35TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION Super Hero MALCOLM X

Malcolm X

Perhaps no one else in the civil rights era gave as forceful a voice to the rage and frustration of Black Americans as Malcolm X. As he passionately spoke to America, Malcolm brazenly challenged white domination and demanded change. In doing so, he struck a nerve with a large segment of the Black population and helped many find self-respect and racial pride. 

Malcolm's style and message stood in stark contrast to the leadership of the mainstream Civil Rights Movement, who favored nonviolent protests and integration to end discrimination. Malcolm's candid and often irreverent political views made him the most interviewed African-American leader by the press and, in 1959, the second-most sought-after college speaker. 

Malcolm affirmed fighting back if attacked and felt integration was demeaning .and that it would lead only to token accommodation by whites. He essentially concluded integration would have no effect on the urban Black underclass. This made him a nationalist who believed that African Americans should control their own institutions, economy, and politics. He additionally preached that self-determination would have to be realized "by any means necessary." 

He was born on May 19, 1925, in Omaha, Nebraska, as Malcolm Little. His family was forced out of Omaha by white vigilantes who burned down the family's house. The Littles resettled in Lansing, Michigan, where, in 1931, Malcolm's Baptist minister father was killed, supposedly by whites. After his mother was institutionalized from the strain of trying to raise her family, the children were separated and sent to various foster homes. 

Malcolm went to Boston to live with a relative, but he fell into a life of crime—selling and using drugs, running numbers, and organizing a burglary ring. These activities landed him in jail for six years; he was only 21 then. 

While imprisoned, he was introduced to the teachings of Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam; those teachings allowed him to vent his anger at the way whites had treated his family and denied him opportunities. Malcolm began to accept Muslim ideology. He improved his intellect by copying every word of the dictionary and reading voraciously before and after his parole. 

Upon his release, Malcolm replaced his "slave name" with an X and rose to prominence as the Nation's representative (1952-1964). He proved to be a brilliant, powerful orator who attracted huge crowds on the university lecture circuit. He had a constant media following. He increased Muslim membership by traveling the country and telling African Americans about their previously rich culture, which he said had been taken away by whites who had then brainwashed Blacks into a mentality of self-hate. Malcolm pointed to Muslim separatists and Islam as the means to a better existence, using his own life as an example. 

In 1954, Muhammad, whom Malcolm at first worshiped, made him a minister. Through the years, Malcolm headed Muslim mosques in Boston, Philadelphia, and Harlem, in addition to organizing dozens of temples around the country. He also founded Muhammad Speaks, a newspaper in which a young Louis Farrakhan would later denounce him. 

Malcolm's growing popularity became a source of contention within the Nation, and his discovery of Muhammad's alleged immoral personal behavior created a schism. Malcolm left the Nation of Islam in 1964 to form Muslim Mosque, Inc., in Harlem, New York. 

To undergird his religious beliefs in opening his own mosque, Malcolm took a pilgrimage to the Islamic holy land of Mecca, Saudi Arabia. There he encountered worshipers of all colors who embraced him in the brotherhood of the orthodox faith. This pilgrimage awakened a new world, one of political unity and economic development between Blacks around the globe, as well as social peace with whites. He turned away from the divisive canons on Black-white human genesis and racial stereotypes underpinning the theology of the Nation. 

His political activities quickly grew beyond speeches. In Africa, Malcolm encouraged a show of solidarity by the Organization of African Unity (which was renamed The African Union in 2002) in passing a resolution denouncing racism in the United States. At home, he had already modeled the Organization of Afro-American Unity after its African counterpart. He continued lobbying the World Court and United Nations to support political and economic control of Black communities by African Americans. He threatened to take America's racial policies to the world stage. 

To solidify his newfound Islamic orthodoxy and ideological transformation, Malcolm renamed himself El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. In February 1965, before the Selma march, El-Shabazz spoke at Brown's Chapel in a display of respect for the civil rights activities in the South and to convey the common goals of Blacks across the country. To Coretta King, he expressed regret for not being able to meet with Martin Luther King, Jr., who was in jail for a street protest. 

Unfortunately, there was not enough time left for such a meeting. El-Shabazz was assassinated before it could take place. Threats from many corners of America had long been a way of life for El-Shabazz, but he came to believe that elements of the Nation of Islam and the United States government truly wanted him dead. 

On February 21, a week after his home was firebombed, 15 bullets fired by 3 assailants entered his body. El-Shabazz died in the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem before medical services arrived. He left behind a loving family, an important social struggle, and an autobiography of audacity, conviction, and self-reinvention, which has become a classic of modern literature.

From Great African Americans.  Copyright, Publications International, Ltd.