and first entered the public eye in 1957 in the Johnson Hinton incident. After hearing about the brutal attack of Hinton and three other Nation members Malcolm X got involved on Hinton’s side. Whilst failing to change anything for Hinton, other than his health, it demonstrated his power in the Nation and the role he was playing, thousands of people had turned up at the police station he was at. Not only did thousands of people attend the police station, Malcolm vastly increased membership, from 500 to 25,000. His prominence only grew from there, whilst a member of the Nation he preached their values and this viewpoint led him to see King as a “chump.” His role in the Nation of Islam saw him promote opposing views to that of the NAACP and King, particularly in terms of voting. He believed and taught that members of the Nation should not partake in