Throughout the Civil Rights Movement, many leaders emerged that captured the attention of the American public. During this period, the leaders' used different tactics in order to achieve change. Of two of the better-known leaders, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr., the latter had a more positive influence in the progress of the movement. Each of these two leaders had different views on how to go about gaining freedom. While King believed a peaceful means would allow the blacks to achieve equality with the white Americans, Malcolm X took a more pessimistic approach. He believed achieving equality was nearly impossible and preached a more separatist doctrine. Each man's beliefs were formed in their youth. King was raised in a …show more content…
King was an excellent speaker and preacher at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama and rose in the ranks at the beginning of the movement during the Montgomery Bus-boycott. His teachings encouraged more peaceful movements such as sit-ins; the freedom rides and the famous Selma-Montgomery march for voting rights. Some of this call for peaceful change can be seen in the quote by King when receiving his Nobel Peace Prize,
Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.
Martin Luther King Jr., December 11, 1964
Even though his call for unarmed resistance, many of the movements actions were often met with force and resistance from white southerners. Often the participants in the movement were threatened, harassed, and thrown into jail. These actions taken by the whites were only met with still peaceful means and King discouraged retaliation. A classic example of this is when his home was bombed in Montgomery and he stood on his front stoop to encourage the neighborhood who wanted to take up arms, saying that
To stay strong when surrounded by cruelty. To show respect to a fellow man, even when he refuses to return the favor. Preaching these words is one thing, but to fight a war with such practices, as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his followers did, is truly astonishing. As a minister, Dr. King was bound and determined to win the battle for equality using the teachings of God. History has remembered him as the quintessential civil rights leader, not only because of the great strides he made in the fight for racial equality, but also for the manner in which they were accomplished. Nonviolent protests across the nation, such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott and Selma to Montgomery marches, were organized by King in order to combat prejudice against his people. During his protest campaign in Birmingham, Alabama, King and fellow leaders were violently arrested for boycotting without a permit. Alone with his thoughts in his damp jail cell, Dr. King assembled a passionate letter to defend his operations. Little did he know, this letter would go on to play a major role in attaining the equality he had thirsted for his entire life. In King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail" he utilized the power of his pen to deal a lethal blow to the segregation and unethical practices that had plagued this country for centuries. His goals were not achieved through threats or immoral behavior, but by actively deciding to seek a solution through peace and
To be reliable means to be dependable. For a website to be reliable, it needs to present facts or issues in an unbiased manner; we need to be able to depend on the information found on the site. Some websites are better at that than others. Martin Luther King, Jr.: A True Historical Examination looks like a reliable resource for students researching Martin Luther King, Jr., but the site lacks the objectivity of a similar site, the Seattle Times’ website, Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement, making it unreliable.
King believed in peaceful protest and said that peace is the only weapon they have. For example it started with his peaceful boycott on all Montgomery public transportation in 1955-1956 .Which proved to be successful considering blacks made up the majority of the transits systems paying customers. This protest paved the way for the Birmingham Campaign in 1963 which was a strategic plan created by Dr. King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference. These throughout protest included boycotting businesses that only hired whites or that had segregated facilities. King proved to others around him that this cause they were fighting for was serious and that he would do whatever it took to achieve equality. Dr. King became known for his concern to make people equal and to ensure that everyone is safe and
The civil rights movement was a monumental part of history and still has a large impact on society today. Martin Luther King Jnr took charge in leading the movement and achieved many things while he was leading it. The civil rights movement may not have even taken place without King and everting he put into the movement to make it happen. Malcolm X was another very influential leader that was taking charge to be a part of the movement, but had a very different approach.
Although buses were no longer segregated, the majority of restaurants and shops had 'whites only" signs in their window, indicating that black people were not allowed in these places. Protests and rebellions against these places were mostly unsuccessful and the protestors were usually arrested or beaten After these groups of protestors received such acts of discrimination and violence, they began to question the effectiveness on Martin Luther King's non violent approach An example of a non‑violent protest that Martin Luther King led would be his peaceful demonstration in Birmingham, Alabama in April 1963, in which he was arrested and his supporters were attacked with fire hoses, tear gas, dogs and cattle prods. 3300 of the peaceful demonstrators were also arrested as a result of the demonstration. This made doubtful black activists even more reluctant towards accepting Martin Luther's non‑violent ways and led them to believe that violence was the only way to obtain their goals, as the non‑violence approach had failed them.
