Malcolm's vision of Black Nationalism was to be forever changed with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy (Nov. 22, 1963) X described this as a "case of chickens coming home to roost"--an instance of the kind of violence that whites had long used against blacks. Malcolm's success had by this time aroused jealousy within the Black Muslim hierarchy, and, in response to his comments on the Kennedy assassination, Elijah Muhammad suspended Malcolm from the movement. In March 1964 Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam and announced the formation of his own religious organization. As a result of a pilgrimage he took to Mecca in April 1964, he modified his views of black separatism, declaring that he no longer believed whites to be innately evil and acknowledging his vision of the possibility of world brotherhood.
Malcolm's power lay in the fact he could communicate his forceful articulations of racial pride and Muslim principles making him a cultural hero, especially to the Black Youth, who would grow to be the strength of the Black Movement.
Growing hostility between Malcolm's followers and the rival Black Muslims manifested itself in violence and threats against his life, when in 1965 he was shot to death at a rally of his followers at a Harlem ballroom. Three Black Muslims were convicted of the murder; it was thought that they were members of the Nation of Islam which Malcolm had been expelled from.
I have a dream today!
- Dr. Martin Luther King, 1963!
Dr. Martin Luther King, an eloquent black Baptist minister, who led the in the United States from the mid-1950s until his death by assassination in 1968. His leadership was fundamental to that movement's success in ending the legal segregation of blacks in the South and other portions of the United States. King rose to national prominence through the organization of the , promoting non-violent tactics such as the massive March on Washington (1963) to achieve civil rights. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1964. The U.S. Congress voted to observe a national holiday in his honour, beginning in 1986, on the third Monday in January.
Recognizing the need for a mass movement to capitalize on the successful Montgomery action, King set about organizing the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), which gave him a base of operation throughout the South, as well as a national platform from which to speak. King lectured in all parts of the country and discussed problems of blacks with civil-rights and religious leaders at home and abroad. In February 1959 he and his party were warmly received by India's Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru; as the result of a brief discussion with followers of Gandhi about the Gandhian concepts of Satyagraha ("devotion to truth"), King became more convinced than ever that non-violent resistance was the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom...
In an effort to draw together the multiple forces for peaceful change and to dramatize to the nation and to the world the importance of solving the U.S. racial problem, King joined other civil-rights leaders in organizing the historic March on Washington. On Aug. 28, 1963, an interracial assembly of more than 200,000 gathered peaceably in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial to demand equal justice for all citizens under the law. Here the crowds were uplifted by the emotional strength and prophetic quality of King's famous "I have a dream" speech, in which, using biblical phraseology, King emphasized his faith that all men, someday, would be brothers.
King was challenged and even publicly derided by young black power enthusiasts who were supportive of Black Power movements such as Malcolm X's. In the face of mounting criticism, King's response was to broaden his approach to include concerns other than racism that were equally detrimental to his people's progress. On April 4, 1967, at Riverside Church in New York City and again on the 15th at a mammoth peace rally in that city, he committed himself irrevocably to opposing the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War. Once before, in early January 1966, he had condemned the war, but official outrage from Washington and strenuous opposition within the black community itself had caused him to relent. He next sought to widen his base by forming a coalition of the poor of all races that would address itself to such economic problems as poverty and unemployment. It was a species of populism, seeking to enlist janitors, hospital workers, seasonal labourers, along with the student militants and pacifist intellectuals. His endeavours along these lines, however, did not engender much support in any segment of the population.
His plans for a Poor People's March to Washington were interrupted in the spring of 1968 by a trip to Memphis, Tennessee, in support of a strike by that city's sanitation workers. On April 4 he was killed by a sniper's bullet while standing on the balcony of the motel where he and his associates were staying. On March 10th, 1969, the accused white assassin, James Earl Ray, pleaded guilty to the murder and was sentenced to 99 years in prison.
Relating back to the question both Martin Luther King and Malcolm X were both as influential in changing America and how it treated and viewed African-Americans. Although Martin Luther reached higher praise and a Nobel Peace Prize, without one another the movement would not have be the success that it has been, leading to the Civil Rights Act 1964 and the Voting Rights Act 1968. I do believe that Malcolm X was more successful at improving African-American lives, be empowering the youth that they could get what they want and stand up for there basic human rights. Although his methods were to a more immoralistic side, the belief that all he wanted was freedom from oppression. Willing to see both sides, having violent methods yet being able to see the sense in Dr. King's methodology made him the greater man and role model for the Black Youth.
