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Malcolm X's impact on bringing about equality to African Americans in the USA in the 1960's
Malcolm x influence on civil rights movement
Malcolm X's impact on bringing about equality to African Americans in the USA in the 1960's
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The year of 1964 was the peak of the American civil rights movement. There were two well-remembered activists within the civil rights movement. One was supporting civil disobedience, and one for revolution. Martin Luther King a Christian minister, pushed for a peaceful ending to the inequality of the African Americans, while Malcolm X, a Muslim minister, spoke in favor of self-reliance and violence if they didn’t get their rightful freedom. In Malcom X’s speech “The Ballot or the Bullet,” He declares that 1964 is the year of the ballot or the bullet, “liberty or death.” His main purpose of using aggressive language was to unite the African Americans in their civil rights battle against the government that was lead mainly by a white majority. He wanted to convince them that they could have more power as long as they all unite. They would have the power to put a president in the White House, the power to control their communities, and the power to get the freedom that has been denied to them. Malcolm X mentions in his speech that there are two ways that the “Afro-Americans” can get their freedom. Either the “white man” can give it to them, or they can take their freedom through a bloody revolution.
In order to prove to his audience of what power they could have when they unite and that they have been made “chumps” by a “white nationalist” government, Malcolm X builds his speech on the three rhetorical proofs. He uses logos in the form of deductive reasoning and occurrences to show that black people have been victimized by the white-run government, and to give them a solution; he uses ethos to establish his character and status as a freedom fighter as well as to bring together black Americans; and he uses pathos through repetition a...
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...s “The Bullet or the Ballot” is a call to action. His audience has been suffering for centuries, and he believes that it is time to end this suffering. He looks around and sees examples of civil disobedience, and doesn’t believe that this will be enough to win the freedom of his people. In order to preach his solution, and possibly start a revolution toward their rights, he uses all three rhetorical proofs. He uses logos to prove that black Americans have been taken advantage of by the “white man” and proposes a solution, he uses ethos to state his character and credibility so that his audience will be more likely to listen to his solution, and he uses overwhelming pathos that urges the audience to act on his solution. As is clear from his most famous speech, Malcolm X was not only an extremely powerful and influential leader, but also a brilliant Freedom Fighter.
Additionally, the two men incorporated imagery into their speeches. By instilling vivid descriptions of their visions for the future into their audience, they were able to increase the effectiveness of using pathos and present a clear perspective of their beliefs. Dr. King primarily used imagery metaphorically throughout his speech. Phrases like "lonely island of poverty", "dark and desolate valley of segregation", and "solid rock of brotherhood" emphasized the emotion he's trying evoke from the audience. Malcolm X used descriptive words as well when he said, “The black revolution… is sweeping down upon America like a raging forest fire. It is only a matter of time before America herself will be engulfed by these black flames…” Malcolm's purpose
Malcolm X is an important figure in human history because he was a human rights activist and fought for equality among people. He was a proficient public speaker who spoke for minorities, mostly African Americans. By reading Malcolm X’s story, I visualize on how a man suffered from the effects of prejudice and his whole disposition was formed from it. I see how a very angry man stayed angry at the "white devils" f...
In 1960, John F. Kennedy was elected president of the United States. During his campaign he had promised to lead the country down the right path with the civil rights movement. This campaign promise had brought hope to many African-Americans throughout the nation. Ever since Lincoln, African-Americans have tended to side with the democrats and this election was no different. The Kennedy administration had noticed that the key to the presidency was partially the civil rights issue. While many citizens were on Kennedy’s side, he had his share of opposition. Malcolm X differed on the view of the President and observed that the civil rights movement wasn’t happening at the speed Kennedy had pledged. Malcolm X possessed other reasons for his dislike of John F. Kennedy and his brothers, especially Robert. The Kennedy government stood for racial liberalism and Malcolm X argued their true intentions for the civil rights movement weren’t in the best interest of the black population. This tension streamed both ways. John Kennedy and the Federal Bureau of Investigation felt that Malcolm X had become a threat to national security. James Baldwin has written essays that have included the repeated attacks on the white liberal and supports Malcolm in many of his theories and actions.
Malcolm X’s speech “The Bullet or the Ballot” relates to me because I am young African American male and in the 2008 election there is a African American male candidate who to me has a lot of good values and standards I believe he has what it takes to become the next president of the Unite States. I value you the fact that I can vote I feel that now that I ...
Furthermore X “Us-Them” attitude becomes more apparent when he says, “We are all in the same boat and we are all going to catch hell from the same man. He just happens to be the white man.” Malcom X not only identifies the problem (the white man), but he also makes the audience (African American’s) realize the problem relates to their daily life’s. Throughout the speech, Malcom X gives several examples of the wickedness and hypocrisy of the white man. Statements made by Malcom X such as, “[The white’s] get all the Negro vote, and after they get it, the Negro gets nothing in return” and “Uncle Sam's hands are dripping with blood, dripping with the blood of the black man in this
In the letter, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King, Jr, and the speech, “The Ballot or the Bullet” by Malcolm X, the authors discuss their very different viewpoints on what form of freedom would it take to accomplished their goal. While King believes that peaceful approaches would allow the black community to achieve equality with the white Americans, Malcolm X thinks achieving equality with white Americans is nearly impossible; therefore, he preaches a separatist doctrine. Although King and X are both fighting for the black community’s rights and their integration into the nation’s system, their approaches differ significantly. King and X differ in three main areas: their ultimate goals, the strategies to accomplish those goals, and their use of rhetoric.