Comparing Martin Luther King and Malcolm X Martin Luther King and Malcolm X are to diverse individuals with two opposite personalities but both successfully succeeded in achieving freedom and bringing equality to black Americans discriminated against for many years even after the abolishment of slavery. Martin Luther King was born in 1929, in Georgia, Atlanta. Unlike the other black people in the southern states he was different he grew up in well off family who was freely educated a key factor in his personal achievements. During his younger adult years just like his father who was a preacher King decided to work in the Christian church as a Baptist Minster. He idolised Mohandas Karamchand
Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X were very significant during the Civil Rights Movement. Both were excellent speakers and shared one goal but had two different ways of resolving it. Martin Luther King Jr. chose to resolve the issues by using non-violence to create equality amongst all races to accomplish the goal. Malcolm X also wanted to decrease discrimination and get of segregation but by using another tactic to successfully accomplish the similar goal. The backgrounds of both men were one of the main driven forces behind the ways they executed their plans to rise above the various mistreatments. Martin Luther King Jr. was a more pronounced orator, a more refined leader, and overall saw the larger picture than Malcolm X.
Fighting without violence is a very challenging thing to do. King wanted to love the white men under no circumstances. He did not want to fight the whites using violence, he prefered non-violence. On the other hand, Malcolm X wanted to fight using violence. He felt that the white men would only listen when violence is used.
Martin Luther King Jr. knew of the constant racism and cruelty in Birmingham, Alabama and decided to lead a march in 1963. Martin Luther King Jr. and Ralph Abernathy, treasurer of the SCLC, led a group of fifty marchers toward city hall in Birmingham (Boerst, 12). Martin Luther King Jr. and the protestors wanted to stand up
Martin Luther King Jr. showed African Americans nonviolent ways to resist. He did not want African Americans to commit violent acts for their rights. For example, slaves resist by not picking cotton or picking below their usual amount. Resistant in nonviolent ways require people to find other ways to resist without fighting or hurting someone. According to Pitney, he believes King wanted African Americans “to resist white racism through nonviolent actions undertaken in a spirit of love” (Pitney 2). In other words, he wanted African Americans to fight for their rights but he did not want them harm someone else to get equality. For instance, if a white man was using racial slurs toward a
Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. were both known as civil right leaders in the 1960’s. Both men had a different perspective on civil rights and how civil rights should be won. Both men also had strong beliefs on religious and followed on through that path in different ways. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X had several differences and several comparisons and had a big impact for the people of The United States.
King had a vision that one day all races would be treated equally. Being the educated man that he was, receiving his Doctorate from Boston University, Dr. King never saw failure as an option. King was a third generation Baptist Minister and was the Leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Dr. King was from the South and was very familiar with the city of Birmingham which was known as the most violently segregated city in the United States. An affiliate of Dr. King’s invited him to Birmingham to engage in a nonviolent protest to which he agreed. During the nonviolent protest Dr. King was arrested for protesting without a permit. While in a Birmingham County jail cell Martin Luther King explains issues within the past day’s society that needed to be addressed including the church, the white moderates, and how he had been labeled an extremist.
The civil rights movement can be called one of the most important movements in the history of the country. Without it who knows where America would be as a country in today’s time. Fortunately it was not a problem America had to solve all by its self. With the help of two of the most influential people in history, America became the country of the free where everyone is equal, no matter what religion, gender or ethnicity. Those two men were Martin Luther King Jr. and Elijah Muhammad. These men have accomplished so much but some can argue that one did things a better way than the other. Most of the time people are more for the non-violent Martin Luther King Jr. but some say that without a little force, nothing can be accomplished. This was the
Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X were very huge leading figures during the Civil Rights movement. Though they had many differences, they had some similarities. Both men’s fathers were preachers and both men were religious preachers themselves. Dr. King and Malcolm X were around the same age and they were both assassinated. Coincidentally, both men had the same number of children and eventually they had the same ideologies for the Civil Rights Movement. However, Dr. King and Malcolm X were different in ways such as Malcolm X wanted black supremacy and Dr. King wanted equality, Malcolm X saw violence as an option to achieve his goals if peace did not work and Dr. King believed in complete nonviolence, and Malcolm X
"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed - we hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal" (King, “I HAVE A DREAM…,” pg.4 ¶.5). Both Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X were major figures in the fight for racial equality but their ideals were diametrically opposed. In MLK JR’s March on Washington speech, he calls for peaceful resistance and integration into an equal society. Malcolm X, however, disagrees with that in his Message to Grassroots and argues equality cannot be obtained peacefully and that living together wouldn’t be much better than slavery. By comparing the two men’s goals and messages expressed in these speeches we can gain an understanding of the feelings of the general populace on the issues of racial inequity.