What characterized the social rebellion and struggles for civil rights in the 1960s and 1970s?

If you had to choose a characterization of the social rebellion and struggles for civil rights in the sixties and seventies in the US, one option would be "peaceful," since although there were indeed some violent protests, most of them were remarkably non-violent--as those pursued by people like Martin Luther King Jr. 

Civil rights activism was the catalyst for a heightened interest in social causes during the sixties, especially among the young. Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) launched the New Left. Other prominent causes of the era included the anti-war movement, the women's liberation movement, Native American rights. Hispanic rights, and gay rights. By 1970 a counterculture had emerged, featuring young people who used mind-altering drugs, lived on rural communes, and in other ways "dropped out" of the conventional world, which they viewed as corrupt.