Martin Luther King Jr. And Malcolm X

Martin Luther King Jr. And Malcolm X are two of the most famous Black American Civil Right leaders who influenced the African-American's struggle for emancipation during their lifetimes and left even greater legacies after their premature deaths. The goals of both leaders were largely similar, i.e., emancipation of the black community but they had widely contrasting strategies for achieving them. This essay is a comparison of the messages of the two black leaders and their personalities.

Martin Luther King Jr. was a man of peace, and a passionate believer in Gandhian non-violence. He believed that under their skins the black and white people were the same and struggled most of his life to remove the barriers of segregation created by men of bigotry. (Norrell, 2002). Malcolm 'X' on the other hand was the quintessential radical, the Black Nationalist who did not believe that the white man would ever be persuaded to voluntarily allow an equal status to the black man. He did not desire de-segregation and taught his people a lesson of fierce pride in their own race, to develop their own selves instead of looking towards the white society for re-conciliation. He was, however, a man who went through many different phases in his life and towards the last years of his life toned down his message of violent confrontation with the white men and denounced the racist teachings of his former associates -- the Black Muslims. (Finkelman, 2002)

During the decade between the mid-fifties to the mid-sixties Martin Luther King Jr. And Malcolm 'X' delivered widely contrasting messages on the theme of black emancipation. While King was ceaselessly endeavoring as the leader of the Civil Rights Movement to integrate the blacks into the mainstream of American life by removing the barriers of desegregation, Malcolm was doing exactly the opposite. He (Malcolm) believed that the Judeo-Christian religious traditions, on which Western culture is based, were inherently racist. He held the Christian church responsible for slavery of the Afro-Americans due to its role in abetting and tolerating the inhumane institution. He also disagreed with "turning the right cheek" philosophy of Christianity and found in Islam a religion more in keeping with his aggressively proud nature.

When Martin Luther King delivered his moving "I Have a Dream" speech in the famous March 1963 Civil Rights march in Washington D.C. Malcolm 'X' was not impressed and quipped "While King was having a dream, the rest of us Negroes are having a nightmare." ("Malcolm Quotations")

He also declared that nonviolence was the "philosophy of the fool." (Ibid.) This was because Malcolm was looking for a deeper respect for the black folks as human beings rather than just winning 'civil rights' in the eyes of law.

The biggest achievement of King was the political momentum that he helped to build which culminated in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, prohibiting segregation in public accommodations, as well as discrimination in education and employment. On the other hand Malcolm X's most important achievement was the sense of pride that he helped to inculcate in the African-Americans through his speeches and his autobiography that was published after his death.