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Malcolm X: A Radical Vision for Civil Rights

Martin Luther King and Malcolm X waiting for press conference, March 26, 1964.

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When most people think of the civil rights movement, they think of Martin Luther King, Jr., whose "I Have a Dream" speech, delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963, and his acceptance of the Peace Prize the following year, secured his place as the voice of non-violent, mass protest in the 1960s.

Yet the movement achieved its greatest results—the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act—due to the competing and sometimes radical strategies and agendas of diverse individuals such as Malcolm X, whose birthday is celebrated on May 19. As one of the most powerful, controversial, and enigmatic figures of the movement he occupies a necessary place in social studies/history curricula.

Malcolm X’s Black Separatism

Malcolm X’s embrace of black separatism shaped the debate over how to achieve freedom and equality in a nation that had long denied a portion of the American citizenry the full protection of their rights. It also laid the groundwork for the Black Power movement of the late sixties.

Malcolm X believed that blacks were god's chosen people. As a minister of the Nation of Islam, he preached fiery sermons on separation from whites, whom he believed were destined for divine punishment because of their longstanding oppression of blacks.

Whites had proven themselves long on professing and short on practicing their ideals of equality and freedom, and Malcolm X thought only a separate nation for blacks could provide the basis for their self-improvement and advancement as a people.

In this interview at the University of California—Berkeley in 1963, Malcolm X addresses media and violence, being a Muslim in America, desegregation, and other issues pertinent to the successes and short-comings of the civil rights movement. 

Malcolm X and the Common Core

The Common Core emphasizes that students’ reading, writing, and speaking be grounded in textual evidence and the lesson Black Separatism or the Beloved Community? Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. , which contrasts Malcolm X and Martin Luther King’s aims and means of achieving progress for black American progress in the 1960s, provides a wealth of supplementary historical nonfiction texts for such analysis.

This lesson helps teachers and students achieve a range of Common Core standards, including:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.2 —Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.9 —Integrate information from diverse sources, both primary and secondary, into a coherent understanding of an idea or event, noting discrepancies among sources.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.4 —Present information, findings, and supporting evidence, conveying a clear and distinct perspective, such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning, alternative or opposing perspectives are addressed, and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and a range of formal and informal tasks.

The background to the teacher section, written by a scholar of African American political thought, will benefit both novice teachers and those who seek to deepen their understanding of this seminal figure.

In the activity section, students gain an understanding of Malcolm X’s ideas and an appreciation for his rhetorical powers by diving into compelling and complex primary source material, including an exclusive interview with the journalist Louis Lomax (who first brought Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam to the attention of white people) and by reading and listening to a recording of Malcolm X’s “Message to the Grassroots.”

The assessment activity asks students to evaluate both visions for a new and “more perfect” America. In this way they will gain a deeper understanding of the complexity of civil rights movement writ large.

In the extending the lesson section, the evolution of Malcolm X’s views are traced and considered.

After he left the Nation of Islam in March 1964, Malcolm felt free to offer political solutions to the problems that afflicted black Americans. He advised black Americans to (1) engage in smarter political voting and organization (for example, no longer voting for black leaders he viewed as shills for white interests); and (2) fight for civil rights at the international level .

One of Malcolm X’s last speeches, "The Ballot or the Bullet," is crucial, and a close reading of it will help students understand how his thinking about America and black progress was evolving.

More Common Core Connections

Teachers may also wish to use a radio documentary accessible through the NEH-supported WNYC archive that includes a rare interview with Malcolm X and goes on to explore his legacy and relationship with Islam through interviews with friends, associates, and excerpts from his speeches.

Last and not least, the NEH-supported American Icons podcast on The Autobiography of Malcolm X surveys The Autobiography ’s  appeal and includes riveting passages read by the actor Dion Graham. Teachers can listen to both podcasts as they begin to plan lessons around the text, or they may choose to listen with students in order to introduce them to the debates the text continues to spark around race, rights, and social justice. This activity would help students meet another of the ELA Standards.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.5 —Make strategic use of digital media (e.g., textual, graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest.

Additional Resources

• American Icons podcast on The Autobiography of Malcolm X
• WNYC Archive: Rare Interviews and Audio with Malcolm X

Related on EDSITEment

The music of african american history, the green book: african american experiences of travel and place in the u.s., grassroots perspectives on the civil rights movement: focus on women, lesson 2: black separatism or the beloved community malcolm x and martin luther king, jr., the works of langston hughes.

