Malcolm X

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the person. For other uses, see Malcolm X (disambiguation).
"Malcolm Little" and "Malik Shabazz" redirect here. For other uses, see Malcolm
Little (disambiguation) and Malik Shabazz (disambiguation).

Malcolm X
 Malcolm X in March 1964

Born Malcolm Little

May 19, 1925

Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.

Died February 21, 1965 (aged 39)

New York City, U.S.

Cause of death Assassination by gunshot

Resting place Ferncliff Cemetery

Other names Malik el-Shabazz (Arabic: ‫َم اِلك ٱلَّش َباّز‬, romanized: Mālik

ash-Shabāzz)

 Minister
Occupations
 activist

Organizations  Nation of Islam

 Muslim Mosque, Inc.

 Organization of Afro-American Unity

Movement  Black nationalism

 Pan-Africanism
  Islamism
Betty X
Spouse

(m. 1958)

Children 6, including Attallah, Qubilah, and Ilyasah

Relatives Louise Helen Norton Little (mother)

Malcolm Shabazz (grandson)[1]

Signature

Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 –
February 21, 1965) was an American Muslim minister and human rights activist who
was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement. A spokesman for the Nation
of Islam until 1964, he was a vocal advocate for Black empowerment and the
promotion of Islam within the Black community. A posthumous autobiography, on
which he collaborated with Alex Haley, was published in 1965.

Malcolm spent his adolescence living in a series of foster homes or with relatives
after his father's death and his mother's hospitalization. He committed various
crimes, being sentenced to 8 to 10 years in prison in 1946 for larceny and burglary.
In prison, he joined the Nation of Islam, adopting the name Malcolm X to symbolize
his unknown African ancestral surname while discarding "the White slavemaster
name of 'Little'", and after his parole in 1952 quickly became one of the
organization's most influential leaders. He was the public face of the organization for
12 years, advocating Black empowerment and separation of Black and White
Americans, and criticizing Martin Luther King Jr. and the mainstream civil rights
movement for its emphasis on nonviolence and racial integration. Malcolm X also
expressed pride in some of the Nation's social welfare achievements, such as its
free drug rehabilitation program. From the 1950s onward, Malcolm X was subjected
to surveillance by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

In the 1960s, Malcolm X began to grow disillusioned with the Nation of Islam, as well
as with its leader, Elijah Muhammad. He subsequently embraced Sunni Islam and
the civil rights movement after completing the Hajj to Mecca and became known as
"el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz," which roughly translates to "The Pilgrim Malcolm the
Patriarch". After a brief period of travel across Africa, he publicly renounced the
Nation of Islam and founded the Islamic Muslim Mosque, Inc. (MMI) and the Pan-
African Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU). Throughout 1964, his conflict
with the Nation of Islam intensified, and he was repeatedly sent death threats. On
February 21, 1965, he was assassinated in New York City. Three Nation members
were charged with the murder and given indeterminate life sentences; in 2021, two
of the convictions were vacated. Speculation about the assassination and whether it
was conceived or aided by leading or additional members of the Nation, or with law
enforcement agencies, has persisted for decades.
A controversial figure accused of preaching racism and violence, Malcolm X is also a
widely celebrated figure within African American and Muslim American communities
for his pursuit of racial justice. He was posthumously honored with Malcolm X Day,
on which he is commemorated in various cities across the United States. Hundreds
of streets and schools in the U.S. have been renamed in his honor, while
the Audubon Ballroom, the site of his assassination, was partly redeveloped in 2005
to accommodate the Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational
Center.

Early years

A 1930 United States Census return listing the Little

family (lines 59ff)
Malcolm X was born May 19, 1925, in Omaha, Nebraska, the fourth of seven
children of Grenada-born Louise Helen Little (née Langdon) and Georgia-born Earl
Little.[2] Earl was an outspoken Baptist lay speaker, and he and Louise were admirers
of Pan-African activist Marcus Garvey. Earl was a local leader of the Universal Negro
Improvement Association (UNIA) and Louise served as secretary and "branch
reporter", sending news of local UNIA activities to Negro World; they inculcated self-
reliance and black pride in their children.[3][4][5] Malcolm X later said that White violence
killed four of his father's brothers.[6]

Because of Ku Klux Klan threats, Earl's UNIA activities were said to be "spreading
trouble"[7] and the family relocated in 1926 to Milwaukee, and shortly thereafter
to Lansing, Michigan.[8] There, the family was frequently harassed by the Black
Legion, a White racist group Earl accused of burning their family home in 1929.[9]

