Civil Rights Movement Essay, Research Paper

Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X were both African American leaders during the 50?s and 60?s that tried to make things better for other African Americans. Though their views were very different they did a lot of things for their people. Martin Luther King Jr. believed that violence did not help the problem it added to it, but Malcolm X was known for his ?by any means necessary? approach.

Martin Luther King Jr. had enormous impact on the desegregation of the United States in the 1960’s. He had arguable the largest impact of any civil rights leader of his time. King began his civil rights activities in 1955, when he protested Montgomery’s segregated bus system. The protest was started after an African American bus passenger by the name of Rosa Parks was arrested after failing to give up her seat to a white passenger. After the arrest African Americans encouraged others to boycott the Montgomery bus system. They formed a secret group called the Montgomery Improvement Association and elected King their leader. The groups protest worked and soon the bus lines no longer had segregated rules and African Americans no longer boycott the buses.

In the same year that the bus boycott was ended Kings house was bombed by angry whites intent on killing King. They were unsuccessful and no one in the house was hurt, and King was in no way swayed stopped from insisting on nonviolent protests. In 1957 along with several other black ministers King formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to expand the nonviolent battle against discrimination. In 1957 segregation existed in every state in one way or another, but mostly in the south. In the year of 1960 King moved himself and his family to Montgomery to devote more of his effort towards the work of the SCLC.

The beginning of the 60’s was a time when segregation protests increased in an amazing number. In 1960 Black College students across the country began sitting at lunch counters and other public places where they weren’t allowed or where segregation was present. In 1963 King and his associates at the SCLC launched a campaign against discrimination using large gatherings to protest it. The gatherings were interrupted by the Police who used dogs and fire hoses. The violence was published on TV by the media and a cry out against segregation was initiated in the United States. President Kennedy proposed a bill to deal with this to congress.

Possibly the most well known civil rights activity took place in August of 1963. King along with Civil rights leaders from across the country organized a march in Washington DC. The event was titled the March on Washington. It was used to encourage congress to pass the bill that President Kennedy had created. Many whites along with about 200,000 blacks gathered at the base of the Lincoln memorial where Martin Luther King Jr. presented his best known speech, I Have a Dream, which defined the moral basis behind the civil rights movement. The March won major victory in congress by 1964 when congress proceeded to pass the civil rights bill that Kennedy had created, before his death. The civil rights act of 1964 was created and it prohibited racial discrimination in public places and called for equal opportunity in employment and education for African Americans.

In 1965 congress passed another bill, The Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Voting Rights Act rid states of all laws prohibiting African Americans from casting their vote in all public elections. The bill was passed after King helped organize a protest in Selma, Alabama. The protest was in response to white officials trying to deny black citizens the right to vote in several ways. Many hundreds of protesters attempted a march from Selma to Montgomery, the state capitol. Police officers arrived as the protest got underway with use of tear gas and clubs the police officers made a bloody attack on the protesters. After the Selma protest King continued to organize protest but not any on such a grand scale. Up until the point of his death King continually fought for the rights of African Americans in peaceful ways.

Born Malcolm Little in 1925, he changed his name to Malcolm X while in prison, after becoming a follower of Elijah Muhammad. Muhammad was the leader of an organization called The Nation of Islam. During the 1950’s, Malcolm became the primary spokesman for the Nation. He also came of the surveillance of the FBI along with Elijah Muhammad. As was Dr. King’s, Malcolm’s every move was followed and documented. From Detroit to Selma, from Los Angeles to Mecca, his shadow was the FBI.

Malcolm became a powerful speaker in the movement. As King captured the spirit of the Southern Black, Malcolm became the messiah of the ghettos of Harlem, Chicago, Detroit, and Los Angeles. Initially a small group, the Nation grew rapidly under Malcolm’s leadership. He not only spoke the words of the Koran and his spiritual mentor, but he also lived it to its fullest. As the crowds grew to hear him speak, so did the opposition to his rising stardom.

Malcolm taught a message of self-help and personal responsibility. This was and still is the message from the Nation of Islam. Like the Nation, he also spoke of a separate nation for Blacks only.

In 1963, Malcolm would split with the Nation. After his ill advised comments regarding the assassination of President Kennedy, Elijah Muhammad suspended him and told him he was not to make any public appearances. By this time, Malcolm was becoming disillusioned with his leader. He had learned that Muhammad had fathered a number of children from several women in the organization. Adultery was a sin and unacceptable in their ranks. Until Malcolm, no one had ever questioned the leader’s actions. Malcolm was warned by other followers that there was a plot to kill him. One of his aides was even asked to personally kill him. When Malcolm learned of this, he left the organization and established Muslim Mosque, Inc.

In the spring of 1964, there would be a dramatic change in his views after traveling to Mecca. While at Mecca, his views of a separate nation and Whites as “devils” began to change. He found that many of his fellow believers were also White. Upon returning to the U.S. Malcolm no longer preached a message of hatred. He condemned the teachings of Elijah Muhammad and referred to his former leader as a “racist” and a “faker”. On February 14, several of Muhammad’s followers firebombed Malcolm’s home. A week later, on February 21, he was murdered as he addressed his followers at Harlem’s Audubon Ballroom.

Malcolm was most remembered for his fiery anti-White man speeches and this was message that was picked up by other separatist organizations.