May 19, 1925 to February 21, 1965

As the nation’s most visible proponent of  Black Nationalism , Malcolm X’s challenge to the multiracial, nonviolent approach of Martin Luther King, Jr., helped set the tone for the ideological and tactical conflicts that took place within the black freedom struggle of the 1960s. Given Malcolm X’s abrasive criticism of King and his advocacy of racial separatism, it is not surprising that King rejected the occasional overtures from one of his fiercest critics. However, after Malcolm’s assassination in 1965, King wrote to his widow, Betty Shabazz: “While we did not always see eye to eye on methods to solve the race problem, I always had a deep affection for Malcolm and felt that he had the great ability to put his finger on the existence and root of the problem” (King, 26 February 1965).

Malcolm Little was born to Louise and Earl Little in Omaha, Nebraska, on 19 May 1925. His father died when he was six years old—the victim, he believed, of a white racist group. Following his father’s death, Malcolm recalled, “Some kind of psychological deterioration hit our family circle and began to eat away our pride” (Malcolm X,  Autobiography , 14). By the end of the 1930s Malcolm’s mother had been institutionalized, and he became a ward of the court to be raised by white guardians in various reform schools and foster homes.

Malcolm joined the Nation of Islam (NOI) while serving a prison term in Massachusetts on burglary charges. Shortly after his release in 1952, he moved to Chicago and became a minister under Elijah Muhammad, abandoning his “slave name,” and becoming Malcolm X (Malcolm X, “We Are Rising”). By the late 1950s, Malcolm had become the NOI’s leading spokesman.

Although Malcolm rejected King’s message of  nonviolence , he respected King as a “fellow-leader of our people,” sending King NOI articles as early as 1957 and inviting him to participate in mass meetings throughout the early 1960s ( Papers  5:491 ). Although Malcolm was particularly interested that King hear Elijah Muhammad’s message, he also sought to create an open forum for black leaders to explore solutions to the “race problem” (Malcolm X, 31 July 1963). King never accepted Malcolm’s invitations, however, leaving communication with him to his secretary, Maude  Ballou .

Despite his repeated overtures to King, Malcolm did not refrain from criticizing him publicly. “The only revolution in which the goal is loving your enemy,” Malcolm told an audience in 1963, “is the Negro revolution … That’s no revolution” (Malcolm X, “Message to the Grassroots,” 9).

In the spring of 1964, Malcolm broke away from the NOI and made a pilgrimage to Mecca. When he returned he began following a course that paralleled King’s—combining religious leadership and political action. Although King told reporters that Malcolm’s separation from Elijah Muhammad “holds no particular significance to the present civil rights efforts,” he argued that if “tangible gains are not made soon all across the country, we must honestly face the prospect that some Negroes might be tempted to accept some oblique path [such] as that Malcolm X proposes” (King, 16 March 1964).

Ten days later, during the Senate debate on the  Civil Rights Act of 1964 , King and Malcolm met for the first and only time. After holding a press conference in the Capitol on the proceedings, King encountered Malcolm in the hallway. As King recalled in a 3 April letter, “At the end of the conference, he came and spoke to me, and I readily shook his hand.” King defended shaking the hand of an adversary by saying that “my position is that of kindness and reconciliation” (King, 3 April 1965).

Malcolm’s primary concern during the remainder of 1964 was to establish ties with the black activists he saw as more militant than King. He met with a number of workers from the  Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee  (SNCC), including SNCC chairman John  Lewis  and Mississippi organizer Fannie Lou  Hamer . Malcolm saw his newly created Organization of African American Unity (OAAU) as a potential source of ideological guidance for the more militant veterans of the southern civil rights movement. At the same time, he looked to the southern struggle for inspiration in his effort to revitalize the Black Nationalist movement.

In January 1965, he revealed in an interview that the OAAU would “support fully and without compromise any action by any group that is designed to get meaningful immediate results” (Malcolm X,  Two Speeches , 31). Malcolm urged civil rights groups to unite, telling a gathering at a symposium sponsored by the  Congress of Racial Equality : “We want freedom now, but we’re not going to get it saying ‘We Shall Overcome.’ We've got to fight to overcome” (Malcolm X,  Malcolm X Speaks , 38).

