Introduction 1960s and 1970s in America were full of turmoil and unrest. The beginning was promising, marked with John F. Kennedy becoming a president and setting ambitious, reformative laws that promised social change and elimination of discrimination against women and minorities. However, this was met with stark opposition from the Southern states, who hated the liberalist changes Kennedy was trying to introduce. Race-related violence and discriminating “Jim Crow” laws were used to oppress and segregate the African-American population. In response to discrimination, legalized by the “separate but equal” doctrine passed in 1954, African Americans started standing up to the injustice, forming the Civil Rights Movement. But it needed a strong, resolute leader. These two decades gave the civil rights activists not one, but two prominent leaders, who defined the movement in different ways: Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X (“A Timeline of 1964 and 1963 Civil Rights Milestones” par 1). In this article we will look at these leaders and study their similarities and differences, because although they had the same goal – freedom and equality of the black minority – their values and methods couldn’t have been more different. Martin Luther King, Jr. Before becoming a civil rights activist, Martin Luther King, Jr. was a pastor at a Baptist church in Montgomery, Alabama. Having studied medicine and law under Dr. Benjamin Mays, a recognized speaker for racial equality himself, King received a firm intellectual foundation for the role that was about to be placed on him. Less than a year after his marriage, African American Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus for a white person and was arrested. Under the leadership of Martin Luther King, whom the activists chose as their representative and leader, they protested the arrest with a bus boycott that put a strain on the town’s economy. The boycott, as well as King’s strict adherence to peaceful means of resistance, inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, quickly put the movement and King himself into the countrywide spotlight. This victory inspired the activists to found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Its ultimate goal was to end discrimination against African Americans in its entirety and allow the black minority equal opportunities with whites, through non-violent means. King became the leader of the organization and kept the position until his very death. He traveled across the country, performing speeches and lectures on inequality and non-violent opposition to it. Kings rousing talks and adamant refusal in engage in violence cemented his reputation, getting him the Man of the Year award by TIME magazine and the Nobel Peace Prize. His activities, and refusal to respond with violence to violence, earned the movement a lot of support from the white population, President Lyndon Johnson included, which led to the Congress passing the Voting Rights Act, guaranteeing voting rights to people of all races (“Martin Luther King Jr.”) Malcolm X Despite being King’s contemporary and also a civil rights activist, Malcolm X represented the radical and sometimes violent side of the movement. He and his supporters believed that the c