The Assassination Of Malcolm X In The Civil Rights Movement

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.

Malcolm X was an American Muslim leader who contributed to the Civil Rights Movement by spreading his ideas of black nationalism in the 1950s and early ’60s. He was an influential figure in a black Islamic organization, Nation of Islam, and served as a spokesperson for the organization. He was assassinated on February 21, 1965 while making a speech in Harlem. After his death, his life story was made well-known through his autobiography, The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965) (Mamiya 1). Malcolm X is a man whose background and activism contributed to the Civil Rights Movement and America as a whole.

Malcolm X, a leader advocating for equality between races, is a modern day example of a tragic hero. While some may consider Malcolm X a hero to look up to, many criticize him for promoting violence. Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little. He grew up in the streets of Boston and New York. Malcolm X is controversial, he said that equality should be attained "by any means necessary". Many think Malcolm X only preached violence and hate, others think of him as doing what was necessary. While he didn’t advocated peace, he helped to empower people to stand up for their rights. This was Malcolm’s goal and shows that he had good intentions. However, his good intentioned were covered up by his flaws. MAlcolm became a well known leader for race equality

Malcolm X, a Muslim minister, the de facto leader for Separationists, and a proponent of self-defense as a mechanism for justice and protection against the infringement of human rights, civil rights, and civil liberties, rejected Dr. King’s plight for non-violence, claiming that Dr. King embodies a turn-the-other-cheek philosophy in dealing with violent actions upon him and refutes this positioning in stating, “Because if white people get the impression that Negroes all endorse this turn-the-other-cheek cowardly philosophy, then whites are going to make the mistake of putting their hands on a Black man, thinking that he’s going to turn the other cheek, and he’ll end up losing his hand and his life in the try.” Malcolm X is often attributed with radicalized viewpoints, in comparison to Dr. King. Malcolm X embodied a position of self-defense as a means to defend the African-American community against the injustices both violent and systematic that infringed on their human rights. He differs from Dr. King in the sense that, Malcolm X believes that since violent acts are being done to African Americans, that African Americans should be able to defend themselves against these acts as opposed to taking them in stride. “Our people should start doing what is necessary to defend ourselves.

When I first read about the Malcolm X, it reminds me on some of the Sahabat of Prophet Muhammad that had made so many sacrifices in order to spread the truth of Islam. From the first paragraph I have read about this man, I can see that he had gone through a hard life for being isolated because of the skin color. Of course, in these days, being racist is such unacceptable thing to do regardless the religion. If we take this matter from the moral perspective, racist is injustice act and this will lead to violation of human rights. Racist also might lead the extremist to be more aggressive and the safety of the country is somehow has been unsafe. Therefore, starting on today, we should respect each other, understand others’ beliefs and spread the Islam not by force or not based on the skin color.

Introduction: Malcom X urges the Negro community to fight to gain the equal rights they deserve by taking action against their white oppressors. He emphasizes that blacks will gain their rights either thorough voting, with the ballot, or else through the inevitable violence with the bullet. Thesis [part a] Like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., also fighting for the civil rights of black Americans in the 1960s, but in a more peaceful manner, Malcom X takes a different approach.

According to X, “The ballot or the bullet”... “Now in speaking like this, it doesn't mean that we're anti­-white, but it does mean we're anti­-exploitation,we're anti­-degradation, we're anti­-oppression. And if the white man doesn't want us to be anti-­him, let him stop oppressing and exploiting and degrading us”(Malcolm #2). The essence of Malcolm’s argument is that he is not anti white, he is anti whites oppressing and disenfranchising African Americans and if the white person wants to not be hated, then he should stop hating himself. In a letter written in Mecca, Malcolm X says,“on this pilgrimage, what I have seen,and experienced, has forced me to re-arrange much of my thought-patterns previously held, and to toss aside some of my previous conclusions” (Malcolm X).

Though he is still seen as a controversial figure, I believe that Malcolm X was one of the most compassionate figures in history. He once said, “I believe in human beings, and that all human beings should be respected as such, regardless of their color.” I really admire how he fought for what he believed in. Initially, I learned about Malcolm X in my AP English Language class, but I was reintroduced to his influence on the modern day black society in my college history class. Prior to being reintroduced to his philosophy in my college history class, I thought that X was a violent, racist man. Although many people denigrated him, history always vindicated him. The detail about his life that most influenced me was that he started off protesting

Malcolm X was an extensively heavy participant in the fight for equality during the Civil Rights Movement. Malcolm X went above and beyond the call of duty, realizing that every book he read gave him more “sensitivity to the deafness, dumbness, and blindness that was afflicting the black race of America” (Malcolm X 643). Segregation had been going on for some time, and Malcolm X was sick and tired of the poor treatment. This brutal discrimination of African Americans is what called Malcolm X to action. When Malcolm X landed himself in Charlestown Prison, he decided to devote himself to studying and writing to improve his knowledge for his people.

What makes a leader? I believe a leader to be intelligent ,tough, and has the determination to achieve a goal. Having certain skills will have an impact on you being a trustable leader. Being selfless and caring are also characteristics. Malcolm X his birth name Malcolm Little is a fine a example of a leader and has most of these leadership qualities. Malcolm X was a Muslim minister who was also African American. He was a activist for human rights, Malcolm was a bold and courageous spokesperson for blacks to have rights,Malcolm X declared America “white America” to have the most harshest of terms for it’s tenacious treatments against African Americans.In the year 1946, he was sentenced to prison because he was caught breaking and entering. When he was incarcerated, he was chosen to become a member of the Nation of Islam. This is when he changed his birth name from Malcolm Little to Malcolm X. Later he had written,”Little was the name that the white slave master … had imposed upon paternal forebears” After his parole in 1952 his popularity grew and became the organization 's most influential leaders, and served as the public face of the controversial group for a dozen years. Malcolm rose quickly and became the prime minister of Temple 11 in Boston a temple in which he founded. He was then given the No. 7 Temple located in Harlem. Temple No. 7 was the largest and prestigious temple known for the Nation of Islam after the headquarters in Chicago.

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

Without Malcolm, the White people would have not favored Martin Luther King Jr. over other Civil Rights leaders. Towards the end of Malcolm’s life, Martin Luther King Jr. began to become more like Malcolm in a militant way. Martin Luther king Jr. “was also re-evaluating his presuppositions and was moving toward a greater understanding of Malcolm X, especially regarding black pride, separatism, and White America’s lack of commitment to genuine black equality” (Cone, 1992, p. 256). These transformations of Martin Luther King Jr.’s ideas, likely led him to accomplish the revolution of Civil Rights. Although, this is a possibility, it is extremely unrealistic.

Malcolm X was an influential African-American leader he also rose to prominence in the mid-1950s. Malcolm opposed the mainstream civil rights movement, publicly calling for black separatism and rejecting nonviolence and integration into combatting racism by. However, Malcolm has combatted many obstacles during his lifetime. Some examples on how Malcolm combatted racism was…(insert evidence here)

From the beginning of Malcolm X’s life he saw the injustices in the country of America, he was only a kid innocent to the world around him. His father was supposedly killed in a car accident, but Malcolm and his family believe that he was murdered by the Black Legion, which was a group of white racist. Even worse the officials claimed that his father had committed suicide, which prevented his family from inheriting the life insurance money. Furthermore, in the midst of all this happening to young Malcolm his mother began to go crazy and as a consequence, she got sent to a mental hospital.

Malcolm X was assassinated at age 39, but his political and cultural influence grew far greater in the years after his death. On April 3, 1964, Malcolm X gave a speech called The Ballot or the Bullet in Cleveland,