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Compare And Contrast Martin Luther King Jr And Malcolm X

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Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X were two of the most important civil rights movement leaders. Although they had different approaches, they were after the same thing, equality for black people. What they wound up finding along the way neither man expected. It was a much larger problem than just race. These two men had entirely different philosophies and methods which were shaped from their respective past. I do not believe one was more effective than the other at winning civil rights or had more influence on the movement than the other. They were co-effective if you will, meaning that without the other, neither one would have been as effective as they were, which ultimately got us to where we are today as a whole. To put it in perspective they were what yin is to yang or good cop / bad cop. Martin Luther King, Jr. had the luxury of growing up a privileged life in a middle-class home in Atlanta, Georgia (1). He attended high school and college in …show more content…

He grew up an underprivileged life and developed many hard feelings about the things he went through as a child (1). Although he was smart, Malcolm was basically self-taught having dropped out of school in the eighth grade (2). Malcolm X’s father was a farmer and an active member of the Universal Negro Improvement Association which is where he established the roots for his cause (2). Some of the things Malcolm endured as a child included watching his house burn down (narrowly escaping), losing his father as he was murdered by a white mob, and later losing his mother due to a mental breakdown (2). All of this was due to their involvement in the UNIA. He developed hard feelings as any man would and set out to avenge righteousness by any means necessary making that his philosophy. Those means sometimes landed him in jail which is where he found religion. While incarcerated he decided to follow Elijah Muhammed, the leader of the Nation of Islam in America

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