Across the region, many other blacks resisted "moving to the back of the bus" and in result similar actions occurred in other cities. The boycott put Martin Luther King Jr. in the national spotlight. He became the acknowledged leader of the Civil Rights Movement.
Martin Luther King: A Leader and Activist
"The black revolution is much more than a struggle for the rights of Negroes. It is interrelated…racism, poverty, militarism, and imperialism. Evils that are deeply rooted in the whole structure of our society.” — Martin Luther King
As the leader of the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King Jr. was at the same time one of the most beloved and one of the most hated men of his time. From his involvement in the Montgomery bus boycott until his death in, King's message of change through peaceful means added to the movement's numbers and gave it its moral strength. The legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. is embodied in these two simple words: equality and …show more content…
Ku Klux Klan terrorists burned his house, and his father was later murdered, an act young Malcolm corresponds with local whites. After moving to Harlem, Malcolm turned to crime. Soon he was arrested and sent to jail.
The prison experience was eye-opening for Malcolm. He began to read and educate himself. Influenced by other inmates, he converted to Islam. Upon his release, he was a changed man with a new identity. Believing his true lineage to be lost when his ancestors were forced into slavery, he took the last name of a variable: X. Which is how he became known a Malcom X instead of Malcom Little.
As Martin Luther King preached peaceful change and integration, Malcolm X delivered a different message: whites were not to be trusted. He called on African Americans to be proud of their heritage and to set up strong communities without the help of white Americans. He promoted the establishment of a separate state for African Americans in which they could rely on themselves to provide solutions to their own problems. Violence was not the only answer, but violence was justified in self-defense. Blacks should achieve what was rightfully theirs "by any means