Compare And Contrast Martin Luther King Jr And Malcolm X

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Pages: 5

Movement
Civil rights has been a prominent issue and topic of heated debate since America was formed. Though the 1960s proved to be an especially turbulent but progressive decade for civil rights of black Americans in particular. The Civil Rights Movement as it is popularly known too place from the mid-fifties to late sixties and involved a number of great influential leaders. Two of the most memorable and prominent figures of this era were Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Both of these men used very different methods to reach the same goal. King’s nonviolent approach went over better with different types of audiences and was ultimately more successful than Malcolm’s more aggressive approach. Martin Luther King Jr. was a young preacher in Montgomery who only after a year of living there took a leadership role in the Montgomery Improvement Association, during the
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King began his career as a leader of the Civil Rights Movement when he was chosen to lead MIA. He also came from a “safe” background that people could idolize and look up to, his father was a pastor he grew up in the church. This was contrary to Malcolm’s criminal past. King had a powerful voice and important input from the start of his activism during the bus boycotts which quickly made him well known (Isserman & Kazin, 2012). He used this “fame” to get people to listen to him and follow him. He also put together and led many marches which drew a lot of attention due to their scale. When the civil disobedience and nonviolent demonstrations went poorly or when King was sent to jail it only fueled the fight and increased his publicity and the publicity for the movement (King Jr.). This massive following from supports and critiques alike that King acquired had a huge impact on his success and contributed to the nonviolent approach being more