He questions, “How can you justify being nonviolent in Mississippi and Alabama when your churches are being bombed and your little girls are being murdered, and at the same time you’re getting violent with Hitler and Tojo and somebody that you don’t even know?” (Malcom X, 4) Malcom points out the incongruity of a dispute for nonviolence when the very nation of which they live in responds with violence whenever they feel threatened or provoked even in the slightest. He stirs up an emotional reaction talking about “your little girls” being murdered and makes the statement relatable. The white oppressors of the time could be seen as a “Hitler,” and he feels the only way America responded to him was through violence, so they should do the
Speeches are a method of persuading people to do something. For Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, their speeches were to bring equality for the people of color. However, their approaches are different. Consequently, the effects may be different. An example of their contrasting differences is a speech from each, King’s “I Have a Dream” and X’s “The Black Revolution”. Their speeches used pathos, a central metaphor, and a warning, but was presented differently.
...ack Nationalism to coexistence. He pointed out how America can live without racial problems that it had since slavery. This was a road trip for Malcolm X from the Nation of Islam which used the name of Islam to promote its own social and political agenda to that of true Islam, which allows Malcolm X to see an alternative approach towards his objectives.. George Breitman in his book “The Last Year of Malcolm X” states “…if they adopt Malcolm’s strategy, accept his legacy and develop it n accord with the logic of the direction in which he was moving during his last year, then all of America will be transformed…” Reading the Ballot or the Bullet after knowing this will make one think beyond the actual words that are mentioned in the speech. Today, because of his boldness, Malcolm X is viewed by many, alongside Martin Luther King Jr., as a great civil rights leader.
The civil rights movement in America contains two transformational figures; one being Martin Luther King Jr., who preached the message of love and unity between blacks and whites. However, on the opposite end, Malcolm X used messages laced with fear and separatism. Nevertheless, both sought the same goal of racial justice for blacks in the United States. This paper will explore the opposite viewpoints of these two pivotal figures and how they separately and unwittingly complemented each other to achieve the overall goal of racial justice.
On November 10th, 1963 Malcolm x released a speech called “Message to the Grassroots”. He had opened up the minds of all Africans and other nationalities. During this speech he gave everyone around him the ugly truth about America. In message to the grassroots speech Malcolm states “You are ex-slaves. You didn’t come here on the “Mayflower.” You came here on a slave ship — in chains, like a horse, or a cow, or a chicken”.The purpose to saying this was to show that the white man had brought us to america by force and not by choice. Malcolm Believed that the only way to end inequality was to start a revolution.
Malcolm X claimed that to avoid By surrounding themselves by philosophies that galvanize black equality and attending only black churches. Malcolm X told his audience, “economic philosophy of Black Nationalism only means that we should own and operate and control the economy of our community”. He explains that this way of thinking would benefit his people to start their own businesses so the white people can stop overruling in the black community. The author inspires his audience to join him in taking a stand in the civil rights movement by encouraging them to “join any kind of organization, civic, religious, fraternal, political, or otherwise that’s based on lifting the black man up and making him master of his own community.” Malcolm X states where he stands in this dispute he calls the start of a revolution claiming, “It’ll be the ballot or it’ll be the bullet. It’ll be liberty or it’ll be death.” In his speech Malcolm X spoke about being ready to die if you fight and he wanted the black community to support this belief at all costs
The year 1964 is known for civil rights activists, racist groups, and political strife. In order to achieve this goal and increase the speeches effectiveness, X utilizes a variety of rhetorical strategies within his speech. When analyzing the powerful and informative speech of Malcolm X, its evident that it’s a memorable one. The tonality of the speech employs anger and seriousness. This causes the audience to also to be filled with immense anger as he opens their understanding about the disputes going on in the society.
Condit, Celeste Michelle, and John Louis Lucaites. “Malcolm X and the Limits of the Rhetoric of Revolutionary Dissent.” Journal of Black Studies, vol. 23, no. 3, 1993, pp. 291–313. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2784569.
As more and more young activists in the United States lost faith in the slowly proceeding civil rights movement, demands to end separatism came increasingly to the forefront. Young radicals in the group known as the “Black Panthers” highlighted black power by taking control of their own organizations and moving forward on their own. In his UC Berkeley speech, Stokley Carmichael, preached for the whites to, “move on over or we’ll move on over you.”1 Carmichael’s speech informed the new thinking of the aggravated radicals, and the urgency the Black Panthers had to gain their freedom from the racial discrimination. Malcolm X, the very influential human rights activist, was on the same page as Carmichael in saying that, “if the ballot did not work, then it would have to be the bullet.”2 The growing impatience of the oppressed no longer agreed with the go-slow, non-violent movements before the...