Malcolm X's Aims, Methods & Achievements

• Aims:

  • To improve black lives through sermons, speeches & writings to advertise problems & encourage change
• Methods:

  • King- sought integration- Malcolm favoured separatism
  • Malcolm believed black people could regain their self-esteem through control of their own social, economic & political lives
  • NOI taught that whites were evil so it made sense to live separately from them
• Methods:

  • Malcolm rejected King's advocacy for non-violence- arguing that it disarmed the oppressed
  • He mocked the Christian 'turn the other cheek' philosophy- saying only a fool would tell his followers to love the white enemy who treated the black population so badly- he felt such Christian teachings were 'criminal' in that they encouraged white violence against submissive blacks
  • If whites treated black protesters badly- they should take whatever steps are necessary to defend themselves
• Achievements Varied

  • Magazines & newspapers- New York Times & Time printed critical obituaries describing him as a racist & demagogue+
  • Black internationalists were critical- NAACP's leading lawyer- Thurgood Marshall said Malcolm achieved nothing, black baseball player Jackie Robinson pointed out that while MLK & others put their lives on the line in Birmingham, Malcolm stayed in safer places- Harlem
  • The NOI leader Farrakhan dismissed him as a 'cowardly hypocrite dog who is worthy of death'
• Achievements:

  Malcolm- fear he generated among whites helped the passage of the Civil Rights Bill

  However his great significance lies in that he:

  • Drew early attention to Northern ghetto problems
  • Contributed to the growing pride in being black
  • Inspired new,assertive generation of black Americans such as Stokely Carmichael & influenced the development of the Black Power Movement