Countless battles have been fought on American soil, some with weapons, but most with words, opinions, and selfless actions. These memoirs tell the stories of Malcolm X and Ulrich and how they affected their respective movements. Malcolm X is one of the most famous and well known advocates of the civil rights movement. He has inspired many to stand up for their race, and to not be put down for the color of their skin. Much like Malcolm X, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich is a famous and well known figure head in the fight for equality. Ulrich undoubtedly is most famous for her quote, “well behaved women seldom make history.” “Literacy Behind Bars” tells the story of how Malcolm X studied and read in Charlestown Prison and how the immense studying shaped
On June 28, 1964, the Black Nationalist leader Malcolm X delivered a very powerful speech. A speech called “By Any Means Necessary”. During the time of speech, the major issue of the United States was gaining the true rights of an African American. Although Slavery had been abolished, blacks were still treated as less than human. Over the years, they worked hard to get their rights and are continuing to do so. Malcolm X was an effective leader because he had exceptional communication skills. These skills are viewed in his speech “By Any Means Necessary” and have been analyzed.
The most important decision of a leader is the style of leading they decide to use when inspiring others, or providing a vision for the future. By looking at the past, it is proven that some leadership styles are guaranteed to be more effective than others. The leadership style of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X during the Civil Rights provides significant evidence of how different styles of leading can turn out to be a major success or defeat. Malcolm X’s leadership style included using violence to protest against violence and unequal rights, as well as supporting the segregation of African Americans and the whites. Martin Luther King’s style included nonviolent marches and protests against violence, and peacefully fighting for integrating the blacks and whites. The leadership style of Martin Luther King Jr. earned him to be recognized as the face of the Civil Rights movement. Therefore, Malcolm X should have changed his leadership style to work with Martin Luther King Jr. because his way of fighting for civil rights was strategically thought out and ultimately effective.
Malcolm X was born on May 19, 1925, in Omaha, Nebraska, the seventh of eleven children. Shortly after his birth, his family moved to Lansing, Michigan, where his family was harassed by whites who disagreed with his father’s black nationalist views. When Malcolm was 6, his father was murdered, and his mother had a nervous breakdown. Malcolm and his siblings were taken by welfare agencies. Growing up, Malcolm wanted to be a lawyer,
In the modern United States of America, all people of all races are supposed to be treated equally under the eyes of the law. There are no ethnicity separated schools, water fountains are not race specific, and anyone is allowed to sit wherever they want on the bus no matter the color of their skin. However, this is not how America always was. These dramatic changes to our society came about in the mid-nineteenth century during the civil rights movement. This peaceful movement consisted of many famous marches, boycotts, and speeches. The most important element of this movement was the civil rights activists. These people were articulate, strong willed, and empowering leaders that inspired Americans both at the time all the way through today. One man in particular, Malcolm X managed to stand apart from such an impressive crowd. His brilliant public speaking skills lifted people all around the USA to action. Although today he is respected and credited for his work during the time, his alternative methods were not always seen this way.
Thesis: In “The Autobiography of Malcolm X”, Malcolm X in his telling of his life to Alex Haley uncovers the theme of positive and negative environments unearthed by the interaction of African Americans and White Americans in his life and what those kinds of environments inherently produce.
Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X are two profound African American figures in history. They both fought for equality and to better humanity. But, the tactics they used were very different. Their different views may have been rooted from the where they were raised. Martin Luther King Jr. grew up in a middle class family and received a very solid education. Malcolm X grew up in a much lesser community. His neighborhood was violent and there wasn’t much schooling. Martin Luther King Jr. was always against violence, throughout his entire lifetime and believed using nonviolent forms of protest. King would even condone being nonviolent when he was hurt physically. Malcolm X used whatever form of protest he needed to get the job done and his
During the 1960’s there was a greatly increased in violence in America. There were riots, bombings, racism, and discrimination. Many African American were mistreated due to the racist people who intervened the African Americans from doing anything. Two civil rights activists wanted change for African Americans and were both fighting for the same cause, civil rights. MLK and Malcolm X both wanted equality but in different ways. Martin Luther King believed in nonviolence to end segregation. However, Malcolm X believed in segregation; where African Americans would govern themselves without bothering the whites. But which idea was better for society? Malcolm X’s philosophy offers a variety of solutions for
Malcolm X followed Muslim principles and believed that he would protest “by any means necessary.” He would do whatever needed in order to obtain freedom for African-Americans whether it be violence or nonviolent. Malcolm opposed integration and believed that blacks needed to fend for themselves in the fight against whites. His aim was for blacks to be completely separated from the other races so that they could develop their own homeland. His ideas proved to be controversial. Although his leadership was helpful in terms of spreading black nationalism, his ideas of “complete segregation’ wasn’t prefered by many.
