{"id":132179,"date":"2019-05-13T12:00:41","date_gmt":"2019-05-13T11:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=132179"},"modified":"2019-04-23T09:54:03","modified_gmt":"2019-04-23T08:54:03","slug":"malcolm-x-19-may-1925-21-feb-1965-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2019\/05\/malcolm-x-19-may-1925-21-feb-1965-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Malcolm X (19 May 1925 \u2013 21 Feb 1965)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Civil Rights Activist, Minister<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>African-American leader and prominent figure in the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X articulated concepts of race pride and black nationalism in the 1950s and \u201960s.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Born on May 19, 1925, in Omaha, Nebraska, Malcolm X was a prominent black nationalist leader who served as a spokesman for the Nation of Islam during the 1950s and \u201960s. Due largely to his efforts, the Nation of Islam grew from a mere 400 members at the time he was released from prison in 1952 to 40,000 members by 1960. Articulate, passionate and a naturally gifted and inspirational orator, Malcolm X exhorted blacks to cast off the shackles of racism \u201cby any means necessary,\u201d including violence. The fiery civil rights leader broke with the group shortly before his assassination, February 21, 1965, at the Audubon Ballroom in Manhattan, where he had been preparing to deliver a speech.<\/p>\n

Early Life<\/strong><\/p>\n

Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little on May 19, 1925, in Omaha, Nebraska. Malcolm was the fourth of eight children born to Louise, a homemaker, and Earl Little, a preacher who was also an active member of the local chapter of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and avid supporter of black nationalist leader Marcus Garvey. Due to Earl Little\u2019s civil rights activism, the family faced frequent harassment from white supremacist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and one of its splinter factions, the Black Legion. In fact, Malcolm X had his first encounter with racism before he was even born.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen my mother was pregnant with me, she told me later, \u2018a party of hooded Ku Klux Klan riders galloped up to our home,’\u201d Malcolm later remembered. \u201cBrandishing their shotguns and rifles, they shouted for my father to come out.\u201d The harassment continued; when Malcolm X was four years old, local Klan members smashed all of the family\u2019s windows, causing Earl Little to decide to move the family from Omaha to East Lansing, Michigan.<\/p>\n

However, the racism the family encountered in East Lansing proved even greater than in Omaha. Shortly after the Littles moved in, in 1929, a racist mob set their house on fire, and the town\u2019s all-white emergency responders refused to do anything. \u201cThe white police and firemen came and stood around watching as the house burned to the ground,\u201d Malcolm X later remembered.<\/p>\n

Two years later, in 1931, things got much, much worse. Earl Little\u2019s dead body was discovered laid out on the municipal streetcar tracks. Although Malcolm X\u2019s father was very likely murdered by white supremacists, from whom he had received frequent death threats, the police officially ruled his death a suicide, thereby voiding the large life insurance policy he had purchased in order to provide for his family in the event of his death. Malcolm X\u2019s mother never recovered from the shock and grief of her husband\u2019s death. In 1937, she was committed to a mental institution and Malcolm X left home to live with family friends.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Troubled Youth<\/strong><\/p>\n

Malcolm X attended West Junior High School, where he was the school\u2019s only black student. He excelled academically and was well liked by his classmates, who elected him class president. However, he later said that he felt that his classmates treated him more like the class pet than a human being. The turning point in Malcolm X\u2019s childhood came in 1939, when his English teacher asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up and he answered that he wanted to be a lawyer. His teacher responded, \u201cOne of life\u2019s first needs is for us to be realistic \u2026 you need to think of something you can be \u2026 why don\u2019t you plan on carpentry?\u201d Having thus been told in no uncertain terms that there was no point in a black child pursuing education, Malcolm X dropped out of school the following year, at the age of 15.<\/p>\n

After quitting school, Malcolm X moved to Boston to live with his older half-sister, Ella, about whom he later recalled, \u201cShe was the first really proud black woman I had ever seen in my life. She was plainly proud of her very dark skin. This was unheard of among Negroes in those days.\u201d Ella landed Malcolm a job shining shoes at the Roseland Ballroom. However, out on his own on the streets of Boston, Malcolm X became acquainted with the city\u2019s criminal underground, soon turning to selling drugs. He got another job as kitchen help on the Yankee Clipper train between New York and Boston and fell further into a life of drugs and crime. Sporting flamboyant pinstriped zoot suits, he frequented nightclubs and dance halls and turned more fully to crime to finance his lavish lifestyle. This phase of Malcolm X\u2019s life came to a screeching halt in 1946, when he was arrested on charges of larceny and sentenced to ten years in jail.<\/p>\n

To pass the time during his incarceration, Malcolm X read constantly, devouring books from the prison library in an attempt make up for the years of education he had missed by dropping out of high school. Also while in prison, he was visited by several siblings who had joined to the Nation of Islam, a small sect of black Muslims who embraced the ideology of black nationalism\u2014the idea that in order to secure freedom, justice and equality, black Americans needed to establish their own state entirely separate from white Americans. Malcolm X converted to the Nation of Islam while in prison, and upon his release in 1952 he abandoned his surname \u201cLittle,\u201d which he considered a relic of slavery, in favor of the surname \u201cX\u201d\u2014a tribute to the unknown name of his African ancestors.<\/p>\n

