Peace vs. Brutality
Martin Luther King Jr. vs Malcolm X.
Background Information
- Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. King, both a Baptist minister and civil-rights activist, had a huge impact on race relations in the United States, beginning in the mid-1950s. Martin Luther King Jr. is best known for advancing civil rights without using violence. He did not use violence because of his christian beliefs. In 1954 he became the pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. He was also raised by Christian parents, Martin Luther King Sr, and Alberta Williams King.
- Martin Luther King Jr was huge on nonviolence. He had many things that influenced him to practice his teachings with nonviolence. The first thing was the church and his religion. King believed that no one should be harmed by his teaching by violence. The second thing that led him to practice nonviolence was Gandhi. Gandhi was very big on nonviolence and King like that about him. King also saw that Gandhi's ways worked so he stuck to the nonviolent ways. Both of these were crucial factors that led him to be the man he was and teach the way he taught.
- Malcolm X was born on May 19th, 1925. Malcolm X was originally named Malcolm Little but changed his name later in life. Malcolm X is known as the man who spoke against white Americans in harsh terms for the things they did to the African Americans of the time. He grew up in many different foster homes because his dad died at a young age and his mother was put into a mental hospital when he was thirteen. Also when he was 20 years old he went to prison for breaking and entering but while in jail he became a member of the nation of Islam.
- Malcolm X got a lot of his ideas from his beliefs just like King did. Except unlike King Malcolm X did not believe in nonviolence. He practiced the exact opposite of that. He said that he would do whatever is necessary to get the job done. He also focused a lot of time into Islam. Malcolm X taught that black people are the original people of the world, that white people are devils and that blacks are superior to white individuals.
The Dr. of Peace
What's coming
"And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last"" (I have a dream speech).
Seperation still exists
"One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition" (I have a dream speech).
Unhappiness until rights are given
"Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights" (I have a dream speech).
Cooperation
"The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.
We cannot walk alone" (I have a dream speech).
Birmingham Jail Letter
"We have waited for more than three hundred and forty years for our God-given and constitutional rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward the goal of political independence, and we still creep at horse-and-buggy pace toward the gaining of a cup of coffee at a lunch counter" ( Birmingham jail letter).
Written Kindness
"If I have said anything in this letter that is an overstatement of the truth and is indicative of an unreasonable impatience, I beg you to forgive me. If I have said anything in this letter that is an understatement of the truth and is indicative of my having a patience that makes me patient with anything less than brotherhood, I beg God to forgive me" (Birmingham jail letter).
The man who did what was necessary
By any means necessary
"Well, I myself am a minister, not a Christian minister, but a Muslim minister; and I believe in action on all fronts by whatever means necessary" (The ballot or the bullet speech).
Suffering is everywhere
"All of us have suffered here, in this country, political oppression at the hands of the white man, economic exploitation at the hands of the white man, and social degradation at the hands of the white man. Now in speaking like this, it doesn't mean that we're anti-white, but it does mean we're anti-exploitation, we're anti-degradation, we're anti-oppression" (The ballot or the bullet speech).
Tick Tock
"If we don't do something real soon, I think you'll have to agree that we're going to be forced either to use the ballot or the bullet. It's one or the other in 1964. It isn't that time is running out -- time has run out" (The ballot or the bullet speech)!
Attacking color
"lt was the black man's vote that put the present administration in Washington, D.C. Your vote, your dumb vote, your ignorant vote, your wasted vote put in an administration in Washington, D.C., that has seen fit to pass every kind of legislation imaginable, saving you until last, then filibustering on top of that" (The ballot or the bullet speech).
nightmare in america
"No, I'm not an American. I'm one of the 22 million black people who are the victims of Americanism. One of the 22 million black people who are the victims of democracy, nothing but disguised hypocrisy. So, I'm not standing here speaking to you as an American, or a patriot, or a flag-saluter, or a flag-waver - no, not I. I'm speaking as a victim of this American system. And I see America through the eyes of the victim. I don't see any American dream; I see an American nightmare"
(The ballot or the bullet speech).
(The ballot or the bullet speech).
the Ballot or the bullet
"That's why, in 1964, it's time now for you and me to become more politically mature and realize what the ballot is for; what we're supposed to get when we cast a ballot; and that if we don't cast a ballot, it's going to end up in a situation where we're going to have to cast a bullet. It's either a ballot or a bullet" (The ballot or the bullet speech).
SImilarities and Differences
- Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X had a lot of similarities and differences with their teachings. Some similarities are that they both had a love for their people. They both also wanted African Americans to have the best life they could have without having discrimination towards them. They both had a goal that they wanted to accomplish for the black people and that was to give them civil rights. Leaders of all time says, " Some of the similarities between the famous Louis Riel, Martin Luther King Jr.,Malcolm X and Mahatma Gandhi are that they have all made a mark in history and they have impacted the world in some sort". This proves to be true for both men because they both affected the civil rights movement.
- Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. had some similarities but they had more differences. One difference between the two is their religious standpoints. Martin Luther King Jr. was a Christian and Malcolm X was a Muslim. Another difference there was, was the results that both men wanted. King wanted everyone to coexist peacefully and wanted everyone to be seen as an equal. But Malcolm wanted there to be a separation between the blacks and the whites. But one major difference between the two was their ways of getting the point across. Martin Luther King Jr. was all for nonviolence whereas Malcolm X was for violence.
- King's methods can be described by, "Before I was a civil rights leader, I was a preacher of the Gospel. This was my first calling and it still remains my greatest commitment. You know, actually all that I do in civil rights I do because I consider it a part of my ministry. I have no other ambitions in life but to achieve excellence in the Christian ministry. I don't plan to run for any political office. I don't plan to do anything but remain a preacher. And what I'm doing in this struggle, along with many others, grows out of my feeling that the preacher must be concerned about the whole man" (Why Jesus called a man a fool). And Malcolm X's teachings can be summed up by the quote, "Our objective is complete freedom, justice, and equality by any means necessary".
Martin Luther King, Jr. "I have a dream" Full speech (1963 Washington)
MLK- The King and His Dream
Malcolm X - Mini Bio
Malcolm X- Ballot or Bullet part 1
by Becca Edmisten
- Period 1
- IB History of the Americas
- October 13th, 2015
Email: beccalynne15@gmail.com