Civil Rights Leadership: Martin Luther King and Malcolm X Part 1

This is some research that I had been working on for a American Church History class for grad school. I am no way an expert on the civil rights movement (actually this is the first time I have ever studied a time period or event post-WWII which I think is very sad to say). But I thought I would share it and some of the thoughts that were brought to life in these two pillars of the civil rights movement.

The Civil Rights movement has a profound effect on American history racially, socially, and even religiously. The effects of this movement radically changed the society of America forever. The Civil Rights movement, as Adam Fairclough puts it, the movement knocked away the “two main props of white supremacy [desegregation and universal suffrage]- and the destruction of institutionalized white supremacy was the essential precondition for black advancement”. Two of the most influential and well-known names from this movement were Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. Both of these men had huge effects on the movement and the advancement of civil rights all across America. At the peak of their influence, these two men were known as the pillars of this movement. Even though these two men are forever linked together in history, there is a great contrast in lives and ideas between the two men. These two men are almost polar opposites of each other. This idea reaches as far as their ideals, leadership styles, religious beliefs, goals and visions for the civil rights movement, and even their backgrounds growing up and family influences. Between King and X, there are very glaring differences in approaches and backgrounds.

EARLY LIFE BACKGROUND OF MALCOLM X

Malcolm Little was born on May 19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. His family quickly moved away from that area due to attacks by the Ku Klux Klan. Malcolm’s father was a Baptist minister and was an organizer for the Universal Negro Improvement Association (U.N.I.A.). This group was looking to return all Negros to their African roots and to return to their native African homes. Malcolm’s father would take him to the U.N.I.A. rallies and have Malcolm listen to what was being said. This instilled many of Malcolm’s ideals of his heritage pride and much of this was given from his father. His mother was from the British West Indies. She looked white and her father was white and mother was black. At the age of 4, Malcolm Little experienced and came in contact with horrors and indifference. A group called “Night Riders” sneaked to his house and set fire to it. His family narrowly escaped. Just two years later, his father was found dead on the town’s trolley tracks. His father’s skull had been beaten in and his body was almost torn in two by a trolley car. No one knows who killed his father, but speculation was that he was attacked and beaten by the white Black Legion, however it is still not known who or what did this to Malcolm’s father. A year later, his mother was taken to a mental institution and the children were taken to foster homes.
During these years of schooling, Malcolm was beat up at school by the white children. By the age of 6 years old, Malcolm saw more hate, violence, and death then anyone should ever have to experience. At the age of 13, Malcolm was expelled from school. In the 8th grade, Malcolm dropped out of school because his teacher said he would never become a lawyer and should focus on being something that was reachable, like being a carpenter. This statement had a huge impact on the rest of Malcolm’s life.

Soon after, his aunt took custody of Malcolm and he moved to Boston. In Boston, they lived in the ghettos. Malcolm, at the age of 15, was very interested in jazz and big band music. This would set in motion some of the jobs that he would have working in restaurants with some of the crowds not being very good for a 15 year old to be working for. At the age of 17, Malcolm moved to Harlem (which he was set in his mind to always move to New York City). Here he got involved with deal drugs and prostitution.
When Malcolm was 20 years old, he ended up in jail for stealing. While in prison, he was placed in solitary confinement for large outbursts and loudness. When he was not in solitary confinement, he started a friendship with a man named “Bimbi”. This man had huge influence on Malcolm because it was the only Negro he knew that both black and white people would rally around to listen to. Even the prison guards would come over to hear Bimbi talk on a subject. One day, Bimbi came up to Malcolm and said that he had brains and he should take advantage of the prison correspondence courses and the library. So Malcolm began to self educate himself. He read all the time and he began to reform himself and became very socially consensus. In 1947, Malcolm was transferred to a new prison and this is where he was introduced to the Nation of Islam. The Nation of Islam preached separation from whites and that blacks were superior. The biggest recruiting of people were those who were unsuccessful in what blacks could do in society at the time. After his conversion to the Nation of Islam, Malcolm made large strides in self-improvement and his behavior.

Resources:
Adam Fairclough, “The Civil Rights Movement and the Soul of America,” in Critical Issues in American Religious History: A Reader, ed. Robert R. Mathisen (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2001), 604.

Malcolm X, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, ed. Alex Haley (New York: Ballatine Books, 1965), 1.

The Black Americans of Achievement Video Collection Volume 12 “Malcolm X”, VHS30 minutes. (Bala Cynwyd: Schlessinger Video Production, 1992).

Bruce Perry, Malcolm: The Life of a Man Who Changed Black America (Barrytown: Station Hill Press, 1991), 112-113.
The Real Malcolm X, VHS60 minutes. (New York: CBS Video Inc, 1992).