Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
martin luther king ideas and philosophy
martin luther king
martin luther king jr 1918
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: martin luther king ideas and philosophy
Numerous leaders have made tremendous impacts throughout the history of the world. In this essay, I will compare and contrast the lives and philosophies of civil rights activists Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X were prominent leaders during the Civil Rights Era. They both had very different philosophies and methods on the racial emancipation of African-Americans. Despite their differences, they shared a common goal to live in a society with equal opportunity and a world free of segregation. Many of the ideas and beliefs of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X stem from their upbringing and their religious beliefs. Dr. King grew up in a privileged home while Malcolm X did not. Both of their fathers were Baptist preachers, but the experiences in each one of their lives shaped the way they went about making changes within American society. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. grew up in a privileged home with both of his parents. He graduated from high school at the age of fifteen and received his Bachelor of Science degree from Morehouse College (Bennett). Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a very powerful man in the African American community. His messages were spiritual, and his main concern was going about making changes with peace. Dr. King was a transformational leader who positively influenced his followers to bring about change to various conflicting situations. He transformed and encouraged his group of followers to challenge the status quo in hopes of making a significant change in the world. Although Dr. King had many supporters, especially poor African Americans, he struggled to gain the support of the working, middle-class African Americans. In the book From Civil Rights..., Jackson argues that Dr. King's philosophy was not radical enough to bring about significant change in the economic and social status of African Americans. Malcolm X, on the other hand, was a radical leader who believed in using any means necessary to bring about change. He was a charismatic speaker who advocated for black nationalism and self-defense. Malcolm X was a transformational leader who inspired his followers to take action and fight for their rights. He believed that African Americans should be proud of their heritage and culture and should not assimilate into white society. Malcolm X's message was not only about racial equality but also about economic and social justice. He believed that African Americans should control their own communities and businesses. Malcolm X's message was appealing to many working-class African Americans who felt left out of the mainstream civil rights movement. In conclusion, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X were two prominent leaders who had different philosophies and methods on the racial emancipation of African Americans. Dr. King believed in non-violent resistance and peaceful protests, while Malcolm X believed in using any means necessary to bring about change. Both leaders shared a common goal of living in a society with equal opportunity and a world free of segregation. Their legacies will continue to live on for generations to come. Works Cited Bennett, Lerone Jr. What Manner of Man: A Biography of Martin Luther King, Jr. Chicago, Illinois: Johnson, 1964. Print. Cone, James M. “The Impact of a Cultural Revolutionary.” The Christian Century. 30 Dec 2000: 1189-1195. Print. Jackson, T.
In the century where African-Americans had no rights and were highly discriminated, two men set out to make a new lifestyle for each other. Those two men where Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X. Frederick Douglass was a slave when he began to learn to read. Malcolm X was in prison when he began to learn how to read, he was in prison because he was an activist civil right. Both of this men have a great influence to the changes made for African-American rights. Both of this men have similarities and differences. Some of the similarities are why they wanted to learn, and their background. The differences are in the way that they learned to read and write and at what time they learned to read and write. Although both men have similarities they
The 20th century was a definitive time period for the Black civil rights movement. An era where the status quo was blatant hatred and oppression of African Americans, a time when a black son would watch his father suffer the indignity of being called a “boy” by a young white kid and say nothing in reply but “yes sir”. Where a Black person can be whipped or lynched for anything as little as not getting off the sidewalk when approaching a white person, for looking into their eyes, or worse, “for committing the unpardonable crime of attempting to vote.” In the midst of the racial crises and fight for social equality were Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. who despite their difference in philosophies were “icons of social justice movement both in the United States and around the world” .
Garrow, David J. "Dr. Martin Luther King Jr." History Net: Where History Comes Alive. N.p., Aug. 2013. Web. 25 Nov. 2013.
Walton, Hanes Jr,. The Political Philosophy of Martin Luther King, Jr. New York: Greenwood Press, 1971.
