Compare And Contrast Mlk And Mx
Compare and Contrast Martin Luther King and Malcolm X as leaders of struggle for racial equality in the USA
There is no doubt in any ones mind that both Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X both had a significant role to play in racial equality in America. In this piece of writing I will try to differentiate what individual role they played. I will be looking at how they the opposite but also similar in a way. I will be looking at contrasts in life they had and how it shaped their movement i.e. up bringing, tactics and strategies, attitudes to white liberals, and the black experience.[1]
On the 19th of May 1925 a man called Malcolm little was born Omaha, Nebraska, who was to be later known as Malcolm X (MX). For years later Martin Luther King Jr (King) was born was born on in the January of 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. Although these two future activists were born only five years apart there childhood couldn’t have been any more different. MLK was born into respectable well know family in Atlanta as his father was the Minster of a large Baptist church. MLK would have had many privileges that blacks just didn’t have i.e. money and education. This was a far cry from MX’s child hood. MX grew up in an atmosphere of fear poverty, and anger towards white people. This fear steamed from the death of his father in the fire caused by the Klu Klux Klan at their home in Lansing, Michigan where they moved to after numerous threats from the KKK. Not only was MX being persecuted by the white people he also suffered from domestic abuse, regularly seeing his mother being abused by his father.
Not only did they have very different childhoods they used completely the opposite tactics to get their message across. While King used peace and non-violent demonstrations to get his message across MX used a like for like tactic where his message give as good as the whites get. These two types of styles of forwarding a message would leave these two activists in criticism of...
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