Martin Luther King vs. Malcolm X Essay Example

Two of the greatest know civil rights speakers in the United States was Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm x. Both of these men had two very different views on what they thought would be the best way for blacks to get equality. Martin Luther King Jr. believed in his main philosophy which was non violent resistance. Martin used the teachings from Ghandi to teach African Americans how to use non violent resistance as a way to earn equality. He also believed that blacks should try to find common ground between them and the white community and that this is not war it is just injustice vs. justice. The way that Malcolm x put it into perspective made many blacks want to join his side of the fight for freedom because Malcolm x believed that African Americans need to fight for their equality. Malcolm x had a philosophy of black nationalism. Malcolm x made all black nationalists believe that they were at war with the white community and that it was not injustice vs. justice it was race vs. race. Martin Luther King Jr.’s way of non violence paved the way for Malcolm x to use his completely different view on things which was black nationalism. King was the most influential civil rights speaker all the way up until his assassination. Martin Luther’s main philosophy was non violence. Martin Luther King used the many teachings of Ghandi’s non violent resistance. King used Ghandi’s teachings because out of the many people that he studied no other teaching appealed to him more than what Ghandi taught. To King the most useful and effective way of helping African Americans get peace was to use non violence resistance. Instead of using force to get his points across and end up getting sent back to jail against King decided that he would use his words to express to the whites that blacks were people to and everyone should be treated with equal rights. He settled down in Birmingham, Alabama and put everything that he learned from Ghandi about non violence to great use.