Black Nationalism: Marcus Garvey versus Malcolm X

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Black Nationalism: Marcus Garvey versus Malcolm X
Introduction
The civil rights movement was a historical event that took place in the 1950s and 1960s with the main goal being equality and justice for the African American community. Led by major leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. Malcolm X, among others, it ended in 1968 with the assassination of these key leaders. Overall, while some civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr fought for racial integration during the movement, others emphasized complete separation and identification with African origin. The struggle for equality and justice typically gave rise to Black nationalism, a social and political movement that advocated for black’s self-reliance and self-government and resisted any assimilation of blacks with the whites. Martin Delaney was convinced that African American’s were never going to attain the justice and equality desired while still in the US, and it was best to migrate overseas. Marcus Garvey and Malcolm X were the forces behind Black nationalism, but who held similar and differing perception regarding black nationalism. 
Marcus Garvey versus Malcolm X
Marcus Garvey and Malcolm X were both black nationalists influenced by the oppressive American system created and maintained through harsh slavery against African Americans. Through black nationalism, the two sought to unite African American’s who had been tortured and stripped of their true identities (Franklin 165). Both Marcus and Malcolm considered the black nationalism ideology as a way to make African Americans understand who they were despite living in a society that had for many years subordinated them. However, black nationalism ideology is first traced to Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association of the 1920s which sought to acquire economic power and infuse among African American’s, a sense of community. As an adherent to black nationalism, Marcus Garvey considered an eventual creation of...