The Anti-Slavery Movement of the Early Twentieth Century Essay - 1

The Anti-Slavery Movement of the Early Twentieth Century - Essay Example Three such famous works are the â€Å"Letter from Birmingham Jail†, â€Å"The Ballot or the Bullet†, and â€Å"Race and Identity in America† by Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and Glenn C. Loury respectively. While they all worked for gaining Civilian Rights for the Blacks, they are largely different in their approach and methods. This paper looks into the possible similarities and the evident differences and their relevance to their leaders. In the first place, there is an interesting comparison between the â€Å"Letter from Birmingham Jail† and â€Å"The Ballot or the Bullet† in terms of the underlying beliefs that drive the movement led by the two different leaders of the time. They show an acute connection between the two authors: Martin Luther King and Malcolm x: both were religious leaders and thinkers and so were the philosophies of their civil disobedience movements. Both of them agree that God is the supreme justice and that any person born on earth is entitled to personal dignity and worth, which is God-given. Both converge in yet another idea about human rights. They feel that it is something to be claimed as they feel that they are not just human-rights but are God-given. Both of them considered that the black should be given the right to vote and that politics is to be used to a certain extent up until it helps realize a moral end. However, they differ in a few areas. There are strong disagreeme nts between them on the concept of non-violence. Letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King is a response to the charges against his non-violent movement or retaliation. The local clergymen had charged his actions as extremism, as one that is not to be continued rather stopped immediately.