When Malcolm was six, his father died in what has been officially ruled
a streetcar accident, though his mother Louise believed Earl had been murdered by
the Black Legion. Rumors that White racists were responsible for his father's death
were widely circulated and were very disturbing to Malcolm X as a child. As an adult,
he expressed conflicting beliefs on the question.[10] After a dispute with creditors,
Louise received a life insurance benefit (nominally $1,000 ‍—‌about $19,000 in 2023)
[A]
in payments of $18 per month;[11] the issuer of another, larger policy refused to pay,
claiming her husband Earl had committed suicide.[12] To make ends meet, Louise
rented out part of her garden, and her sons hunted game.[11]

During the 1930s, white Seventh-day Adventists witnessed to the Little family; later
on, Louise Little and her son Wilfred were baptized into the Seventh-day Adventist
Church. Malcolm said the Adventists were "the friendliest white people I had ever
seen."[13]
In 1937, a man Louise had been dating‍—‌marriage had seemed a possibility‍—‌
vanished from her life when she became pregnant with his child.[14] In late 1938, she
had a nervous breakdown and was committed to Kalamazoo State Hospital. The
children were separated and sent to foster homes. Malcolm and his siblings secured
her release 24 years later.[15][16]

Malcolm attended West Junior High School in Lansing and then Mason High School
in Mason, Michigan, but left high school in 1941, before graduating.[17] He excelled in
junior high school but dropped out of high school after a White teacher told him that
practicing law, his aspiration at the time, was "no realistic goal for a nigger." [18] Later,
Malcolm X recalled feeling that the White world offered no place for a career-oriented
Black man, regardless of talent.[18]

A Boston police mug shot of Malcolm, following his

arrest for larceny (1944) [19]

From age 14 to 21, Malcolm held a variety of jobs while living with his half-sister Ella
Little-Collins in Roxbury, a largely African American neighborhood of Boston.[20][21]

After a short time in Flint, Michigan, he moved to New York

City's Harlem neighborhood in 1943, where he found employment on the New Haven
Railroad and engaged in drug dealing, gambling, racketeering, robbery, and pimping.
[22]
According to biographer Bruce Perry, Malcolm also occasionally had sex with
other men, usually for money, though this conjecture has been disputed by those
who knew him.[23][24][B] He befriended John Elroy Sanford, a fellow dishwasher at
Jimmy's Chicken Shack in Harlem who aspired to be a professional comedian. Both
men had reddish hair, so Sanford was called "Chicago Red" after his hometown, and
Malcolm was known as "Detroit Red". Years later, Sanford became famous as
comedian and actor Redd Foxx.[32]

Summoned by the local draft board for military service in World War II, he feigned
mental disturbance by rambling and declaring: "I want to be sent down South.
Organize them nigger soldiers ... steal us some guns, and kill us [some] crackers".[33]
[34][35]
He was declared "mentally disqualified for military service".[33][34][35]

In late 1945, Malcolm returned to Boston, where he and four accomplices committed
a series of burglaries targeting wealthy White families.[36] In 1946, he was arrested
while picking up a stolen watch he had left at a shop for repairs,[37] and in February
began serving a sentence of eight to ten years at Charlestown State Prison for
larceny and breaking and entering.[38] Two years later, Malcolm was transferred
to Norfolk Prison Colony (also in Massachusetts).[39][40]

Nation of Islam period

Further information: Nation of Islam
Prison
Between Mr. Muhammad's teachings, my correspondence, my visitors ... and my reading of books, months passed without
my even thinking about being imprisoned. In fact, up to then, I had never been so truly free in my life.
—Malcolm X[41]

When Malcolm was in prison, he met fellow convict John Bembry,[42] a self-educated
man he would later describe as "the first man I had ever seen command total
respect ... with words".[43] Under Bembry's influence, Malcolm developed a voracious
appetite for reading.[44]

At this time, several of his siblings wrote to him about the Nation of Islam, a relatively
new religious movement preaching Black self-reliance and, ultimately, the return of
the African diaspora to Africa, where they would be free from White American and
European domination.[45] He showed scant interest at first, but after his brother
Reginald wrote in 1948, "Malcolm, don't eat any more pork and don't smoke any
more cigarettes. I'll show you how to get out of prison",[46] he quit smoking and began
to refuse pork.[47]

After a visit in which Reginald described the group's teachings, including the belief
that White people are devils, Malcolm concluded that every relationship he had had
with Whites had been tainted by dishonesty, injustice, greed, and hatred.[48] Malcolm,
whose hostility to Christianity had earned him the prison nickname
"Satan,"[49] became receptive to the message of the Nation of Islam.[50]

In late 1948, Malcolm wrote to Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam.
Muhammad advised him to renounce his past, humbly bow in prayer to God and
promise never to engage in destructive behavior again.[51] Though he later recalled
the inner struggle he had before bending his knees to pray,[52] Malcolm soon became
a member of the Nation of Islam,[51] maintaining a regular correspondence with
Muhammad.[53]

