What should I include?
* Introduction - Basically this is going to include the answer to your question. It is always a good idea when you first get your title to initially put down your response to the question. This means that when you have completed all the coursework and research you can revisit this initial reaction and state how it has changed after completing your coursework journey. This question refers specifically to the beliefs of the two characters - on a very simple level it is easy to identify that one is Christian and the other is Muslim, one believed in peace and the other in violence, one believed in blacks "sharing" the same "dream" as whites whilst the other advocated "black pride". However what your research should show you is that in actual fact they were a lot more similar than they appear to the uneducated eye. This will be the focus of your essay. The idea here is that these two were alive at the same time, they both experienced racism in the USA, they both used their religion to fight against the racism and they both died in the same way. Yet their message and their actions were completely different. Why was this the case?
* You need to think about where people's beliefs come from - how do we acquire them and how is it that the two characters ended up with, at least from an unexamined stance, such different beliefs. You will need to find a few philosophers which talk about how we acquire our beliefs. Areas such as family background and environmental concerns will have to be included. Look at their families and childhood education. Ensure that you include a wide variety of source quotations here (You need to include sources and quotes throughout all of the areas of their lives otherwise it will turn into a narrative story.)
* The religious influences and their beliefs. Here you need to include the fact that MLK was influenced by Christianity and MX by Islam. You MUST included passages from the Bible and the Qur'an and use them to show these influences. For some relevant passages click here. This is a major part of the essay - not only do you have to recount their beliefs but you also have to critically examine them. This should lead you very nicely into how their beliefs directly influenced their actions.
* The action of the two. How did each of them react to the oppression at the time? How did they fight the injustices? To what extent were they true to their beliefs? Were there any other influences on their action?
* Who else influenced them? Did this lead to any differences in the way they carried out their work?
* The latter years of their lives. How did their ideas develop? Did they change? This is where you can get philosophical - beliefs are based on revelation and faith - to what extent did the two rely solely on this or were they more philosophical about their actions i.e. did they base them on reason and evidence placed in front of them - would this account for the changes in their later lives?
* What happened in their later lives and did their beliefs change or did their interpretation of the beliefs change? What about the events surrounding their deaths and the way in which their deaths were carried out?
* How did the two view each other? At first they were frosty with each other but towards the end of their lives they became admirers of each other's work.
* How did the rest of the world view them at the time? Why was MLK a more acceptable hero to the people of the world? Was this because of his beliefs or his interpretation of his beliefs? How are they viewed now? What is their legacy? Was one of them more successful than the other? Why do you think this is the case? To what extent is their an anti Islam bias against Malcolm X (i.e. against his beliefs) or is it because of his message? The key here is WHY!
* What are their similarities and where do they differ? Although you will mention this all the way throughout your essay, you should sum up your conclusions here. What are their differences? Do you think if they had grown to be old men these differences would have disappeared? To what extent have beliefs played a large part in these differences?
Conclusions.
You have to justify whatever opinion you now have of the two of them. Are they similar? Are they misunderstood? Are the main differences simply in the way people viewed them? Why is this so?