Description

Civil rights activism in the United States of America: a new interpretative and contrastive analysis of the psycho-emotional characters of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X.

By Christian K. A. AMOUSSOU

ABSTRACT

The recent history of US racial relations has been marked with the imprint of two prominent personalities who carried historic responsibility in the struggle against racism, racial segregation, and for social justice: Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Minister Malcolm X. They devoted most of their lifetime to the trying task of breaking the yoke of racial injustice off the necks of African Americans and emerged as the foremost spokesmen of the fight for civil liberties and social change in the United States from the mid-50s to the late 60s. They pursued the same goal, defended the same cause, but were starkly divided on the means to achieve social reform.

Martin Luther King, Jr., developed an integrationist and nonviolent approach, while Malcolm X advocated separatism and Black Nationalism. As a matter of fact, the psycho-emotional outlooks of the two activists during the US civil rights struggle were the symbolic reflections of their respective social backgrounds, educational and religious experiences. Indeed, American and even international public opinion pays one activist a more honorable tribute than it does the other as a result of their overall reactions to the racial context; then King appears to enjoy a lasting popularity while X scarcely ever comes to memory in mainstream America and beyond US borders.

The present study has striven to work out the fundamental rationales behind the leadership patterns of both characters in line with the internal factors and external factors that combined and otherwise indirectly interacted with one another to shape the respective personalities of King and X, functioning as the relevant, original premises upon which public opinion should objectively rest.