Martin Luther King Jr. And Malcolm X

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influence on black Americans. However, King had a more positive attitude than Malcolm X, believing that through peaceful demonstrations and arguments, blacks will be able to someday achieve full equality with whites. Malcolm X’s despair about life was reflected in his angry, pessimistic belief that equality is impossible because whites have no moral conscience. King basically adopted on an equality philosophy, whereby he felt that blacks and whites should be united and live together in peace. Malcolm X, however, promoted nationalist and separatist doctrines. For most of his life, he believed that only through revolution and force could blacks attain their rightful place in society.
Both X and King spread their message through powerful, hard-hitting speeches. Nevertheless, their intentions were delivered in different styles and purposes.
"King was basically a peaceful leader who urged non-violence to his followers. He travelled about the country giving speeches that ...

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and set up a burglary ring to support his expensive habit. Malcolm X’s hostility and promotion of violence as a way of getting change was well established in his childhood.
Martin Luther King lived in an entirely different environment. He was a smart student and skipped two grades before entering an ivy league college at only the age of 15. He was the class valedictorian with an A average. King paraded his graduation present in a new green Chevrolet before his fellow graduates. He was raised in the perfect environment where dreams and love were generated. King and X’s childhoods are "a study in polarity." (pg. 254, Reflecting Black)
Whereas, ...

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