The early backgrounds of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. had major impact on their goal to achieve equality between all races. Martin Luther King, Jr. was born Michael Luther King in Atlanta, Georgia on January 15, 1929. He was one of three children born to Martin Luther King Sr., pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, and Alberta King, a former schoolteacher. Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little on May19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. His mother, Louise Norton Little, was a homemaker who stayed occupied with the family’s eight children. His father, Earl Little, was an outspoken Baptist minister and avid supporter of Black Nationalist leader Marcus Garvey. King attended segregated local public grammar schools in Georgia and graduated from high school at the age of fifteen after being skipped two grade levels. King then enrolled in Morehouse University in 1944 and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in sociology. He furthered his education after Morehouse at Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania and at Boston University, earning his doctorate. X attended reform school in Michigan after the death of his father. Malcolm dropped out of school after graduating from junior high school at the top of his class.
Malcolm X always believed that in order to conquer their rightful place in society, the There are many differences between Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X believed that only through force could blacks conquer their rightful place in society. He blamed many of the conditions that blacks in the United States lived in on the whites. Martin Luther King appeared calm and idealistic. Martin insisted blacks to earn their just place in society by attaining a sense of worth, high ethical standards, diligence and leadership, using non-violence as their impartial weapon. He addressed that in God’s sight, people of all races are equals and there is no such thing as a superior or inferior
[2] Most white people who lived through the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's will often place Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. side by side as representations of Black activism: the former, a model of Black rage and confrontation, uncompromising in his stance; the latter an example of the peaceful, non-confrontational method towards achieving equal rights -- the "right way." Martin has been seen as the good guy and Malcolm as the bad. While Martin usually occupies a few pages in history books, Malcolm is usually found in only paragraphs. Even after his assassination, Malcolm's detractors seek to keep him quiet. I visited my high school in Connecticut back in February, Black History Month, and asked my sister and her friends what they knew about Malcolm X. Those that knew anything replied that he hated white people and that he was assassinated. When I asked several history teachers about how Malcolm was taught, they admitted that he takes a back seat to Mar...
During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s in the United States, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X had different methods and philosophies for trying to accomplish the very similar goal of civil rights for African Americans. Although Martin Luther King, Jr. had a philosophy of non-violence and racial integration and Malcolm X believed violence might be necessary and believed in racial separation, the two leaders had a lot in common: “Martin and Malcolm have become the two most recognizable African American icons of the twentieth century”(Carson 22). Both men had similar backgrounds. Their fathers were Baptist ministers and both became religious leaders. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Southern Baptist minister inspired by the Hindu leader Mohandas K. Ghandi, and Malcolm X was a minister in the Nation of Islam, inspired by the teachings of Elijah Muhammad. However, according to at 1965 article in Ebony magazine, “they followed different paths that brought them both into the international limelight, espousing radically different philosophies and yet, strangely, working toward the same end—the winning of the dignity of manhood for the black man in America” (Violence Versus Non-Violence). Both men received multiple threats to their lives during their work and both ended up being assassinated Malcolm X on February 21, 1965 and Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4, 1968. According to Ebony, both men were highly educated and they spread their messages through the “white press,” which “maligned Malcolm and extolled King-seemingly without realizing how close were the goals of the two men” (Violence Versus Non-Violence). Though they had differing philosophies and methods, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X had the same goal: civil ...
His family was considered a middle class family. Both of his parents were relatively educated compared to other colored families at the time. Martin Luther King Jr’s mother in particular was very well educated because she graduated from Spelman College. His father was a Reverend at the Ebenezer Baptist Church. From a background and environment so comforting, Martin Luther King Jr. grew up with a peaceful and intellectual state of mind. He was surrounded by knowledgeable people. That is why he was so well spoken with ideas that people can rally behind. Compared to Malcolm Little’s childhood and where he came from, Martin was a privileged person. In Martin Luther King Jr’s speech, he proclaimed
Malcolm X and W.E.B. Du Bois both grew up in different era; however, they both equally felt the burden of racism and of “the color line”. They both experienced racism when they were young, during their life, and until their death; furthermore, they knew it would be challenging to change the mindsets of millions of white, but that didn’t stop them from trying. Malcolm X and W.E.B. Du bois realized the inequalities that burdened African Americans, and will be remembered for their life’s work and contributions.
