Malcolm X And Martin Luther King Jr.

Introduction Malcolm X, born with the name Malcolm little, was born in Omaha, Nebraska on May 19th, 1925. His mother was a homemaker while his father was Baptist Minister and an outspoken activist for African American rights. Because of his father 's presence in the African American activist community, Malcolm 's family was targeted by the white supremacist group, Black Legions, and had to move around several times while he was growing up (“Biography”). As an adult, he took after his father and spoke out as an advocate for Muslim-American and African American rights.

Personal Life Malcolm X encountered his first racist experience before he was even born. While Malcolm 's mother was pregnant with him, white supremacists threatened his family.

However, in contrast to King, Malcolm welcomed violence as a useful tool for obtaining his goals. His most famous quote is for blacks to cast off the shackles of racism “by any means necessary”. He claimed that a non-violent revolution does not exist, because there will always be violence on one side of a revolution, and if the oppressed side is peaceful, they will be the ones who are harmed. Therefore, in his opinion, there was “no such thing as a peaceful revolution”. Malcolm 's bold statements won him large numbers of followers and converts to the Nation of Islam. From 1952 to 1960, the Nation of Islam grew from just 400 members to 40,000 members due to Malcolm 's efforts alone. Eventually Malcolm separated from the Nation of Islam and began to lead his own separate movement of African Americans

This was a stark contrast to the goals of Martin Luther King Jr, at the time; his goals were integration and peaceful protests for their goals to be obtained. Malcolm 's speeches on the importance of independence of black Americans was one of the main reasons that his movement attracted so many people. He empowered thousands of African Americans to become independent from whites. Although the movement was quite powerful, it was also seen as negative, because while a common goal among civil rights activists at the time was to become equal with whites, Malcolm 's movement advocated for separation from white society completely. To some, Malcolm 's movement seemed like a contradiction to itself, because it called for equal rights while advocating for segregation