The Civil Rights Movement is most commonly linked with Martin Luthur King and the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People. The NAACP was founded in 1909, with King becoming the “face” of the society in 1955 during the bus boycott.
The NAACP wanted integration between the black and white communities.
Black power is a term usually linked with Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam (NOI). The NOI was founded by Wallace D Ford in 1930, with Elijah Mohammed as the “prophet,” later replaced by the more famous Malcolm X.
The Nation of Islam hated white America as much as white America hated them. They campaigned for equality but segregation - to remain separate, but to gain the same facilities as white people had and not to be treated as inferior.
Their argument was that if Christianity was the religion of white people, then God must be Satan as white culture sired the Ku Klux Klan, Jim crow laws, racism, murder, castration and the unrestricted exploitation of Negro workers. They also stated that white, Anglo – Saxon protestants (WASPs) discriminated against anyone not a WASP themselves, when Jesus was not only black, but a Jew as well.
In NOI opinion, all blacks should convert to Islam, with their God Allah, and their holy book the Qur’an. They taught that black people, both individually and as a race, were God.
The main difference between the NOI and the CRM was their approach to achieving their goal. Thee NAACP used non – violence (protests, marches and speeches) to make themselves known. However, the NOI favoured violence to make their point, “I don’t go along with non - violence unless everybody’s going to be non – violent…you get freedom by letting your enemy know that you’ll do anything to get your freedom; then you’ll get it.” – Malcolm X.
The content of the speeches may have been different, but the style was the same. They both used religion in their speeches to inspire and motivate the black population to fight for their rights. They used persuasive language as well as the force behind their words to show people that changes needed to be made. Whilst campaigning for different things, the two movements underlying goal was the same; to make America stop viewing black people as inferior citizens.
