Civil rights activists became increasingly combative in the 1963 to 1964 period , seeking to defy such events as the thwarting of the Albany campaign , police repression and Ku Klux Klan terrorism in Birmingham , and the assassination of Medgar Evers . The latter 's brother Charles Evers , who took over as Mississippi NAACP Field Director , told a public NAACP conference on February 15 , 1964 , that " non-violence wo n't work in Mississippi ... we made up our minds ... that if a white man shoots at a Negro in Mississippi , we will shoot back . " The repression of sit-ins in Jacksonville , Florida , provoked a riot in which black youth threw Molotov cocktails at police on March 24 , 1964 . Malcolm X gave numerous speeches in this period warning that such militant activity would escalate further if African Americans ' rights were not fully recognized . In his landmark April 1964 speech " The Ballot or the Bullet " , Malcolm presented an ultimatum to white America : " There 's new strategy coming in . It 'll be Molotov cocktails this month , hand grenades next month , and something else next month . It 'll be ballots , or it 'll be bullets . " As noted in the PBS documentary '' Eyes on the Prize '' , " Malcolm X had a far reaching effect on the civil rights movement . In the South , there had been a long tradition of self reliance . Malcolm X 's ideas now touched that tradition " . Self-reliance was becoming paramount in light of the 1964 Democratic National Convention 's decision to refuse seating to the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party ( MFDP ) and instead to seat the regular state delegation , which had been elected in violation of the party 's own rules , and by Jim Crow law instead . SNCC moved in an increasingly militant direction and worked with Malcolm X on two Harlem MFDP fundraisers in December 1964
terrorism
16th Street Baptist Church bombing
Civil rights movement