In 1950, the FBI opened a file on Malcolm after he wrote a letter from prison to
President Harry S. Truman expressing opposition to the Korean War and declaring
himself a communist.[54] That year, he also began signing his name
"Malcolm X."[55] Muhammad instructed his followers to leave their family names
behind when they joined the Nation of Islam and use "X" instead. When the time was
right, after they had proven their sincerity, he said, he would reveal the Muslim's
"original name."[56] In his autobiography, Malcolm X explained that the "X" symbolized
the true African family name that he could never know. "For me, my 'X' replaced the
White slavemaster name of 'Little' which some blue-eyed devil named Little had
imposed upon my paternal forebears."[57]

Early ministry
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After his parole in August 1952,[58] Malcolm X visited Elijah Muhammad in Chicago.
[59]
In June 1953, he was named assistant minister of the Nation's Temple Number
One in Detroit.[60][C] Later that year he established Boston's Temple Number 11;[62] in
March 1954, he expanded Temple Number 12 in Philadelphia;[63] and two months
later he was selected to lead Temple Number 7 in Harlem,[64] where he rapidly
expanded its membership.[65]

In 1953, the FBI began surveillance of him, turning its attention from Malcolm X's
possible communist associations to his rapid ascent in the Nation of Islam.[66]

During 1955, Malcolm X continued his successful recruitment of members on behalf

of the Nation of Islam. He established temples in Springfield, Massachusetts
(Number 13); Hartford, Connecticut (Number 14); and Atlanta (Number 15).
Hundreds of African Americans were joining the Nation of Islam every month. [67]

Besides his skill as a speaker, Malcolm X had an impressive physical presence. He

stood 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m) tall and weighed about 180 pounds (82 kg).[68] One
writer described him as "powerfully built",[69] and another as "mesmerizingly
handsome ... and always spotlessly well-groomed".[68]

Marriage and family

In 1955, Betty Sanders met Malcolm X after one of his lectures, then again at a
dinner party; soon she was regularly attending his lectures. In 1956, she joined the
Nation of Islam, changing her name to Betty X.[70] One-on-one dates were contrary to
the Nation's teachings, so the couple courted at social events with dozens or
hundreds of others, and Malcolm X made a point of inviting her on the frequent
group visits he led to New York City's museums and libraries.[71]

Malcolm X proposed during a telephone call from Detroit in January 1958, and they
married two days later.[72][73] They had six daughters: Attallah (b. 1958; Arabic for "gift
of God"; perhaps named after Attila the Hun);[74][D][E] Qubilah (b. 1960, named
after Kublai Khan);[78] Ilyasah (b. 1962, named after Elijah Muhammad);[79] Gamilah
Lumumba (b. 1964, named after Gamal Abdel Nasser and Patrice Lumumba);[80]
[81]
and twins Malikah (1965–2021)[82] and Malaak (b. 1965, both born after their
father's death, and named in his honor).[83]

Hinton Johnson incident

The American public first became aware of Malcolm X in 1957, after Hinton Johnson,
[F]
a Nation of Islam member, was beaten by two New York City police officers.[86][87] On
April 26, Johnson and two other passersby‍—‌also Nation of Islam members‍—‌saw the
officers beating an African-American man with nightsticks.[86] When they attempted to
intervene, shouting, "You're not in Alabama ... this is New York!"[87] one of the officers
turned on Johnson, beating him so severely that he suffered brain contusions and
subdural hemorrhaging. All four African American men were arrested.[86]

Alerted by a witness, Malcolm X and a small group of Muslims went to the police
station and demanded to see Johnson.[86] Police initially denied that any Muslims
were being held, but when the crowd grew to about five hundred, they allowed
Malcolm X to speak with Johnson.[88] Afterward, Malcolm X insisted on arranging for
an ambulance to take Johnson to Harlem Hospital.[89]
Johnson's injuries were treated and by the time he was returned to the police station,
some four thousand people had gathered outside.[88] Inside the station, Malcolm X
and an attorney were making bail arrangements for two of the Muslims. Johnson was
not bailed, and police said he could not go back to the hospital until
his arraignment the following day.[89] Considering the situation to be at an impasse,
Malcolm X stepped outside the station house and gave a hand signal to the crowd.
Nation members silently left, after which time the rest of the crowd also dispersed. [89]

One police officer told the New York Amsterdam News: "No one man should have
that much power."[89][90] Within a month the New York City Police Department arranged
to keep Malcolm X under surveillance; it also made inquiries with authorities in other
cities in which he had lived, and prisons in which he had served time.[91] A grand
jury declined to indict the officers who beat Johnson. In October, Malcolm X sent an
angry telegram to the police commissioner. Soon the police department assigned
undercover officers to infiltrate the Nation of Islam.[92]

