Martin Luther King Vs. Malcolm X

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Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X grew up in two different environments. Martin Luther King Jr. was born and raised in a comfortable middle-class family who encouraged education and whose name in Atlanta was very well established. Malcolm X was raised in a completely different atmosphere than King-- an atmosphere of fear and anger where the sources of his bitterness and hate later lie. The burning of his house by the Klu Klux Klan resulted in the murder of his father and the nervous breakdown of his mother. This caused a huge split in his family. He was haunted by this experience for most of his life, and from then on he was driven by hatred and a desire for revenge. Malcolm X was a self-taught man who had little schooling and rose to greatness on his own intelligence and determination. The early backgrounds of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King were very much responsible for their different responses to American racism. Malcolm X and Martin Luther King's childhoods had powerful influences on the men and their speeches. Malcolm X was brought up in an atmosphere of violence. During his childhood, Malcolm X suffered not only from abuse by whites, but also from domestic violence. His father beat his mother and both of them abused their children. His mother was forced to raise eight children during the depression, and after she had a mental breakdown the children were all placed in foster homes. Malcolm X's resentment was increased as he suffered through the ravages of integrated schooling. Even thought he was a very smart student who shared the dream of being a lawyer with Martin Luther King, Malcolm X's anger caused him to drop out of school. He even started to use cocaine and set up a burglary ring to support his expensive hab... ... middle of paper ... ... of Malcolm X and can be attributed to their drastically different childhoods. Malcolm X and Martin Luther King are both remembered as leaders who fought for a difference in black America. Both tried to bring hope to blacks in the United States. They also tried to instill within blacks power and strength so they could rise above all the hatred that surrounded them, but both of them had very different ways of promoting their message. Malcolm X had a much more extremist approach. Many say that this approach came from his neglectful childhood and early adulthood. King had a much more calm approach. Some have said that this non-violent approach came from his safe, middle-class environment. Even though they were different in addressing their messages about black respect and pride, they both had the same goal in mind. That goal was to achieve equality between all races.

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