Martin Luther King Jr.,Malcolm X, and the Civil Rights Movement of the Essay

Martin Luther King Jr.,Malcolm X, and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s - Essay Example and Malcolm X. Although, both King and Malcolm X are historically known to be advocates for the rights of African Americans their approaches and perception were shaped from different perspectives. The ideologies of King and Malcolm X though similar in fighting for the right of African Americans, were different in a number of ways both socially and culturally as a result of different avenues of development they experienced King and Malcolm X came from families that had significant differences socially, culturally, economically and ideologically. King was brought up in a rather financially stable family where his father was able to provide for them for a comfortable life. According to Darby, King was brought up in a middle-class family where they lived in a good house and never lacked in food and clothing (8). Martin’s parents had completely black heritages and Martin’s father was a Minister of the Baptist Church. King also enjoyed formal education and later became a respectable member in his community. Malcolm X on the other hand did not enjoy the kind of stability King had. Although Malcolm X’s father had a complete black heritage and is actually described as being proud of his heritage, Malcolm’s mother had a white father, was a bit light skinned and was ashamed of her mixed heritage. According to Wainstock, Malcolm’s mother would instill in her children the import ance of being black and actually favored her black children â€Å"over the light skinned Malcolm (5). Malcolm’s encounters with racism were charcterized by violence and outright hatred. In his early years their house was burnt by the racist group called the Black Legion (Wainstock 6). Malcolm also felt that his imprisonment was not primarily due to burglary but because of his involvement with white women from the upper class (Wainstock 19). After the death of his father and the