Malcolm X Versus Martin Luther King Junior’s Methods for Fighting Against Injustice As we all may notice in history, there are no two great men that are alike. With contrasting personalities, both Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. play an important role in American history. They were prominent African American figures who stood up for what they believed in, however, they went about acting on their vision in separate ways. Their many beliefs may have stemmed from their childhood and influenced or represented their call-to-action. King grew up in a middle class family and was well educated, whereas, Malcolm X experienced hostile situations as a child and was underprivileged with limited schooling. Malcolm X’s despair about life was reflected in his angry, pessimistic belief that equality is impossible because whites have no moral conscience, whereas King felt that blacks and whites should be united and live together in peace. Although these leaders had the same end results in mind, their means, philosophies, and principles differed. Their intentions were delivered in different styles and purposes – their willingness to employ or not employ violence to achieve their goals. Even though they differed greatly on the philosophies they used to obtain their goal, they shared a common struggle. Their same goal in mind was to achieve equality between all races. As both Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. sought to fight against injustice, compared to King, Malcolm X fails to appropriately delegate a peaceful approach, yet his passion in his messages about equality for blacks are commendable.
There were significant contrasting differences in the methods used by the two civil rights leaders. The early background of Malcolm X was a large factor responsible for the distinct different responses to racism. His house was burned by the Klu Klux Klan, which resulted in the