Nation of Islam<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now a free man, Malcolm X traveled to Detroit, Michigan, where he worked with the leader of the Nation of Islam, Elijah Muhammad, to expand the movement\u2019s following among black Americans nationwide. Malcolm X became the minister of Temple No. 7 in Harlem and Temple No. 11 in Boston, while also founding new temples in Harford and Philadelphia. In 1960, he established a national newspaper, Muhammad Speaks<\/em>, in order to further promote the message of the Nation of Islam.<\/p>\n

Articulate, passionate and a naturally gifted and inspirational orator, Malcolm X exhorted blacks to cast off the shackles of racism \u201cby any means necessary,\u201d including violence. \u201cYou don\u2019t have a peaceful revolution,\u201d he said. \u201cYou don\u2019t have a turn-the-cheek revolution. There\u2019s no such thing as a nonviolent revolution.\u201d Such militant proposals\u2014a violent revolution to establish an independent black nation\u2014won Malcolm X large numbers of followers as well as many fierce critics. Due primarily to the efforts of Malcolm X, the Nation of Islam grew from a mere 400 members at the time he was released from prison in 1952, to 40,000 members by 1960.<\/p>\n

By the early 1960s, Malcolm X had emerged as a leading voice of a radicalized wing of the Civil Rights Movement, presenting an alternative to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s vision of a racially integrated society achieved by peaceful means. Dr. King was highly critical of what he viewed as Malcolm X\u2019s destructive demagoguery. \u201cI feel that Malcolm has done himself and our people a great disservice,\u201d King once said.<\/p>\n

Break with Elijah Muhammad<\/strong><\/p>\n

Philosophical differences with King were one thing; a rupture with Elijah Muhammad proved much more traumatic. In 1963, Malcolm X became deeply disillusioned when he learned that his hero and mentor had violated many of his own teachings, most flagrantly by carrying on many extramarital affairs; Muhammad had, in fact, fathered several children out of wedlock. Malcolm\u2019s feelings of betrayal, combined with Muhammad\u2019s anger over Malcolm\u2019s insensitive comments regarding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, led Malcolm X to leave the Nation of Islam in 1964.<\/p>\n

That same year, Malcolm X embarked on an extended trip through North Africa and the Middle East. The journey proved to be both a political and spiritual turning point in his life. He learned to place the American Civil Rights Movement within the context of a global anti-colonial struggle, embracing socialism and pan-Africanism. Malcolm X also made the Hajj, the traditional Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, during which he converted to traditional Islam and again changed his name, this time to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz.<\/p>\n

After his epiphany at Mecca, Malcolm X returned to the United States less angry and more optimistic about the prospects for peaceful resolution to America\u2019s race problems. \u201cThe true brotherhood I had seen had influenced me to recognize that anger can blind human vision,\u201d he said. \u201cAmerica is the first country \u2026 that can actually have a bloodless revolution.\u201d Tragically, just as Malcolm X appeared to be embarking on an ideological transformation with the potential to dramatically alter the course of the Civil Rights Movement, he was assassinated.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Martin Luther King Jr & Malcolm X<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Death and Legacy<\/strong><\/p>\n

On the evening of February 21, 1965, at the Audubon Ballroom in Manhattan, where Malcolm X was about to deliver a speech, three gunmen rushed the stage and shot him 15 times at point blank range. Malcolm X was pronounced dead on arrival at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital shortly thereafter. He was 39 years old. The three men convicted of the assassination of Malcolm X were all members of the Nation of Islam: Talmadge Hayer, Norman 3X Butler and Thomas 15X Johnson.<\/p>\n

In the immediate aftermath of Malcolm X\u2019s death, commentators largely ignored his recent spiritual and political transformation and criticized him as a violent rabble-rouser. However, Malcolm X\u2019s legacy as a civil rights hero was cemented by the posthumous publication in 1965 of The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley<\/em>. At once a harrowing chronicle of American racism, an unsparing self-criticism and an inspiring spiritual journey, the book, transcribed by the acclaimed author of Roots, instantly recast Malcolm X as one of the great political and spiritual leaders of modern times. Named by TIME<\/em> magazine one of 10 \u201crequired reading\u201d non-fiction books of all-time, The Autobiography of Malcolm X<\/em> has truly enshrined Malcolm X as a hero to subsequent generations of radicals and activists.<\/p>\n

Perhaps Malcolm X\u2019s greatest contribution to society was underscoring the value of a truly free populace by demonstrating the great lengths to which human beings will go to secure their freedom. \u201cPower in defense of freedom is greater than power in behalf of tyranny and oppression,\u201d he stated. \u201cBecause power, real power, comes from our conviction which produces action, uncompromising action.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Personal Life<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 1958, Malcolm X married Betty Sanders, a fellow member of the Nation of Islam. The couple had six children together, all daughters: Attallah (b. 1958), Qubilah (b. 1960), Ilyasah (b. 1963), Gamilah (b. 1964) and twins Malaak and Malikah (b. 1965). Sanders later became known as Betty Shabazz, and she became a prominent civil rights and human rights activist in her own right in the aftermath of her husband\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

In May 2013, Malcolm X\u2019s grandson, Malcolm Shabazz\u2014son of the civil rights leader\u2019s second daughter with wife Betty Shabazz, Qubilah Shabazz\u2014was beaten to death in Mexico City, near the Plaza Garibaldi. He was 28 years old. According to a report by the Los Angeles Times<\/em>, police believe Malcolm Shabazz\u2019s death was the result of a \u201crobbery gone wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 biography.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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