On March 29, 1964, Malcolm X delivered what would become one of his most famous speeches: "The Ballot or the Bullet."
In his speech, Malcolm X called on Black voters across the U.S. to register to vote in the upcoming 1964 elections.
His speech came on the heels of the 1963 Birmingham Bombing, in which four Black girls were murdered by klansmen. (TV)
Several civil rights leaders blamed then-1964 primary candidate Alabama Gov. George Wallace for the bombing.
A week before the bombing, Wallace told the NYT that the U.S. needed "a few first-class funerals" to stop integration. (TV)
With Wallace running against Pres. Johnson in the primary, Malcolm X declared 1964 the "year of the ballot or the bullet."
Malcolm X: "If we don't resort to the bullet, then immediately we have to take steps to use the ballot."
In his speech, Malcolm X drew inspiration from African nationalism, dubbing it "the wave of the present and the future."
Malcolm X: "It is that 310 years of slave labor that was my and your contribution into this particular...political system."