Essay - Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X: Comparing Their Messages...

Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X:

***** their Messages

Martin ***** King Jr. and Malcolm X are two of the most famous Black American leaders who influenced the African-American's struggle for emancipation during their lifetimes and left legacies that have proved to be even more influential after their premature deaths. Both leaders were contemporaries with similar goals but ***** widely different personalities and equally contrasting strategies ***** achieving them. Both men were fiery orators who moved all those who heard *****. The message of ***** and King has *****en discussed and debated long after the assassins' bullets silenced the two great ***** in ***** turbulent decade of the 60s. This paper is a comparison ***** the messages of the two black leaders.

The Pacifist ***** the Radical

Martin Luther ***** *****. was essentially a man of peace, a passionate believer in non-violence and the G*****hian doctr*****e of non-violent struggle (Satyagraha). He believed that under their skins the ***** and white people were the same and *****d all his life to remove the barriers of segregation created by men of bigotry ***** racial hatred. Malcolm 'X' on the o*****r hand was the quintessential radical, ***** 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 ***** a lesson of fierce pride in ***** own race, ***** develop their own selves *****stead of looking towards the ***** society for re-conciliation. He was, however, a man ***** went through *****y different phases in his ***** and towards the last years ***** ***** life toned down his message of violent confrontation with ***** white men. Reflecting this contrasting message ***** the two ***** *****, Mr. Jerry Large, a journalist, and a fellow ***** man makes a very pertinent observation:

Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X perch on my shoulders. Martin leans in and tells me we are all the same under the skin. We are bound to love one ano*****r by and by. ***** shakes his head. ***** sighs. Indeed, we may be all the same under the skin, he says. ***** are all motivated by perceived self-interest. Their self-interest is not our self-interest. Never has been. Never will be.

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Early Lives and Influence

***** is no doubt ***** our early lives and influences have a major impact on our later intellectual development. As would ***** expected, ***** early lives of ***** ***** King Jr. ***** Malcolm X were vastly different although were born into religious families. King *****. was born in Atlanta, Georgia (1929) and was the eldest s***** ***** a Baptist Minister who served as pastor of a large ***** church. He ***** himself ordained as a Baptist minister at the ***** age ***** 18. (Norrell) ***** was born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska (1925) and his fa*****r--Earl Little--was a Baptist preacher. While King Jr. studied in segregated schools where he excelled ***** studies, graduating with a