Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. Differences and the Role of the Media:A Comparative Study

Seminar paper from the year 2013 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,0, course: The 1960s, language: English, abstract: Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. are two of the most important leaders in the black freedom movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Their contributions are highly valued until today, although peoples opinions on the two leaders vary: some support the one and disapprove of the other. Furthermore, during their lifetime and even after their death, both were perceived as having followed two different ideologies. Their differing opinions on violence and non-violence, integration and separatism were regarded as preventing the two from moving closer to each other. Therefore, people regarded and portrayed them as adversaries since their images arouse controversial feelings, admiration and disapproval, among black and white people. On the bright side, Martin Luther King, Jr. the well-educated, peaceful promoter of love and hope in contradistinction to Malcolm X, on the dark side, the autodidact, radical Black Muslim extremist. Apparently this seemed to be the two poles in public imagination which the American mass media had contributed to. Where might these diferences come from, are they justified and what impact did the media play in the process of creating these public images? In order to adress these questions, this work is going to examine the two mens life, thought, and work in more detail.