Why Black Activists Rejected Martin Luther King and Follwed Malcolm X

Two main black activist leaders of the early 1950's were Martin Luther

King and Malcolm X. Today, both of these men would be remembered as

'great leaders'.However, these two men had totally different

approaches towards meeting the same main goal.

Both Martin Luther King and Malcolm X fought for civil rights; however

Malcolm X also wanted to have a separate black society whereas Martin

Luther "wanted the integration of white people with black people.

Malcolm X believed that violence was the key to his goat whereas

Martin Luther King chose to take the non‑violent approach This is one

reason why some black activists rejected, the approach of Martin

Luther King to civil rights. His non violent attitude led some black

activists to conclude that Martin Luther king was too closely

connected to white people

Also, despite Martin Luther King's efforts, discrimination was still

occurring. Black people were being discriminated against and being

segregated on places like buses. On December 1st,1955, Rosa Parks(a

black woman) refused to give her sat up to a white person on a bus.

This resulted in her arrest, which caused an outrage in the black

community, thus beginning the "bus boycott". Martin Luther King led

the boycott of city buses in Montgomery, Alabama, which led the bus

company to stop segregated bus seats. Although Martin Luther King

managed to put an end to this example of segregation, his efforts

failed when attempting to stop other types of segregation and

discrimination. Blacks were still being treated unfairly and being

disregarded as members of communities nationwide.

Some black activists argued that the end of segre...

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... persuade his followers to share his feelings towards

Martin Luther King. Malcolm X was not secretive towards his feelings

of Martin Luther King. When Martin Luther King won a Nobel peace

prize, Malcolm X reacted by saying

"He got the peace prize, we got the problem. I don't want the white

man to give me medals. If I'm following a general and he's leading me

into battle and the enemy tend to give him rewards, I'd get suspicious

of him"

By criticising Martin Luther King, Malcolm X also proves that he sees

the outcome of Martin Luther Kings efforts as below satisfactory.

Malcolm X led many of his black activist followers to share his views

of Martin Luther King.

Therefore, It can he seen that black activists and leaders chose to

reject the approach of Martin Luther King to civil rights for numerous

reasons.