Goals of Martin Luther King, Jr. & Malcolm X
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In the 1950s and 60s, America became a volatile and confused nation, as the Civil Rights Movement gained momentum, and black Americans demanded equality, both in the eyes of the legal and social systems. At the center of the movement were many bright, charismatic leaders who called for radical changes within American society, but perhaps the best known of these men were Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. They both worked tirelessly in the fight against injustice and inequality, and ultimately paid for their dedication with their very lives. Despite their common goals, King and Malcolm were two very different men, and their philosophies for achieving equality diverged greatly. King was staunch advocate of non-violent protest and civil disobedience as means of social change, while Malcolm believed that the fight should be waged by any methods necessary, including violence or other aggressive actions. So while both men wished to see changes enacted that would recognize black Americans as human beings with the same basic rights as whites, King and Malcolm disagreed over the means by which to achieve that goal. From their very beginnings, King and Malcolm's lives seemed headed in different directions. King was born in Atlanta, Georgia on January 15, 1929 in a fairly middle class family (Lischer 8). His grandfather was Reverend Adam Daniel Williams, who was pastor at the Ebenezer Baptist Church and one of the founders of Atlanta's National Associatio
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prison term, Malcolm attempted to further his education. It was at this time that he began to study the teachings of Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad, who believed that white America actively strived to keep blacks from realizing their potential in the political, social, and economic arenas. The National of Islam desired a separate state for black, independent of white society. By the time that Malcolm was released from prison in 1952, he was a full-fledged member of the National of Islam, and he had dropped his surname of Little, replacing it with "X," as he believed Little to be a slave name. The "X" was meant to represent his lost tribe in Africa (Dyson 51-53).
Analyzing the early influences on their beliefs alone -- Gandhi on King and Elijah Muhammad on Malcolm -- one can see how different two distinct methods of social change emerged from King and Malcolm. King utilized protests to bring about change, as he did in Montgomery in 1955 after civil rights Rosa Parks refused to adhere to the city's policy of segregation on buses. King, as the newly elected president of the Montgomery Improvement Association, organized a bus boycott, and achieved national attention for his leadership. As a result of his actions,
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Approximate Word count = 1463
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)
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