Compare And Contrast Martin Luther King And Lewis

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Although president Abraham Lincoln issued the emancipation proclamation in 1862 that gave an end for slavery, white people persisted in oppressing and segregating black people. Life was segregated between blacks and whites: Black people had separate schools, restaurants, theaters, and even transportations. As the oppression increased, some black people started to refuse such harassment. Thus, many movements and marches were launched to bring equality for blacks (Patterson). Many black leaders, like Dr. Martin Luther King and John Lewis, fought for Blacks’ rights by leading demonstrations and marches. Lewis wrote a graphic and biographical novel that presents his significant participations in the civil rights movement. He is one of the most effective leaders in the Blacks’ history. Besides Dr. King, Lewis chose the nonviolent path to defend Blacks rights; he was a chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). However, not all black leaders had the …show more content…

In contrast, Dr. King believed in the change through nonviolent methods, influenced by Gandhi. He also showed his readiness to work with whites toward social justice. However, X and Dr. King, with their two different ideologies, wanted to attain the same goal, Afro-Americans’ freedom (Malcolm X). By 1963, Malcolm discovered that Elijah Muhammed had deviated his teaching by having children out of marriage. Along with Muhammed’s anger on his remark on the assassination of president Kennedy, Malcolm left the Nation of Islam in 1964 (Biography). In the same year X left the Nation of Islam, he went on a personal and spiritual journey to Africa and the Middle East, where did the pilgrimage in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. In that journey, X corrected his view of Islam and the whole world; he left the idea that all whites are devils and believed in the idea that blacks and whites can peacefully live together

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