Term Paper on "Martin vs. Malcolm"

Term Paper 9 pages (3783 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Malcolm

Martin Luther King was born to the Reverend Martin Luther King and Mr. Martin Luther King in the year 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. He was their first-born son and was named after his father. The young Martin Luther King, or simply ML, as he came to be known, lived with his parents and siblings and grandparents and uncles and aunts and their various boarders in their home in Georgia. The Ebenezer Baptist Church was just two blocks away from the young ML's home, and it was from this Church where his father was the pastor, that ML imbibed most of his feelings about Christian love, and of tolerance and equality and of non-violence. (Martin Luther King Jr. National Park Service)

It is a fact that a man's experiences in life influence his thinking to a great extent, and this is true in the case of Martin Luther King, Jr. too. By the year 1935, when he was just six years old, he learnt that there was in fact something different about him, because he was prohibited from playing with the neighborhood children. What he did not know at the time was that it was because of the color of his skin that this discrimination was taking place. In 1947 Martin Luther King, Jr. was ordained a Minister, and became a Pastor of his own Church in Alabama in the year 1954. Soon Martin Luther King, Jr. started to become in the political affairs of his state, and the boycott against buses was implemented in Alabama in 1954. By 1963 it was apparent that this person was a great leader when he led a march to Washington up to the Lincoln Memorial and gave his famous speech "I have a Dream" from the steps of the Memorial. Martin Luther King, Jr. was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in the year 1964, and when he was assassinated in the year 1968, the whole world lost a great leader and a great person when he died. (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.)

Malcolm X was born as Malcolm Little to Louis Norton Little and 'Earl Little' in the year 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. He had a number of siblings, and his father was an outspoken Baptist Minister and a great believer in the principles and beliefs of Marcus Garvey who was an avid Civil Rights activist. Earl became a Civil Rights activist himself and this was the reason the family was faced with a number of death threats that forced them to re locate quite a few times over the years. When in 1929 their home in Lansing was burned down and Earl was found burnt completely in the debris, the family underwent severe trauma, and Louis Earl was institutionalized after a mental breakdown. The children were sent to various foster homes and orphanages, and though Malcolm was a bright student who was doing well in his studies, a teacher made a comment that made him drop out of school. This was that Law School was 'no place for a nigger'. (Biography of Malcolm X)

The disillusioned Malcolm became involved in a life of committing crimes and organizing a drug ring and a prostitution racket in Harlem, New York. When Malcolm was arrested and jailed in 1946, his brother Reginald visited him there, and this became a turning point for the young Malcolm. This was because Reginald confessed to having converted himself to the Nation of Islam. Malcolm was impressed and also intrigued, and soon he set about studying the teachings of the Nation of Islam Leader, Elijah Muhammad. This leader had written his impressions about the society in general. Some of his thoughts were that the white man was keen on his goal that the African-American would not rise to achieve any sort of political or economic or even social success in his life; the white was preventing the African-American from self-fulfillment by denying him his basic rights of self-empowerment. (Biography of Malcolm X)

Elijah Mohammed also stated that the situation would only be improved if the African-American had a separate state of his own, separate from the states where the white man was living. These teachings impressed the young and impressionable Malcolm greatly, and soon he became a devoted follower of these teachings. This was the reason that Malcolm changed his surname from Little, which he thought was a slave's name, to 'X' that he thought was indicative of his clan and tribe in Africa. After his release from prison, Malcolm X became the official spokesperson and the Minister of the Nation of Islam. He set about building mosques all over the United States of America, and the teachings of Islam spread all over the country. People flocked to him in hordes, and there were more than 30,000 members of the Nation of Islam in the year 1963. (Biography of Malcolm X)

When in 1963, Malcolm discovered that his mentor Elijah was not what he said he was; he was carrying on secret relationships with a number of women, Malcolm was disheartened, and founded the Muslim Mosque, Inc. when he visited Mecca in Saudi Arabia, Malcolm was astonished at the change he saw in himself; he declared that he could actually call the 'blue eyed blonde haired men' he was co-existing with, his 'brothers'. This completely changed his outlook on life, and Malcolm soon began preaching the message of integration to the African-American. In the year 1965, Malcolm was shot dead on a stage in Manhattan where he was speaking. With his death, the world lost another great leader. (Biography of Malcolm X)

Some of the thoughts of Martin Luther King Jr. that reveal his support of the civil rights Movement and of the need for World Peace and Justice for all are: "True Peace is not merely the absence of tension, it is the presence of Justice," and "With non-violent resistance...nor need anyone resort to violence in order to right a wrong." (Words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.) These words sum up the great leader's feelings in an accurate and precise manner. From the year 1956 until his death by assassination in the year 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the world leaders in the issues pertaining to the granting of equality and justice to all Black Americans through the methods of non-violence and other similar methods. His father being a Minister was able to influence him in several matters, including the necessity of learning to maintain self-respect and dignity in the face of adversity, especially because he happened to belong to the community of the African-American people living in America at that time, who were oppressed beyond belief by the 'whites'. (Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement)

It was when he was studying at the Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania that Martin Luther King Jr. happened to listen to some lectures by AJ Muste and by Mordecai Johnson. The lecture on Gandhi and the methods of non-violence that he was using to fight against oppression in his country, India, impressed him to a great extent. This caused him to go out and buy several books on Gandhi immediately. As Martin Luther King Jr. was already familiar with Thoreau's teachings on Civil Disobedience in his essays on the same subject, the teachings of both Thoreau and Gandhi combined to create in him a feeling that it was indeed possible to fight an evil force and survive it by following the methods of non-violence being advocated by both the leaders. While Thoreau helped him in his conviction that he could oppose evil, Gandhi convinced him that it was possible to do so with non-violent methods, and that his own love of Jesus could be extended beyond the single individual and be applied towards solving the tensions between nations and groups on account of races and colors. (Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement)

It was with this feeling of goodness and hopes for peace and the attainment of social justice for his own people that made Martin Luther King Jr. accept a pastorate in Alabama. Soon after he had accepted the posting and settled down in his duties, certain incidents of racial discrimination came to light. These were that a person of African descent would have to give up their seat in the bus for a white man, whether the former was old and tired or a child. When Mrs. Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man because she was in fact too tired, she was arrested and put in jail. This incident prompted Martin Luther King Jr. To organize and start the boycott of the buses on one Monday in December 1955. The system of boycott was in fact an adaptation of the non-violent methods being advocated by Gandhi in India. Martin Luther King Jr. was convinced, as a leader, that it was possible to oppose evil forces with this method of non-co-operation that had been advocated by Thoreau.… READ MORE

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