MLK vs. the Black Panthers

While the Letter from Birmingham Jail focused specifically on nonviolent protest and how Martin Luther King felt that it would be the key to winning civil rights, the "Black Power" article was almost exactly the opposite, focusing on how African-Americans had to stand together against the white rule (using guns and other forms of violent protest). And although the ways in which the two articles talked about taking a stand, they were both insistent that something had to be done. King's article focuses mostly on how that stand is to be taken so as to be effective. On the other hand, the Black Panthers' article described WHY the African-Americans needed to be bold and fight for their rights. Both were great examples of the racial tension and issues of the times.