The novel Manchild In the Promised Land, by Claude Brown, fictionalizes his life during the civil rights movement. This novel explores the themes of racism, poverty, and the movement for blacks to gain respect as a demographic group. While many of us know the details of the ideals of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr. and The BlackPanthers. We are not familiar with the lives of ordinary people who wanted to fight to gain respect, but simply trying to stay alive prevented them from doing so. Brown offers an in-depth look into the lesser-known world of what it really was like for the average person. person who grew up during the civil rights movement. Sonny, the main character of the novel, grows up in poor Harlem. He lives with the average family and his parents work less than mediocre jobs to make ends meet. At the age of nine Sonny was in and out of many reform schools. He spends his time hanging out with friends and selling drugs; Sonny lived a life of crime. Even though Sonny knows that as a race his people are not respected and have no rights in society, he is too busy to do anything or care. Unfortunately, Sonny's brother also lives his own life of crime. In Out of Many, our class text, there is extensive knowledge about the ideals of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. Malcolm x taught the ideals of black supremacy and how we blacks and whites should be separated. He fought directly against some of the ideas presented by leaders like King, but ultimately fought for the utmost respect for African Americans. Martin Luther King Jr. believed that civil disobedience and fighting with kindness is the… center of the card… and is surrounded by negativity. Furthermore, it would not have succeeded in a world where it relied on groups like the Islamic faith, the SCLC, or the black power movement. From the documents, the texts and the novel I read it is semi-clear to me that ClaudeBrown would most likely have been successful. they identified with Martin Luther King Jr. in the civil rights movement. Brown, to me, believed that being violent and demanding things happen for you was not going to be successful. Even though people were angry about not being respected, they still needed their white counterparts to help them function in America. Although I believe he agreed with the ideals presented by Dr. King, I think he wasn't really focused on the demonstrations and the boycott but, he thought the way to gain respect was to work on yourself as a person and be the best person you can be. you can be.