In early 1965, while King was jailed in Selma, Alabama, Malcolm traveled to Selma, where he had a private meeting with Coretta Scott  King . “I didn’t come to Selma to make his job difficult,” he assured Coretta. “I really did come thinking that I could make it easier. If the white people realize what the alternative is, perhaps they will be more willing to hear Dr. King” (Scott King, 256).

On 21 February 1965, just a few weeks after his visit to Selma, Malcolm X was assassinated. King called his murder a “great tragedy” and expressed his regret that it “occurred at a time when Malcolm X was … moving toward a greater understanding of the nonviolent movement” (King, 24 February 1965). He asserted that Malcolm’s murder deprived “the world of a potentially great leader” (King, “The Nightmare of Violence”). Malcolm’s death signaled the beginning of bitter battles involving proponents of the ideological alternatives the two men represented.

Maude L. Ballou to Malcolm X, 1 February 1957, in  Papers  4:117 .

Goldman, Death and Life of Malcolm X , 1973.

King, “The Nightmare of Violence,”  New York Amsterdam News , 13 March 1965.

King, Press conference on Malcolm X’s assassination, 24 February 1965,  MLKJP-GAMK .

King, Statement on Malcolm X’s break with Elijah Muhammad, 16 March 1964,  MCMLK-RWWL .

King to Abram Eisenman, 3 April 1964,  MLKJP-GAMK .

King to Shabazz, 26 February 1965,  MCMLK-RWWL .

(Scott) King,  My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr. , 1969.

Malcolm X, Interview by Harry Ring over Station WBAI-FM in New York, in  Two Speeches by Malcolm X , 1965.

Malcolm X, “Message to the Grassroots,”  in Malcolm X Speaks , ed. George Breitman, 1965.

Malcolm X, “We Are Rising From the Dead Since We Heard Messenger Muhammad Speak,”  Pittsburgh Courier , 15 December 1956.

Malcolm X to King, 21 July 1960, in  Papers  5:491 .

Malcolm X to King, 31 July 1963, 

Malcolm X with Haley,  Autobiography of Malcolm X , 1965.

Historical Material

Maude L. Ballou to Malcolm X

From Malcolm X

The Autobiography of Malcolm X

92 pages • 3 hours read

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Chapters 1-4

Chapters 5-9

Chapters 10-12

Chapters 13-15

Chapters 16-18

Chapter 19-Epilogue

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Important Quotes

Essay Topics

What experiences from Malcolm’s childhood and young adulthood set the stage for his induction into the Nation of Islam? Why do its tenets of Black superiority and White “devils” resonate with him so strongly?

Even after Malcolm drops out of his predominantly White school and moves to racially diverse Boston, he still characterizes himself as “brainwashed” by White supremacy. In what ways does this internalized White supremacy manifest prior to his incarceration?

In Malcolm view, what role does Christianity play in the lives of Black Americans? How does Christianity reinforce White supremacy?

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Best Politics Essay Examples

Malcolm x essay.

571 words | 2 page(s)

Malcolm X, a civil leader dedicated to the advancement and the equal treatment of blacks in America. Unfortunately, his untimely death through assassination shocked the world and marked the end of a civil rights era. Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little, had a life surrounded by tragedy as his father was murder at the age of six and his mother was placed into a mental hospital when Malcolm turned 13. Although faced with the difficulties of discrimination and racism, Malcolm X was able to rise to the occasion and become a Muslim minister. Due to his successful career as a civil rights activist, Malcolm X has had numerous biographies written about the events in his life, as well as the autobiography he released.

In the autobiography, Malcolm spoke of his time in the Massachusetts State prison. During his time there, Malcolm experienced significant growth both intellectually and spiritually. Sadly during this portion of Malcolm’s life he underwent severe withdraws from his prior excessive drug use. Due to his withdraws and his unsettling temperament, Malcolm X had been moved to solitary confinement and was nicknamed after one of the most temperamental literary figures of all time, Satan.

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Although Malcolm was experiencing one of the worst moments of his life at this point, he was able to meet a man by the name of Bimbi. Bimbi was quite the prisoner and Malcolm X really admired his confidence. Bimbi was a man whose confidence awarded him the respect of his fellow prisoners, as well as, the guards in the prison. Bimbi sees opportunity in Malcolm and begins to convince him to look past the tragedy he had previously experienced and to broaden his horizons by learning from his past and letting go of it. Malcolm X begins to make use of the prison library, although there was few books in it, Malcolm learned from each and every one. He was even able to grasp the English language better making him sound more intelligent. This learning process taught him how to channel and innate rage into a valid argument, one that should be taken seriously.

