Malcolm X gets compared (and contrasted) to Dr. King quite a bit.

He didn't write much, and instead came to notoriety through television interviews and speeches. Early in his public life, he was an ardent follower of Elijah Muhammad, the Black Nationalist leader of the Nation of Islam known for his anti-white racism.

Black Nationalists in general were opposed to the strategy and tactics of the SCLC and Dr. King, thinking they weren't radical or militant enough. As we know, Dr. King responded by saying he was a radical. A love radical.

It sounds like a good rebuttal to us, but at the time, the anger in Black communities around the country kept that message from resonating with everyone. Malcolm X and his followers gave a voice to that anger.

Like many Black Nationalists, Malcolm X urged Black Americans to protect themselves and to become self-sufficient as a community. He used the surname of "X" as a form of protest against his given name, which had been handed down through the generations, but which was originally the name of the slave-owner who subjugated his ancestors. It was a very good point to make, but Malcolm might also have been motivated by the fact that his given name was Little. He wanted to be big, and to represent something big, that name had to go.

Late in his life, Malcolm X severed ties with the Nation of Islam and went to Mecca for a pilgrimage, where he learned more about Islam as it was practiced in Africa and the Middle East. After this trip, he famously reversed some of his most radical views, saying that he had been deluded by the leaders of the Nation of Islam, and that he had been wrongly racist against whites.

How extensive this turnabout in perspective was we'll never know, because shortly after his return to the U.S., Malcolm X was assassinated.

Sensing a pattern? Ugh.