Martin Luther King and Malcolm X were black leaders who took very different approaches to the problems faced by blacks in America. One result has been that King has traditionally had a better reputation among the general white population than has Malcolm X. King's methods were based on non-violence, while Malcolm X was perceived as advocating violence, at least at certain points in his career. King was a minister, while Malcolm X had been in prison. King advocated a policy of integration and the inclusion of whites in the struggle for black equality, while Malcolm X called for separatism at times and in any case advocated blacks taking control of their own destiny without the participation of whites. These are some of the reasons why King was more accepted in white society than was Malcolm X.
African-Americans have undertaken a number of political responses to their place in American society and to correcting injustices in the divisions between black and white society. Black nationalism emerged as one response to the desire to escape from the confines of a racist society. Black nationalism has a long history as a political movement, with varying impact at different points in American history. Black nationalism had a major resurgence in the 1960s when a large number of black organizations were formed. This tendency to organize was a new political phenomenon for blacks, at least at this level, and the new organizations were more successful than the older ones in providing sustained input into the federal policymaking process. This was an era of increasing racial consciousness resulting from the Civil Rights movement and the Black Nationalist movement, and the latter had its own particular way of addressing the issue of race:
The central claim of all black nationalists, past and present, is that black people are primarily Africans and not Americans. Unlike integrationists, nationalists do not define their significance...