Malcolm X Dbq

The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told by Alex Haley is the story about a man who greatly impacted American history. Malcolm Little, or Malcolm X as he is more widely known, taught what he believed in regards to segregation, racism, and discrimination. Growing up in a large family with a father Earl Little, a Baptist minister, and his mother Louis Little who was a homemaker, Malcolm’s life at the time seemed very promising. His father’s involvement in support of the Black National gained him many death threats at the hands of white supremacists. In 1929, they lost their house to a fire, and two years later the body of Malcolm’s father was found mutilated. This lead to the emotional breakdown of Malcolm’s mother and in turn she was institutionalized. Malcolm and his siblings were separated and placed in foster homes, and from then, his life began a path of drugs, sex, and crime. It was not until he was imprisoned in 1946, that he decided to make some changes for the better. This essay will assess and discuss those changes whether negative or positive, on a micro, mezzo, and macro level. It will also cover some of the effects of racial prejudice on human behavior, and how society today keeps the ideology of Malcolm X alive.

     The Black Panther had a huge background of history, goals, and beliefs. Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland, Ca 1966, founded the Panthers. They were originally as an African American self defense force and were highly influenced by Malcolm X’s ideas. They were named after Lowndes County Freedom Organization or LCFO. The Panthers had many goals like; giving back to the ghetto, protecting blacks from police brutality, and to help blacks get freedom and jobs. They also had many beliefs like;

The Black Panther Party was formed on October of 1966 in Oakland, California by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale. The Panthers had a very important part in the civil rights movement. The Black Panthers favored aggression, violent self defense of minority communities against the U.S government. The Panthers saw that Martin Luther King’s non-violence was not successful. The party fought to engage in a political revolution for socialism by organized and community based programs. The party agenda was to promote political equality across gender and color. They were active in the United States from 1966 until 1982. The Black Panther Party patrol black neighborhoods to keep track of police activities and protect the residents from police brutality.

Malcolm X, an African American leader and prominent figure in the Nation of Islam, was a significant individual in the African American fight for justice and equality. In contrast to the mainstream Civil Rights Movement with its nonviolent pursuit of integration, Malcolm X voiced concepts of race pride and Black Nationalism during the 1950s and '60s. Although many argue that Malcolm X did not actually “do” anything for the black community, his nontraditional programs brought a new perspective to the Civil Rights Movement, and this perspective is of relevance today in the black community.

Imagine it is the 1960’s: conflict in Vietnam had sparked widespread protest at American college campuses, people all over the country were reading the The Feminine Mystique and fighting for increased equality among the sexes, and the Civil Rights Movement was at its peak. African Americans throughout America were uniting for the common cause of equality, however differing ideology and beliefs regarding how equality could be achieved divided them. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X rose as prominent leaders in the fight against racial inequality, the latter typically credited with the development of more violent methodology which excluded white involvement and conceived the movement of “Black Power.” The Black Panthers, members of a political party formed by college students Huey Newton and Bobby Seale in 1966, are typically associated with the idea of black power and the legacy of Malcolm X despite the fact that he had died a year prior to the party’s founding. While the idea of black power is easily and mis-conceivably associated with the idea of black supremacy and violence, The Black Panther Party primarily sought a spot for African Americans next to that of whites, not above. The Black Panther Party, despite its violent appearance and legacy, made a positive influence on American history through its platform based on equality, human rights, and patriotism.

The party eventually built up a huge enemy, including the former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover who launched a program to discredit black nationalists groups. The program was dubbed COINTELPRO, or The Counterintelligence Program. Many of the FBI members involved in the program followed and stalked members of The Black Panther Party and their families. Though the program’s main priority were The Black Panthers, they did target other parties. Despite many government figures against The Black Panther Party, they recruited many members of the community through displaying their tasteful fashion senses. They equipped afros, leather jackets, and berets. This had a special appeal to many black Americans at this era. Many younger black kids wanted to join because of their stylish and unique fashion. “One of the things that Panthers did was prove that urban black is beautiful (Workneh and Finley).” Their strong belief was that black is beautiful, and it’s a god-given. “As I sat on the bus peering out the window at Mommy, the only white face in a sea of black face, a black man walked up with his son. He had a mustache and a goatee and wore black leather pants, a black leather jacket, a ton of jewelry, and a black beret (McBride [Page 35]).” This quote distinguishes the type of clothing Black Panthers wore and how they seemed more slick than the average black at the time. “I saw the Black Panther