The civil rights movement would not have been possible without the contributions of many ordinary people. But these ordinary people could not have been organized without the skills of the leaders of the civil rights movement. Two very famous civil rights leaders Martin Luther King and Malcolm X in particular contributed to the cause of desegregation. Though both men contributed much to the act of desegregation, these men had very different ideologies about the process of desegregation. By analyzing the two pieces and comparing how and why they are different, the differing strategies of the two men can be better understood and applied to issues of today.
Over the course of the American history, black people were oppressed and treated unfairly. A few ways that society treated black people is by segregating them from white people, beating them up, and taking advantage of them. As a consequence, African Americans grew up in an environment were limited in their abilities, had hatred towards the white, and had a constant judgment from white people. These factors contributed towards the way society viewed African Americans, flawed, uneducated, and poor. Yet, a notable person who overcame these obstacles and made the most out of his experiences was Malcolm X. He made a dramatic change not only in American history but in African American rights.
was born January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. His father was a pastor at a local church, while his mother took care of his two siblings, Willie and Alfred. As King began to get older, he “attended Booker T. Washington High School” (www.biography.com). Martin Luther King Jr. was exceptional throughout his studies and even “skipped ninth and eleventh grade...attending college when he was only fifteen years old” (www.biography.com). After completing his master's degree, King “began his doctorate at Boston College, where he met Coretta Scott” (www.biography.com). The two fell in love instantly, got married in 1953 and had four children; Yolanda, Martin Luther King Jr. III, Dexter, and Bernice. The family lived in Atlanta, Georgia and then to Montgomery, Alabama, where King became the pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church at age twenty-five. He soon forced on the Civil Rights movement and dedicated almost all of his time into fighting for equality. With all his contributions, King “won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 for his Civil Rights achievements” (Nimtz 1). At the end of his life, King was still going strong until his assassination “by James Earl Ray on April 3rd, 1968” (Nimtz
Martin Luther King Jr said,“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools”. In the late 1960s, racial tension was high, African Americans were not given the right to vote, the right to a fair education, and the right to a fair judgement. This then led to the separation of schools and the destruction of a normal livelihood. Dr.King and Malcolm X, two men in the face of oppression rose up to challenge the racial barrier, thus changing the world forever. Although Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X seem to have mutual respect and an equal understanding of the inequality, their philosophies were quite different from each other. The men had contrasting ideas when it came to fighting for racial equality. Martin Luther King’s philosophies made more sense than Malcolm X’s philosophies, because King believed in working together and nonviolence protests to change the minds of the white society. Where Malcolm X believed in working separately to gain independence for the black communities, so
Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, two authors, two activists who advocated different strategies to achieve a shared end, have since their deaths, transcended the local, pragmatic potency of their respective narratives of African-American resistance (Garrow, 1991). The film 's use of the metonymic figures “King” and “X” as well as the ethically divergent meta-narratives of which they are the cultural signifiers suffuses its dramatic structure with the ideological tension generated by the trope of “double-consciousness” (Garrow, 1991). The vehicle by which Do the Right Thing represents the black community reminding itself, so to speak, of the presence of these figures is the ubiquitous Smiley, a young man with cerebral palsy who earns money selling photographs of African-American heroes to his Bedford-Stuyvesant neighbors. The film calls attention to one image in particular: the famous photograph of King and Malcolm X shaking hands and smiling during their first and only meeting.
Malcolm X, who also known as el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz, was a prominent American Muslim human rights activist for those African-Americans in the United States. The book which I have chosen for my book review entitled “Malcolm X Talks to Young people” which comprises all his speeches in United States, Britain and Africa whereby his targeted audience was the youngsters. This book consist of all the original transcripts and excerpts of speeches produced by him to teenagers in the three countries which are the United States, Africa and Britain throughout the last year of his life.