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Malcolm x impact on civil rights movement essay
African american civil rights importance of Malcolm x
Malcolm x impact on civil rights movement essay
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As one of the most proficient civil rights activist of the 1960's, Malcolm X and his speeches were very influential but particularly one speech was highly esteemed, that being the Ballot or the Bullet speech. A speech that was given after the "I have A Dream speech by Dr. Martin Luther King. Despite, Dr. Martin Luther King being a pacifist and also a civil rights activist as well; Malcolm X was more tyrannical and advocated the use of violence. During this era, the democrats were in control of the House of Representatives and the Senate, therefore both the Senate and the House of Representatives were leaning towards providing more civil rights to African-Americans. The purpose of Malcolm X’s speech was to convince African Americans to become more politically aware and to vote members of their own race into office. The year 1964 is known for civil rights activists, racist groups, and political strife. In order to achieve this goal and increase the speeches effectiveness, X utilizes a variety of rhetorical strategies within his speech. When analyzing the powerful and informative speech of Malcolm X, its evident that it’s a memorable one. The tonality of the speech employs anger and seriousness. This causes the audience to also to be filled with immense anger as he opens their understanding about the disputes going on in the society. Malcolm X employs the use of repetition throughout the speech, repeating phrases such as "I am not...". This repetition helps to leave a lasting impression on the audience, in such a way that every time the phrase is used, the people will reflect upon the speech of Malcolm X. In addition, repetition is again utilize when X continuously uses the words "you", "hunkies," "polacks," and "blue eyed thing."... ... middle of paper ... ...h to civil rights (Ballot or the Bullet: Malcolm X). Assuredly, the purpose of this speech was to enlighten the minds of many Black Americans and engaged them in the fight for the civil rights. They now understand the situation at hand based on the vivid details expressed by X in his speech. As a result of X speaking up for the nation of blacks, he instilled the idea that African Americans should vote and become more politically active, by this motivation, he has established a new philosophy in the minds of the Black Americans, that being to seek equality. Works Cited American Rhetoric. “Malcolm X: Ballot or the Bullet.” Web. 25 May 2010 . http://www.americanrhetoric.com/figures/anadiplosis.htm http://www.docstoc.com/docs/48940687/Rhetorical-Analysis-of-Malcolm-Xs-Ballot-or-the-Bullet
Pathos is the appeal to emotion and Malcolm X uses a lot of pathos in his speech. Before getting into specific lines of his speech that use pathos, Malcolm X has a great usage of pathos by repeating the line “the ballot or the bullet.” This line created a sense of urgency that his audience needed to do something now to create change. He uses this effectively throughout his speech. A specific part of his speech that uses pathos is when he mentions about the march in Washington. He said “He made a chump out of you. He made a fool out of you. He made you think you were going somewhere and you end up going nowhere but between Lincoln and Washington.” This is an example of pathos because of how he spoke this in a way to spark anger in his audience. He is appealing to their anger towards the injustice they faced from the white man. Malcolm X purpose of trying to spark anger is because anger is a way to get someone passionate about an issue and more likely to do something about it. Another specific part of his speech that uses pathos is when he begins saying that African-Americans have never seen democracy. His exact words are “We don’t see the American dream. We see the American nightmare.” Again this is a way to spark anger in his audience over the injustice they have faced. Malcolm X did not believe in violence, his intent was not to get his audience angry and react out in violence, but to vote for future. This is why he
...ack Nationalism to coexistence. He pointed out how America can live without racial problems that it had since slavery. This was a road trip for Malcolm X from the Nation of Islam which used the name of Islam to promote its own social and political agenda to that of true Islam, which allows Malcolm X to see an alternative approach towards his objectives.. George Breitman in his book “The Last Year of Malcolm X” states “…if they adopt Malcolm’s strategy, accept his legacy and develop it n accord with the logic of the direction in which he was moving during his last year, then all of America will be transformed…” Reading the Ballot or the Bullet after knowing this will make one think beyond the actual words that are mentioned in the speech. Today, because of his boldness, Malcolm X is viewed by many, alongside Martin Luther King Jr., as a great civil rights leader.
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.
Speeches are a method of persuading people to do something. For Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, their speeches were to bring equality for the people of color. However, their approaches are different. Consequently, the effects may be different. An example of their contrasting differences is a speech from each, King’s “I Have a Dream” and X’s “The Black Revolution”. Their speeches used pathos, a central metaphor, and a warning, but was presented differently.
