Malcolm X once said, “It’ll be ballots, or it’ll be bullets. It’ll be liberty, or it will be death. The only difference about this kind of death—it’ll be reciprocal.” The Civil Rights Movement took place during the 1950’s-1960 and was a political movement for equality. Some of the leaders and followers were Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, and Malcolm X. The purpose for this movement was equal rights for all races. One very influential speech during this time period was by Malcolm X called “The Ballot or the Bullet.” He gave his speech on April 3, 1964 at the Cory Methodist Church in Cleveland, Ohio. The speech stressed the importance of how African Americans are created to have full equality like all other races. In Malcolm X’s “The Ballot or the Bullets”, he motivates his intended audience during the Civil Rights Movement by using rhetorical devices of tone and metaphor.
Malcolm X’s speech, “The Ballot or the Bullet” was a very influential speech during the Civil Rights Movement that won the hearts of millions of people. Throughout his speech, he tried to encourage the African-Americans to stand up for their rights and their right to vote. In the beginning of Malcolm’s speech, he states that even though he is Muslim he will not talk about religion because it can get in the way of their real means. He desired to aim a natural understanding between the African Americans so they can stand together regardless of what their religion might be. The name of the speech is composed of two major details, the “ballot” to vote and the “bullet” to use firearms as defense when needed. Within his speech, he compares the ballot to the bullet to show the importance of equality. Malcolm asserts within his speech that African Americans need to use ...
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...president is proof that the movement was successful. At last there is more equality for all races.
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X, Malcolm. "Ballot or the Bullet." Speech. Cleveland, Apr. 1964. Takin' It to the Streets. New York: Oxford UP, 1995. 138-42. Print.
If there was any one man who demonstrated the anger, the struggle, and the beliefs of African Americans in the 1960s, that man was Malcolm X. The African American cultural movement of the 1920s lost momentum in the 1930s because of worldwide economic depression. The Great Depression helped to divert attention from cultural to economic matters. Even before the stock market crash of 1929, unemployment and poverty among blacks was exceptionally high. It was under these difficult conditions that Malcolm X experienced his youth in the South. Malcolm X was a very controversial character in his time. He grew up in a very large family. His father hunted rabbits to sell to the white people for money, and his mother stayed home to take care of all the children. Several times when he was young, his family was forced to relocate due to the racist groups that would burn or run them out of their home like the Ku Klux Klan. One of these groups called the Black Legion killed his father by tying him to the railroad tracks. Malcolm’s father had life insurance but was not given to his family because they said that Earl Little had committed suicide. This was quite impossible because his head was bashed in and he tied himself to the railroad. Without his father’s income, Malcolm's family was forced to get government help and food. Applying for this type of assistance brought many white Social Workers into their home. They asked questions and interrogated the entire family. Malcolm’s mother always refused to talk or let them in.
There were many contributors that made the Black movement so successful, especially the most effective, Martin Luther King Jr. as in contrast to Malcolm X. Both made such a grave and huge impact but with very different strategies to go about it. Martin Luther King Jr. using a peaceful protest approach, meanwhile Malcolm X preferred a violent, political protest. Although both men were striving for a better life for his fellow African American their different approaches to the initial subject had a varied effect which ended up winning one of them a nobel peace prize. Malcolm had his fair share of trying to help, he only made things worse for himself and the things he was trying to strive for. Having become a very influential person and to give
Rhetorical Analysis of Artifacts: The Ballot or the Bullet? Speech Given by Malcolm X I. Introduction: Though almost half a century has passed, the Civil War. The Rights Movement remains one freshly imprinted in not only the history. books of US schools, but also in the minds of countless Americans.
The Web. The Web. 22 March 2014. Lizza, Ryan. The.
"Martin Luther King Jr." - Acceptance Speech. The Novel Foundation, n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2014. .