Increasing prominence
By the late 1950s, Malcolm X was using a new name, Malcolm Shabazz or el-Hajj
Malik el-Shabazz ("The Pilgrim Malcolm the Patriarch"),[93][94][95] although he was still
widely referred to as Malcolm X.[96] His comments on issues and events were being
widely reported in print, on radio, and on television,[97] and he was featured in a 1959
New York City television broadcast about the Nation of Islam, The Hate That Hate
Produced.[97]

In September 1960, at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City,
Malcolm X was invited to the official functions of several African nations. He
met Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, Ahmed Sékou Touré of Guinea, and Kenneth
Kaunda of the Zambian African National Congress.[98] Fidel Castro also attended the
Assembly, and Malcolm X met publicly with him as part of a welcoming committee of
Harlem community leaders.[99] Castro was sufficiently impressed with Malcolm X to
suggest a private meeting, and after two hours of talking, Castro invited Malcolm X to
visit Cuba.[100]

Advocacy and teachings while with Nation

Cassius Clay (second row, in dark suit)

watches Elijah Muhammad speak, 1964
From his adoption of the Nation of Islam in 1952 until he broke with it in 1964,
Malcolm X promoted the Nation's teachings. These included beliefs:

 That Black people are the original people of the world[101]

  That White people are "devils"[102] and
 That the demise of the White race is imminent.[103]
Louis E. Lomax said that "those who don't understand biblical prophecy wrongly
label him as a racist and as a hate teacher, or as being anti-White or as teaching
Black Supremacy".[104] One of the goals of the civil rights movement was to
end disenfranchisement of African Americans, but the Nation of Islam forbade its
members from participating in voting and other aspects of the political process.
[105]
The NAACP and other civil rights organizations denounced him and the Nation of
Islam as irresponsible extremists whose views did not represent the common
interests of African Americans.[106][107]

Malcolm X was equally critical of the civil rights movement.[108] He called Martin Luther
King Jr. a "chump," and said other civil rights leaders were "stooges" of the White
establishment.[109][G] He called the 1963 March on Washington "the farce on
Washington,"[112] and said he did not know why so many Black people were excited
about a demonstration "run by Whites in front of a statue of a president who has
been dead for a hundred years and who didn't like us when he was alive."[113]

While the civil rights movement fought against racial segregation, Malcolm X
advocated the complete separation of African Americans from Whites. He proposed
that African Americans should return to Africa and that, in the interim, a separate
country for Black people in America should be created.[114][115] He rejected the civil
rights movement's strategy of nonviolence, arguing that Black people should defend
and advance themselves "by any means necessary".[116] His speeches had a powerful
effect on his audiences, who were generally African Americans
in northern and western cities. Many of them‍—‌tired of being told to wait for freedom,
justice, equality and respect[117]‍—‌felt that he articulated their complaints better than
did the civil rights movement.[118][119]

Antisemitism
Malcolm X has been widely accused of being antisemitic.[120][121] His autobiography
contains several "antisemitic charges and caricatures of Jews".[122] Alex Haley, the
autobiography's co-author, had to rewrite some of the book to eliminate a number of
negative statements about Jews in the manuscript.[123] Malcolm X believed that the
fabricated antisemitic text The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was authentic and
introduced it to NOI members, while accusing the Jewish people of "perfecting the
modern evil" of neo-colonialism.[124][125] He helped change the Black community's image
of The Holocaust, engaging in Holocaust trivialization and claiming that the Jews
"brought it on themselves".[126]

In 1961, Malcolm X spoke at a NOI rally alongside George Lincoln Rockwell, the
head of the American Nazi Party. Rockwell claimed that there was overlap between
Black nationalism and White supremacy.[127] Malcolm X's negative statements about
Jews continued even close to his death, referring to Jews as "bloodsucker[s]" in
statements he made during the last months of his life.[128]

Effect on Nation membership

Malcolm X is widely regarded as the second most influential leader of the Nation of
Islam after Elijah Muhammad.[129] He was largely credited with the group's dramatic
increase in membership between the early 1950s and early 1960s (from 500 to
25,000 by one estimate;[H] from 1,200 to 50,000 or 75,000 by another).[131][I]

He inspired the boxer Muhammad Ali to join the Nation,[133] and the two became close.
[134]
In January 1964, Ali brought Malcolm X and his family to Miami to watch him train
for his fight against Sonny Liston.[135] When Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam, he tried
to convince Ali (who had just been renamed by Elijah Muhammad) to join him in
converting to Sunni Islam, but Ali instead broke ties with him, later describing the
break as one of his greatest regrets.[J]

Malcolm X mentored and guided Louis X (later known as Louis Farrakhan), who
eventually became the leader of the Nation of Islam.[137] Malcolm X also served as a
mentor and confidant to Elijah Muhammad's son, Wallace D. Muhammad; the son
told Malcolm X about his skepticism toward his father's "unorthodox approach" to
Islam.[138] Wallace Muhammad was excommunicated from the Nation of Islam several
times, although he was eventually re-admitted.[139]