Eventually, Malcolm X is transferred to Norfolk Prison. This prison colony had far less violence and more academic opportunities. The library was massive compared to the one at Massachusetts State and more inmates studied at the prison colony. With fellow inmates, whose intellect matched his own, Malcolm X was able to debate with them. These debates taught Malcolm the importance of intellect and demonstrated its power, all while teaching Malcolm how to debate in a more rational way.

Through his studies Malcolm learns about the religion of Islam. Malcolm’s brother teaches him a few things about the Muslim religion, specifically the teachings of Muhammad. Muhammad taught that all white men are devils, which caused Malcolm X to think back about the white men he had known over the years. Unfortunately, Malcolm couldn’t think of one good one.

This passage from Malcolm X’s autobiography showed his first steps towards becoming the radical political religious leader he had destined to be. This point in his life proved to be one of the most crucial and his time spent in prison molded him into the political leader he became later known for. Although his method were viewed as extreme, Malcolm was determined to fight against the white man and achieve the dream of equal treatment of blacks by any means necessary.

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The New York Public Library

Archives & manuscripts, the malcolm x collection : papers 1948-1965 [bulk 1961-1964] d.

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Malcolm X was an African American nationalist leader and minister of the Nation of Islam who sought to broaden the civil rights struggle in the United States into an international human rights issue, and who subsequently founded the Muslim Mosque Incorporated and the Organization of Afro-American Unity. Assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City on February 21, 1965. Writings, personal memorabilia, organizational papers and printed matter documenting Malcolm X's activities and opinions as the Nation of Islam's first National Minister, and following his separation from the organization and his embrace of orthodox Islam in early 1964, as a prominent advocate of human rights and self-determination for African-Americans.

The Malcolm X Collection is divided into nine series, the bulk of which range from 1961 to 1964. The papers consist of personal and family memorabilia, correspondence, writings and notes, selected organizational records and printed matter. They provide an in-depth documentation of Malcolm X as Black Muslim theologian, black nationalist ideologue, propagandist for the Nation of Islam, and skilled organizer — with occasional glimpses of his private or family life. Overall, the collection's original order has been preserved.

The The Malcolm X collection : papers are arranged in nine series:

This small group of personal items includes two address books (1958-1961), a notebook with details of the Shabazz family vacation in Miami in January 1964, hotel receipts from 1961 to 1965, and various items found in Malcolm X's heavily scored copy of the Quran and in one of the two address books. In this latter group are several newspaper clippings, some disparaging notes about Martin Luther King, Jr., described as the "hare in the bushes" without the desire "to run for self", and a 1961 letter from a member of Mosque No. 7 in New York who found himself "obligated to recognize the good work that you are doing for the Nation of Islam", while deploring that "with the pace of things going so fast, it is a rare occasion for me to see you, lest I interfere or detain you at your busiest moments". In his autobiography, Malcolm X explained how the demand on him to speak all over the country grew dramatically with the publication of C. Eric Lincoln's book, The Black Muslims in America in 1961. Letters, airline tickets, hotel bills, currency exchange slips, customs declarations, telephone messages, visitors' cards and an announcement for a public lecture in Ghana in the Middle East and West Africa Trip folder, amount to a day to day itinerary of Malcolm X's first major trip abroad in 1964.

Miscellaneous items in this and the next series include invoices for the Corona Mosque in Queens, a prescription for Phenobarbitol, one to be taken "as needed for nerves", an invoice for a new 1962 Oldsmobile, various receipts (camera shop, book stores, a master tailor), household expenditure lists in Malcolm X's hand, a message from one Dr. Adams at Bellevue Hospital, and an airline questionnaire where the subject listed the year of his first airline flight as 1956 and his highest level of education as elementary school.

