Malcolm and Martin in America

A. Cones View of Martin and Malcolm in America: Cones thought was that Martin and Malcolm were complementary to each other for the struggle for black rights, freedom and equality. While Martins ideology of non-violence worked on the de jury segregation in the south, he was unsuccessful to acknowledge the de facto segregation prevalent in the North. Malcolm, on the other hand appeared as a charismatic leader in Northern black community, while he did not play vital role regarding racism in South. Hence, the combination of these two figures will make the struggle for the racial quality across the country possible. The socio-economic conditions they lived through made these leaders develop different path of ideologies, but their destinations were the same- freedom, equality and justice.

B. Lessons Take Away from: 1. Civil Rights: The book abridged the stories of black struggles for freedom that was in peak during 1960s. The book mainly focuses on the socio-economic conditions of the black and their behavior en masse in response to the various developments during the civil rights movement . The book provided analysis on the social structure in the regions with black majorities (in south) and economic condition of these communities. I was also able to learn how the issues like World War, employment, etc. were able to change the population distribution of the blacks in the country. The book also focuses on the various non-violent movements like sit-ins, marches, during that time across the country for the equal opportunities and civil rights of the blacks in the country. The book also provides information on how the civil rights movement, at the end of the century, started to change

to black power movement and how the urban riots and rebellion played role for the another step of the movement for equality, justice, respect and freedom for black Americans. 2. Autobiography of Malcolm X: This is one of the excellent books I have read so far. Frankly, it sounded to me more like a novel than an autobiography while I was running my eyes through the life stories of Malcolm X. The book is the story of a man that has been looked down upon many people as a militant, despite the fact that he had no hypocrisy to live with, no evidence to hide and no lies to tell. I think the book was a satire to the so called civilized societies and their wise leaders existent across the globe who care less about the truth but more about their own success through any means possible. 3. Martin and Malcolm and America: The book presents comparative study on two great black leaders America has ever seen, Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. The book points out the polarity existent in the leader during their starting days and how that polarity got closer to each other by the time they both were assassinated. In the book, comparative analysis among these two leaders shows that they had various strong and weak points in their approaches towards freedom, equality and justice; and that ideological differences in these two leaders were complementary to each other for the cause they were fighting for.

C. Nation of Islam: Nation of Islam is a religious organization established in Detroit by W.D. Fard who, as described by Elijah Mohammed, was the human figure of god Allah. Fards disciple, Elijah Mohammed took the charge of the nation and started its expansion across the country. Elijah was born in Georgia and had moved to Detroit where he came in contact with W.D. Fard. Elijah was focusing on expansion of the Nation among the black communities. After Elijah took the charge of the Nation of Islam, he came in contact with Malcolm X. After Malcolm got out of

Jail, he started serving the Nation under Elijah. Malcolm started being a prominent figure in the Nation and he started travelling around the country and regulating the temples.

D. Faith in Action Purpose: 1. Civil Rights: The books major part is focused on faith on non-violence, which was the mantra of civil rights movement led by the leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King and assisted by various people across the country. The actions due to the faith were programs like sit-ins, boycott, march, freedom rides and so on. 2. Biography of Malcolm X: The biography of Malcolm X presents the faith on blackness. Initially, himself being follower of white trends and looks, Malcolm transformed into a character, after getting in contact with Elijah Mohammed, who started acknowledging the value of his own identity and color. This faith of Malcolm on African identity facilitated him to speak for the power to oppressed blacks in the ghetto, encourage blacks of the country to be self-respectful, and fight for the equality. This became an important input for black power movement. 3. Martin and Malcolm and America: Some of the important faith presented in the book that shaped the leaders Martin and Malcolm were religion, self-empowerment and self-respect. These faith prevalent on both of the leaders played crucial role in their work for black rights, equality, freedom and justice. Martins faith made him non-violent while Malcolms faith made him self-defensive. The interesting fact was that similar faith in these leaders pushed them into different paths of action to achieve the same goal of equality, freedom and justice.