Based on your reading of The Autobiography of Malcolm X and Letter from Birmingham Jail, compare and contrast the approach of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. to achieving racial justice in the United States and the ways that the Autobiography and the Letter help us to understand these approaches.

Be sure in the essay to refer to specific passages in the book and the letter to provide evidence for your argument. The essay should make an argument about your subject, rather than simply list events and ideas. We’ll talk more about this as the semester progresses.The paper should be based largely on the book and the letter, but you may use other sources, including the textbook, lectures, and materials in the library and on the Internet to strengthen your essay. You must provide footnotes or endnotes to document your sources, using the Chicago Style. You may not use parenthetical references. You must footnote all direct quotations, paraphrased material, ideas that are not your own, and information that is not “common knowledge” – meaning the information that comes from the assigned book and letter. The prompt is in the topic line.