James Cone’s Martin & Malcolm & America paints a distinctive portrait of the individual yet complementary lives of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. Cone takes an introspective lens and casts imagery of the backgrounds of King and Malcolm; examining their childhood until the moment they reached monumental heights in the face in history. The story of these two heroic men is not a foreign tale, for all have heard of the works of each. Cone does not take this as an opportunity to provide a biography of their lives, he chooses to look deeper into their lives and reflect upon the development of their ideology. This in depth analysis shatters the preconceived notions many uphold regarding King and Malcolm. Both King and Malcolm looked for justice in an unfair and unjust society, but one looked through the eyes of optimism, the other looked through the eyes of an unrelenting truth. Those who have systematically suffered under the guise of others, such as African-Americans have; search for a new sense of reality. They adapt an attitude that yields a sense of well-being and self-worth. This new attitude shields one from fear and deception and gives them a collective voice. These two men, provided that voice. King advocated integration, while Malcolm focused on Black Nationalism. During an era in history that was marked with violence, inequality, hatred, hurt, and pain, an eruption of change was inevitably brewing. Cone shows how this manifested from a Southern as well as Northern perspective. There is often a false sense of equality for northern blacks, but Cone reveals how hatred and racism did not draw a boundary in the sand and say we are not crossing this line. Unfortunately, it existed everywhere. Cone successfully...
Malcolm X and James Baldwin were two men that played a large role in defining a people and a cause during the 1950s and 1960s. Both of these men were dynamic African-Americans who lived primarily to help their people, who were terribly persecuted in the United States for many years. The interesting thing about these two men is that they strove towards the same goal—to unify African-Americans and give them strength and confidence—but they accomplished this goal in very different ways. Malcolm X, a leader in the Nation of Islam movement, believed that African-Americans needed to acquire strength and confidence so that they could separate from the White man and live together in peace, harmony, and production. On the other hand, James Baldwin, renowned writer, believed it necessary for African-Americans to have strength and confidence so that they might coexist on the same level as whites and accomplish what whites were accomplishing. The methodology and teachings of James Baldwin and Malcolm X differed greatly, but their general belief, that African-Americans were just as good as everybody else prevailed over all else, and made these men two of the very important faces of a generation.
...artin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X approach the same problem differently. They both use pathos, a central metaphor, and give a warning. However, Martin Luther King Jr. uses pathos to create a welcoming and patriotic feeling whereas Malcolm X uses fear. Martin Luther King Jr. uses a check, used on a daily basis, as the object of his central metaphor; Malcolm X uses a powder keg, a very damaging and dangerous object, as the object of his central metaphor. Lastly, Martin Luther King Jr. warns his audience that the people of color will revolt passively. On the other hand, Malcolm X warns his audience that the people of color will revolt violently with bloodshed. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X both achieve their goal. After reading both speeches, Malcolm X seems, in my opinion, to have made a greater impact on the white community because fear is stronger than joy.
Martin Luther King Jr. came from a middle class home with two loving and supportive parents. He was born in Georgia, January 15, 1929. Dr. King Jr. was one of three children. The impact he had on black and white audiences changed the way they viewed segregation and unity. He was such a revolutionary orator that he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. Martin Luther King Jr. was the living definition of a prototypical nonconformist, which is a person who does not change their initial thoughts or actions based off of what others do. The reason prototypical nonconformist defines him so well is because his speeches were written to inspire all races, especially young African Americans to use non-violence to resolve any issues and to never lose sight of their dreams. His most famous “I Have a Dream” speech spoke about uplifting one another to help achieve each other’s goals with the absence of hatred and violence. He also brought forth the knowledge that God does not see any race more superior than an...
There once was a speech made, from a man who was admired and looked up too by many people. His name was Martin Luther King and he had stood up for his own race. Back then “King was arrested, [had] his home bombed, subjected to personal abuse, but at the same time he emerged as a leader for the first rank of blacks” (Life Books). With this in mind, it has showed us that Martin Luther King was a leader for most people. He had wanted everyone to have equal rights and ...