Decolonization and the US Civil Rights Struggle

The era of decolonization following the Second World War provided many examples of nonviolent struggles alongside violent decolonization efforts. This chapter focuses on the wider context around the differences and parallels between the varying approaches of Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King, one advocating armed struggle, the other embracing nonviolence with extensive, explicit links to Gandhi. The turbulent 1960s in Europe and the United States reflected a sharp divide between those violence advocates who, like Mao, saw revolution emerging from the barrel of a gun, and many, but not all, African Americans who were committed to restraining the turn to violence.