On April 12, 1964, Malcolm X stepped in front of a crowd of two thousand in Detroit’s King Solomon Baptist Church. Ministers initially attempted to prevent Malcolm X from using the church to deliver the speech at the last minute, as they had already estimated the potential for controversy (“Say It Plain, Say It Loud”). Many historians deem the speech, titled “The Ballot or the Bullet,” Malcolm X’s greatest performance. Only a month after departing from the Nation of Islam and joining the mainstream Civil Rights Movement, Malcolm X already recognized the vital flaw in the movement: the African American expectation of help from the white population. “The Ballot or the Bullet” aimed to point out that flaw and unite all African Americans through
The autobiography of Malcolm X is most widely accredited for its inspirational incentives and exceptionally intense life experiences; the novel itself is a show-stopper. Malcolm X structures his craft through his untold stories and background through the behavior of style and substance. Malcolm creates more than a scene and feel of the novel, but allows the audience to accommodate a tight grasp on his emotions and disposition the life of a young African-American male during a racist time in history.
Malcolm X begins breaking down the bridge between Black and White America at the beginning of the speech, phrasing his sentences in such a way as to convince his audience of the fact that your place of residence does not determine who you are, and therefore blacks shouldn't identify with White America. Though blacks are considered "citizens" of the United States, Malcolm X asserts "Everything that came out of Europe, every blue-eyed thing, is already an American. As long as you and I have been over here, we aren't Americans yet." Malcolm X continuously refers back to the concept for the rest of his speech, stating that blacks are not Americans; rather, they are "just" Africans. He begins the sentence with "Everything that came out of Europe," creating the impression that absolutely everybody from Europe was accepted into American society, including low class criminals and other people of such low moral character, while all blacks, even highly educated individuals such as MLK, Jr. are still looked down upon in societythis statement fuels the already passionate and strong hatred of his black audience.
The purpose of his speech to remind people that they are equal, there is no difference between white and black people and to claim termination of racial discrimination against African Americans. In addition, to remind
In this excerpt from Malcolm X's autobiography, he describes to the reader how he gained his education: by teaching himself to read and doing so liberally.
Though violence shouldn’t always be your “go-to” solution, in harsh times of oppression it can be morally justified. When pushed to a breaking point, an outburst can be viewed as a turning point that can either make or break your cause. Though there have been instances throughout history where violence led us down a dark road, there have also been instances where it has held a candle up in a dark room so that the path to a better future can be viewed in its full glory.
Seven years prior to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Martin Luther King Jr. gave a famous speech on May 17, named “The Ballot or the Bullet” on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in front of 20,000 people. The speech addressed voting rights for African Americans across the country since so many were denied the American privilege. He argues that there needs to be better leadership in places of need to resolve the issues of racial injustice. King appeals to logic in order to emphasize the lack of robust leadership in places of need such as the government, the Northern White Liberals, and the Black Community.
He proposes an economic and political philosophy of black nationalism to help dismantle the economic imprisonment they have allowed Whites to cause them to embrace unconsciously. The speech does not merely call for Black people to develop little stores, but to expand these stores into much more extensive operations. More extensive operations inevitably have a national reach. Black people must establish businesses and support Black businesses. When Black people start their businesses, they can employ Black people. Malcolm X does not want Black people to have to rely on their oppressors for jobs. The speech contends that White liberals and government have failed Black people. He mentions that they could not change the minds of the Whites. Therefore, Blacks should turn to themselves and not others. They must realize liberation will come from their efforts. He puts forth a self-help philosophy for Black
200,000 blacks and whites packed the Abraham Lincoln Memorial to bring attention to black civil rights and the treatment in america. Little did these 200,000 people know were going to be apart of history for generations to come. As Dr.King would go on to deliever one of the most thought provoking speech. This speech will forever forever be encraved in American History. The rehetroic used in Dr.King’s speech was ahead of it’s time, with numerous metophor.
"The Ballot or the Bullet," April 3, 1964 by Malcolm X is a motivational speech influencing the colored community to fight the control of "the white man". Malcolm X refers to the noncolored people as "white man" to stress the division between the black and white people, showing that they're in the act of political oppression and social degradation. "I think you'll have to agree that we're going to be forced either to use the ballot or the bullet," stating the fact that there's no either or. Throughout the speech, he tried to convince the African-Americans to stand up for their rights and their right to vote. During the speech, Malcolm X advocated that the audience need to stand together and find new allies considering the community needs a new interpretation on the civil-rights movement.
Malcolm X speech address to the African American Nation on the topic of “The Ballot or the Bullet” is his most famous speech in his lifetime. Mr. X agenda through his speech was output strongly from the beginning to the end. Martin Luther King, Jr speech on “I've Been to the Mountaintop” is also one of his great speeches added to speech books in America. Mr. King gathered in Memphis to persuade the African American community to stand up for the sanitation workers was well addressed in every line he presented to the people. Both of these speeches was based on calling the African American community to stand up and untie for their rights. Both speech we can feel the passion these men had towards making the black communities in America string