MALCOLM X

 (MALCOLM LITTLE; MUSLIM NAME, el-HAJJ MALIK el-SHABAZZ; May 19, 1925, Omaha, NEB.- Feb. 21, 1965, New York.  N.Y.) Political activist and religious leader.  Malcolm X was charismatic spokesman during the 50's and 60's for the Nation of Islam, generally known as Black Muslims, a separatist organization under the autocratic leadership of Elijah Muhammad.

    Malcolm X differed sharply from most of the civil rights leaders of the time, notably Martin Luther King JR., who favored integration with whites and non-violent protest as means for African Americans to gain equal rights.  As a Muslim minister, Malcolm held that integration was pure folly.  To save themselves, he contended, African Americans needed their own land; they needed to separate from, not integrate into, what Malcolm viewed as a deteriorating society.

    Malcolm’s boundless physical energy was matched only by his incisive wit.  He criss-crossed the country speaking on behalf of the Black Muslims. Although some labeled him as a radical and a firebrand, many who heard his spellbinding oratory, especially African Americans who had become demoralized by the slow pace of racial progress, felt that Malcolm told the awful truth about America's problems with race and, in doing so with eloquence, gave them a new-found sense of pride and won for them a measure of respect.  Membership in the Nation of Islam increased from 400 to 40,000 during Malcolm’s ministry.

Early life.  Malcolm X was the 4th child of Earl and Louisa Little; Earl had 3 children by previous marriage.  When Malcolm, as an adult, applied to become a member of the Nation of Islam, he changed his name from Little to the Muslim X, as a rejection, he believed, of a "slave" name and as a symbol of a lost African name that he was destined never to learn.  Malcolm was tall and light-complexioned, with reddish-brown hair and skin, characteristics he inherited from his mother, who was born in Grenada of a black mother and a white Scottish father. Young Malcolm in awe of his dark complexioned solidly built father, who at various times was a Baptist preacher, construction worker, businessman, and organizer for Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association.

When Malcolm was six years old, however, his father, mangled and barely conscious, was found near Lansing, Mich., lying in a pool of blood beside the tracks of a trolley.  He died hours later.  Malcolm became convinced that his father, like three of his father's brothers, was violently killed by white men.

Burglary and Prison Experiences.  Shortly before his twenty-first birthday, having lived alternately in foster homes and with relatives and having survived a profligate life in Harlem and Boston, Malcolm was arrested for burglary.  He and a black friend named Shorty were given concurrent eight-to-ten year sentences.  Sentences for their two white female accomplices were considerably lighter.  Malcolm suspected that the judge, in handing down the sentences, had been strongly influenced by the races of the defendants.  In prison, Malcolm discovered the religious teachings of Elijah Muhammad, which, he later wrote, "completely transformed my life."

Many who bore witness to his graceful manner and polished delivery were astonished to learn that Malcolm possessed no Universal degrees.  His formal education, in fact, stopped at the eight grade.  IN prison, he improved his vocabulary by arduously handwriting into his tablet every word in the dictionary.  Malcolm further honed his skills by reading voraciously and by engaging at every opportunity in prison debates.

Following his release from prison in 1952, Malcolm intensified his studies with the Black Muslims and, two years later, was appointed a Black Muslim minister by Elijah Muhammad.  In 1958, Malcolm married former Betty Saunders.  The couple had four children.

    Black Muslim Ministry.  Faithful to the teachings of his mentor, Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm preached that politicians, civil rights workers, and sociologists had all failed to solve America’s intractable racial problems.  Much as Marcus Garvey had, the Nation of Islam asserted that integration was little more than a perpetrated fraud: The white "devils" had no true intention s of uniting with African Americans.  Elijah Muhammad demanded that a separate territory be granted by the U.S. government for the establishment of an all-black society in reparation for slavery and the subsequent exploitation of African Americans.

    The separatist position taken by the Black Muslims put them at odds with the mainstream civil rights groups such as the National Association For The Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), led by Roy Wilkins, the National Urban League, led by Whitney M. Young, JR., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), headed by King.  To fight discrimination in housing, employment, and education to end segregation in public facilities, these organizations advocated action in the form of boycotts, "FREEDOM RIDES," and SIT-INS.  Why would any proud African American, the Black Muslims asked, beg and boycott to be integrated with former slaveholders?  Furthermore, the Black Muslims argued, white people would only accept a token form of integration.

The Black Muslims taught that the ORIGINAL race of humans were Black and had built a glorious civilization with flourishing culture.  Central to Black Muslim teachings was the view that the white race was bleached-out people developed centuries ago by a defiant black scientist through the use of recessive gene structure, and that whites had fashioned their religion, Christianity, to deceive, subjugate, and enslave people of color around the world.  IT was now time for the Blacks to resist the "brain-washing" attempts of the white race, to return to their true religion, Islam, and to claim their rightful heritage.

Malcolm X was in great demand as a public speaker.  Whether appearing on television shows or in forums held at the nation's best universities, Malcolm passionately voiced the hopes and frustrations of his people.  Many were deeply moved by his words, including a surprising number of white students who flocked to his speeches.

    Break with Elijah Muhammad.  Shortly after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963, Elijah Muhammad summoned Malcolm to speak at the Manhattan Center in New York.  At the conclusion of his speech, responding to a question, Malcolm said that the assassination was a case of the "chickens coming home to roost." He believed that the shooting of the president was proof that the hatred in some whites went beyond the need to murder blacks only.  Such hatred, he said, had become so uncontrolled that it had brought down the nations commander in chief; Malcolm likened the killings to the deaths of civil rights leader Medgar Evers and African leader Patrice Lumumba.  Malcolm’s comment about the assassination made instant headlines.

Elijah Muhammad, stating that Malcolm’s remark was "ill-timed," officially silenced Malcolm for 90 days, although Malcolm surmised that his own increasing popularity and his recent KNOWLEDGE of ethical misconduct by Elijah Muhammad had already irreparably strained their relationship. 

Mecca and beyond. Shortly thereafter, Malcolm founded the independent Muslim Mosque, Inc.  Fully aware of the danger he would incur by publicly divorcing himself from the powerful Elijah Muhammad and needed to prepare himself for his new responsibilities, Malcolm decided to take his first religious pilgrimage, or, to the Muslim holy city of Mecca.  There, he was astounded to learn that orthodox Muslim practices were at variance with much of what Elijah Muhammad had taught.  Malcolm encountered people with white complexions who treated him like a cherished brother in the faith.  No longer, for him, were all people with white complexions and blue eyes necessarily "devils." The journey to Mecca, he wrote, was " the start of a radical alteration in my whole outlook about 'white' men."

The color-blindness of the Muslim world of Mecca made a significant impression on Malcolm.  He came to see Islam as the one antidote for America’s festering of radical problems.  Malcolm’s devotion to Islam and his transforming power was further underscored by the signature that he affixed to a letter he wrote back to the United States and made available to the American press: "El-Hajj El-Shabazz (Malcolm X)."

Following his return to the United States, Malcolm modified his stance on racial separation.  He also sought to expand his concern for the civil rights to an interest in human rights, and he considered the United Nations, not the American Courts, to be the proper venue to seek redress.  Exploring areas of commonality between African Americans and their African relatives was another goal that he did not live long enough to accomplish.

Assassin's bullets ended Malcolm’s life on feb.21, 1965, in the Audubon Ballroom in New York City.  His memoirs, entitled the autobiography of Malcolm X, co-written by Alex Haley, were published later that same year.  The work stands as one of the most memorable of its genre in American literature.

 Back To The Homepage