Answer to Question #170180 in History for Ash

Question

One of the most tired tropes of the history of the civil rights movement is the comparison of the approaches of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X to the scourges of racism and segregation in the 1950s and 1960s. However, the use of the two men's writings is extremely useful in examining social movement strategy in general.

Protests inspired by the murder of George Floyd swept the country in 2020. After reading King's Letter from Birmingham Jail and Malcolm X's Ballot or the Bullet, what elements of each of their approaches do you see in the Floyd protests? Do you see one or the other approach dominating and become ascendant?

Answer 1

The civil rights movement was an organized effort by Black Americans to end racial discrimination and gain equal rights under the law. It began in the late 1940s and ended in the late 1960s.

The Civil Rights Movement encompasses social movements in the United States whose goals were to end racial segregation and discrimination against African Americans and secure legal recognition and federal protection of the citizenship rights enumerated in the Constitution and federal law.