Martin Luther King Jr.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was probably one of the most recognizable civil rights activists in the history of the United States. He started to get going by leading several of the Montgomery Bus Boycotts which were originally started by Rosa Parks. After the bus boycotts, he continued organizing rallies, protests, and boycotts. In 1963, he delivered his famous “I Have A Dream” speech in Washington DC. His speech lead to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He then turned his focus on getting all African Americans the right to vote without a literacy test. He lead a massive march in his home state Alabama that was treated horribly by the local law enforcement. The police used tear gas, cow prods, and billy clubs on the marchers. President Johnson ordered the National Guard to step in and protect the marchers. This march lead to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4th of 1968 by James Earl Ray. The nation responded with outrage because we had lost one of the most influential men of the century.
Malcolm X
Malcolm Little was fairly young when his house was burned down by the Ku Klux Klan and his father murdered not long after. This instilled a large mistrust of white Americans in him. He moved to Harlem and turned to a life of crime. He was soon caught and sent to jail. Here he educated himself and joined the Nation of Islam. He dropped his so called slave name, Little, and replaced it with the variable X. Instead of integration and equality, like MLK, Malcolm sought to sort of revenge on whites. He used violence and other means to get what he wanted. He was later assassinated by rival black Muslims.
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