The Battle of Baltimore. On June 18,1812, the United States declared war on England, then the greatest power on earth, to preserve Free Trade and Sailors' Rights.. The British, while at war with France, had interfered with our trade and had boarded American ships, pressing our sailors into service on their ships.
In 1963 Malcolm X began a collaboration with Alex Haley on his life story, The Autobiography of Malcolm X. He told Haley, If I'm alive when this book comes out, it will be a miracle.. Haley completed and published it some months after the assassination.
Martin Luther King Jr. was an activist during the Civil Rights Movement, who based his ideology on equality for both black people and white people. Malcolm X was an Islamic Civil Rights activist, who became popular in the mid to late 1960's as a member of Nation of Islam.