Similarities Between Malcolm X And Martin Luther King

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Who achieved more for Black Americans; Martin Luther King or Malcolm X? Explain your answer. [50 Marks]

Martin Luther King and Malcolm X are two outstanding characters in American history, both of these people helped to change and abolish the Jim Crow Laws , these laws were the ones that were put in place to make the African American community feel out of place and isolated. The Jim Crow Laws meant that African Americans could not eat with white Americans or shake their hands, it also meant that they had to sit at the back of the bus and they were addressed by their first name, not their title. Malcolm X and Martin Luther King both done many great things to help revoke the laws that left African Americans segregated from the whites, they lead marches, Malcolm X’s being violent and MLK’s being passive and they both delivered numerous speeches to thousands of people, although, with the good comes the bad and a lot of fame and credit were taken from things that neither of the two compassed.

Martin Luther King's first success in tackling inequality in the South was the Montgomery Bus Boycott. In 1955, Rosa Parks was travelling on a bus
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Malcolm X’s fame poisoned his relationship with Elijah Muhammad, the second leader of the Nation of Islam, he was also accountable for initiating a mass movement in the 1940s and the 1950s. Occasionally Malcolm X’s statements would embarrass the Nation of Islam (NOI), for example, in 1963 he described JFK’s assassination as ‘chickens coming home to roost’ implying that John Fitzgerald Kennedy had it coming. These tensions resulted in Malcolm X’s withdrawal from the Nation of Islam. His break from the NOI lead to Malcolm X setting up a new group, the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU). The group aimed to re-educate the black youths of America. Although he had idea that he wanted to change the life of African Americans, he did not have the right mindset and means of doing