Comparing MLK and Malcolm X, Two Great Civil Rights Leaders.
and Malcolm X are two of the most influential African American civil rights leaders in history. Each of these men used different tactics to attain equality. These men came from very different backgrounds which were influential in the way they went about attaining racial equality. These men were very important during the time when African Americans were being oppressed, and they were able to organize blacks in order to overcome this oppression.
Arguably the most important person to have made a .
significant change in the rights of African Americans was Martin Luther King. He possessed great courage and passion about being able to defeat segregation and racism that existed in the United States, and it was his influence to all African Americans to defy segregation and his belief in nonviolence that helped lead to the success of the Civil Rights movement.
Martin Luther King was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. The city was one of many southern cities suffering from harsh discrimination and, in addition, the Ku Klux Klan had set up one of its headquarters there. But it was his father, Martin Luther King Sr. who played an important role in shaping the personality of his son Martin. Martin Luther King Sr. helped to advocate the idea that all should have the right to vote and have an equal say. He was involved with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which was an important Civil Rights group. These efforts to improve the way of life for all African Americans could be seen by his son.
Growing up in a middle class area, King was given the opportunity to go through a tremendous amount of schooling. He attended Booker T. Washington High School and later Morehouse College were he studied under a highly influential man in his life named Benjamin Mays. He entered the seminary in 1948 and became interested in religion as it pertained to society.