Malcolm X was an African American leader in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. He was an outspoken critic of white racism and segregation, and he argued that black people should not rely on white society for justice or equality. He advocated for self-defense and self-determination as ways to achieve racial justice, which many white people interpreted as a call for violence. Malcolm X also spoke out in favor of economic and political empowerment for African Americans, and he encouraged black pride and black unity.