Mlk vs Mx

If you ask about the top 5 male influences in African American History Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X are sure to be in the lineup. Although they are very different the two are similar in many ways if you were to include their childhood, education, and achievements. The achievements they have made during their lifetime held them a special place not only in African American history but in history overall. They made sacrifices and stood up for what they believed in. Doing these great changes were made to our country, leaving us to live what we would now call a “Normal” life.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. His birth certificate listed his first name as Michael but this was later changed to Martin. He was born to a middle class family so he had better education then other blacks. He was born during a time when black people did not have the rights which they have today. M.L., as he was called, first experienced racial discrimination when their white neighbors refused to let him play with their boys. This was hard for him to understand because the boys had grown up as neighbors and had played together for years. At a later time he and his father were out shopping for shoes and they were asked to move to the back of a shoe store to be fitted with shoes. They left without buying anything. These early incidents made a deep impression on the young boy. On one occasion he and his teacher were riding on a bus. When the bus filled up with people, the driver asked them to stand up and let two white people have their seats. It was the law. Martin saw the injustice of it, and he never forgot that incident.

Malcolm Little (Malcolm X) was born May 19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. While an infant Malcolm moved with his family to Lansing, Michigan. When Malcolm was six years old, his father, the Rev. Earl Little, a Baptist minister and former supporter of the early Black Nationalist leader Marcus Garvey, died after being hit by a...