The black panther party formed by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale was a revolutionary power unlike any other group in the 60s. They formed a militant to protect the black community after witnessing countless racial attacks and prejudice. The group was famous for there anything go’s thinking including violence against police brutality which was common even after the civil act laws took effect. They also installed programs

In the 1960’s when events such as the Rosa Parks case and with leaders like King and Malcolm X, the Civil Rights Movement became fairly dominant. However, these sources display several perspectives that imply that King has not always been so influential. Source 2 demonstrates that many African-Americans originally did not support King and his views. For example the text states, ‘Martin Luther King Jr. was not so popular among African-Americans in his day…’. King also shared a rivalry with Malcolm X. It is stated in source 2 that ‘Malcolm X described King as a white man in his thinking, and described black integrationist as bourgeois’. Malcolm X was an extremely powerful leader and the source suggests that King’s ambitions were only shared with a minority of the black race. However, both source 1 and 2 demonstrate that King was to gain most of his praise after his assassination. Source 1 states ‘The odd thing about assassins, Dr. King, is that they think they’ve killed you’. This suggests that regardless of King’s death, his values will still be recognised and supported by many. ‘King… was not popular among African-Americans in his day as he would be in the decades following his assassination’, this text from source 2 also implies that King’s views were going to become popular and he would develop legacy that has lasted to this day. Regardless of the fact that one source was from a positive perspective and the other from a negative, they both have established that the most influential time of King was going to come after his

The Black Panther Party was a militant group that believed in protecting minorities by using their 2nd amendment right. The fear of the party began when a group of activists stormed the California State Legislature armed. The reason for the sit in on the building was in retaliation for a gun control bill. The bill was thought to be a way that the government could take rights away from minorities. The party had multiple gun related shootouts with local cops and the FBI, which lead to the leader, Huey Newton, to be arrested. The arrest was for killing an officer. This started the decline of the cohesiveness of the party as new leaders were appointed.

Looking at the outside article of “Black Panther Party: 1966-1982” by Michael X. Delli Carpini we see that the Black Panther Party did not share the same exact ideals as Dr. King. Although they did advocate strongly for equal rights for black communities they did not have the same patience that Martin Luther King had. The main points of the Black Panther Party movement

The establishment of the Oakland’s Black Panther party for Self-Defense in October 1966 was the mark of an important breakthrough in Bay Area radicalism. Huey Newton and Bobby Seale founded the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense. In Huey Newton’s autobiography, Revolutionary Suicide situated the origin of the Oakland Panthers inside the postwar history of flight, outcast, and internal migration of millions of African Americans: “The great exodus of poor people out of the South during World War II sprang from the hope for a better life in the big cities of the North and West. In search of freedom, they left behind in the centuries of southern cruelty and repression… The Black communities of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Newark, Brownville, Watts, Detroit

The Black Panther Party was not the radical violent group described by the bias news reports or the propaganda reports from the American government agencies. The Black Panther Party saw the level of decay and hopelessness

The success of the Panther political activities and community programs and their huge growth and influence and membership soon brought them under fire from the American

The party wanted the African Americans to know the importance to defend oneself because if one does not fight for their rights who will. The Black Panther Party wanted to protect African Americans against all injustices. The Party went about protecting the people by forming patrols and survival programs. The point of the patrols was to keep African Americans safe from threats and government brutality. The survival programs included the feeding of the hungry, medical clinics, clothing programs, and breakfast programs for school children housing programs, ambulance programs, and numerous other programs that help better the lives of African Americans (“Black Panther Party Pieces of History” 1). The Black Panther Party also tried to gain respect and equality by the government, although many of their government representatives did not pay much attention to the party and their needs the way the party went about gaining equality in the government was by the creation of the communal News Service which published the Black Panther Newspaper. The newspaper gave the Party and the communities they acted in as a sense of hope that things would get better (Carpini

What comes to mind when you think of the Black Panther Party? Do you even know who the Black Panthers really were? They helped transform the lives of many African Americans in the U.S and helped empower the community. The Black Panther has a huge background of history, goals, and beliefs. Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale from Oakland, California founded the Panthers in 1966. Initially, they were an African American self defense force and were highly influenced by Malcolm X’s beliefs. The Panthers had many goals such as;freedom, protecting blacks from police brutality, and helping African Americans obtain a jobs. Despite the negative stereotypes of the Black Panthers as people who ran around with guns, fighting police, they were a major group during the Civil Rights Movement because they practiced self defense, established revolutionary socialism, and stimulated Malcolm X's influence. In the following I will discuss the successful changes the Black Panther Party, had on the African American community during the civil rights movement.