King Jr. and Malcolm X In the book, Baldwin discusses his whereabouts during the murders of two of the movement's most influential titanic figures—Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. He discusses his involvement, philosophies the meaning of the movement, its key players, what impact as a whole it had on all Americans and, ultimately, how it changed his attitude about the possibility of America ever achieving racial harmony. Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist minister and a civil rights activist best known by his role in the advancement of civil rights. He was known as a peaceful man, inspired by Gandhi's success with non-violent activism, and did not believe in using violence to get his point across. In 1959, King visited Gandhi's birthplace, the trip deepening his understanding of nonviolent resistance and his commitment to America's struggle for civil rights. In an address that was played on the radio, King reflected on his experience and how it changed him: "Since being in India, I am more convinced than ever before that the method of nonviolent resistance is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for justice and human dignity. In a real sense, Mahatma Gandhi embodied in his life certain universal principles that are inherent in the moral structure of the universe, and these principles are as inescapable as the law of gravitation." King was assassinated in room 306 of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968. After emergency chest surgery, he was pronounced dead. The motel is now the home of the National Civil Rights Museum. King and James Baldwin were close friends. They met in 1958 just a year after the Montgomery bus boycott. Along with King, Baldwin helped shape the idealism upon which the sixties civil rights protest was based. Baldwin frequently mentions King throughout his book "Since Martin's death... Something has gone away. Perhaps even more than the death itself, the manner of his death has forced me into a judgment concerning human life and human beings which I have always been reluctant to make." Malcolm X Malcolm X was an African-American Muslim minister and civil rights activist. In 1946, at the age of twenty, he went to prison for breaking and entering. While there, he became a member of the Nation of Islam. In February 1965, he was preparing to address the