The Autobiography of Malcolm X is a personal account of one man’s search for truth in a racially charged world. Born Malcolm Little, in Omaha, Nebraska, his life is marred by injustice and violence at a very young age. His father, a tall and extremely black man, with little education, is mysteriously murdered, forcing his mother into a mental hospital. Malcolm, along with his siblings, were placed in foster homes. His beginnings had always included racism; the family firmly believed, though never proven, his father was murdered by a KKK splinter group, after years of harassment. A turning point came when a teacher asked him what he would like to be when he grew up. As he answered he wanted to become a lawyer, his teacher told him, “you’ve got
In the letter, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King, Jr, and the speech, “The Ballot or the Bullet” by Malcolm X, the authors discuss their very different viewpoints on what form of freedom would it take to accomplished their goal. While King believes that peaceful approaches would allow the black community to achieve equality with the white Americans, Malcolm X thinks achieving equality with white Americans is nearly impossible; therefore, he preaches a separatist doctrine. Although King and X are both fighting for the black community’s rights and their integration into the nation’s system, their approaches differ significantly. King and X differ in three main areas: their ultimate goals, the strategies to accomplish those goals, and their use of rhetoric.
...artin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X approach the same problem differently. They both use pathos, a central metaphor, and give a warning. However, Martin Luther King Jr. uses pathos to create a welcoming and patriotic feeling whereas Malcolm X uses fear. Martin Luther King Jr. uses a check, used on a daily basis, as the object of his central metaphor; Malcolm X uses a powder keg, a very damaging and dangerous object, as the object of his central metaphor. Lastly, Martin Luther King Jr. warns his audience that the people of color will revolt passively. On the other hand, Malcolm X warns his audience that the people of color will revolt violently with bloodshed. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X both achieve their goal. After reading both speeches, Malcolm X seems, in my opinion, to have made a greater impact on the white community because fear is stronger than joy.
Of the people whose names are mentioned in history, some men like Thomas Edison are praised for their genius minds, while others such as Adolf Hitler are criticized for leaving a depressing legacy behind. While it is relative easy to notice the type of legacies these two men left, legacies of other men are often vague and they seem to be imbedded in gray shadows. This is how many people view the life of Malcolm X. Malcolm X during his lifetime had influenced many African Americans to step up for their rights against the injustices by the American government. One on hand, he has been criticized for his hard stances that resemble extremism, while on the other hand he has been praised him for his effort in raising the status for African Americans. The extremes in viewing his life from the modern day perspective have often come from reading his climatic speech The Ballot or the Bullet that he gave in many cities across America in 1964. When he was with the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X favored Blacks to be separated from the Whites, and during this time he strongly opposed White Supremacy. This also seems quite prevalent in his speech The Ballot or the Bullet. However, one events during the last year of his life reveal that he wanted the Blacks and the Whites to coexist as peaceful Americans.
Harper, Frederick D. “The Influence of Malcolm X on Black Militancy.” Journal of Black Studies 1 (June 1971): 387-402.
One of the darkest times in American history includes the time of slavery. Injustice, rights of men, the thought of being “equal,” was all questioned during the time of slavery. The fight for freedom became the main goal of African Americans, to help them with this fight for freedom were three activists. The three activists included; Minister Martin Luther King, and younger activists, Malcolm X, and Stokely Carmichael. These civil right activists all had one goal in mind; equality and fair treatment for black people. While all three activists shared this common goal, their means of achieving it differed. In Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and Stokely Carmichael’s speech different rhetorical strategies and appeals were used
“Message to the Grassroots” was a speech given by Malcolm X shortly after the march on Washington. Malcolm X was always called an extremist when it came to black rights, and he was fed up with the nonviolent message coming from other civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. The goal Malcolm X had in this speech was to convince the black masses to not be content with the pace of change or the way change is going about. In Message to the grassroots, Malcolm X comes off very strong using a barrage of metaphors and imagery to connect with his audience to prove his point of needing a violent path for revolution.
In this article the author Fawn Johnson gives us a brief look of what goes on during the great gun control debate. This article gives us a look at the gun control proposals, from American’s not bein...
Works Cited American Rhetoric. “Malcolm X: Ballot or the Bullet.” Web. 25 May 2010 .