This small but significant group of documents includes both incoming and outgoing correspondence, receipts and other household-related items. The earliest document in this series is a 1955 letter to a friend where Betty Shabazz, then Betty X Saunders, a nursing student, discusses the difficulty of conforming to the Nation of Islam's religious strictures against socializing with whites, whether at meal times, in class projects, or at a dance party her class was organizing. The outgoing correspondence also includes three letters to Elijah Muhammad, two of them written during the period of her husband's silencing. The earlier letter (February 18, 1963) was written at Muhammad's suggestion to "tell you what I thought about the trip to Philadelphia (critical points)". She went on to confide that "Ministers' wives have a full time job keeping the minister happy so he can do his job", but also felt that she could do other "constructive things" and was "wasting away". The second letter dated January 5, 1964 was an appeal "to come out to see you one week end", adding that "I have no one that I feel I can talk to but you". The last letter written three months later, three days before Malcolm X's official separation from the NOI, was an attempt to elucidate the charges against herself and against her husband "beside speaking against past President JFK". "In your letter, you stated my action toward the Muslims since my husband was sat down is deserving of time, how have I acted? " she wrote.

The incoming correspondence includes letters from Elijah Muhammad's wife and daughter, Clara and Harriett Muhammad, and Elijah Muhammad's special instructions for Ramadan in 1962. Orthodox Islam follows the lunar calendar in the observance of Ramadan, but Muhammad had set December as Ramadan month for his followers, "because we were once Christian believers and we used to worship this month as the month Jesus was born". His instructions called on married couples to "take no pleasure during this month", and on all his followers "not to forget in our prayers that the enemy has killed one of our brothers this year - the first we have lost since Allah's coming - due to the murderous hands of the devils". NOI member Ronald Stokes had been killed earlier that year in a police shooting at the Los Angeles Mosque. Letters to her from Malcolm X are filed in the next series. There are several letters from her adoptive mother in Detroit, ending typically: "Write when you feel like it. Your worried lonely mother". The Condolence file, more than 70 letters and cards, includes messages of sympathy from prominent figures across the country, many of which were read by Ruby Dee at the funeral service for Malcolm X. Other documents in the series include a selection of charity slips or receipts for contributions paid first to Muhammad's Mosque No. 7 and later to the Muslim Mosque, Inc.

• Correspondence 1948-1965 0.6 linear feet

The Writing series is divided into the following subseries: Major Addresses, Interviews, Radio Scripts, Religious Teachings, Diaries, and Speech Notes. For the most part the documents within each subseries have been kept in the order they were found. However, documents that reveal a clear relationship to another category have been moved to the appropriate subseries (i. e. alternate versions of a lecture, various drafts of a speech) and arranged chronologically when possible. In the main, the writings in this series are dated pre-December 12, 1963 or until Malcolm X's silencing. But there are several speeches, in addition to the travel diaries of Malcolm X's trips to Africa and the Middle East, that date after March 12, 1964, following his split from NOI.

Divided into General, New York Mosque and Other Cities subseries, these selected files and working papers are not the actual records of the Nation of Islam, nor are they necessarily the extent of NOI-related documents once in Malcolm X's possession. The General subseries opens with the form letter addressed to "W. F. Muhammad... Dear Saviour Allah, Our Deliverer", that new recruits were required to copy without fault before they would be granted an X as the replacement of their "slave name". Louis Lomax wrote that "The Black Muslims have little or no liturgy". The file "Lessons and Questions, Prayers" holds some of the few documents that form the NOI creed. "Actual Facts" and "Student Enrollment, Rules of Islam", are the first sets of questions and answers that the new convert had to memorize by rote and in sequence. Then came "Lesson No. 1" and "Lesson No. 2", which also came in the form of questions and answers, to be memorized textually. These basic documents, together with a selection of prayers and a glossary of some twenty words or concepts, were the cornerstone of the convert's new worldview. Also included here is a set of nine questions answered by Malcolm X on December 25, 1963, during the period of his silencing, "to the best of my knowledge and understanding of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad's Mission (message and work) among us". Two other documents, "English Lesson C-1" and "The Problem Book", and two additional texts distributed among Muslims, "The Sacred Ritual of the Nation of Islam" and a religious cryptogram, "Teachings for the Lost-Found Nation of Islam in a Mathematical Way", that only W. D. Fard, it was said, could interpret, are other tenets of the NOI dogma that are not available in this collection.

The Elijah Muhammad file consists of printed matter and carbon copies of pronouncements by and about Muhammad. Also included are letters and directives from Muhammad to his ministers across the country. A four-page introductory essay entitled "The Honorable Elijah Muhammad" argues that the historical Muhammad was not an actual prophet, or Allah's final messenger. "The Holy Quran was not meant for that Muhammad 1400 years ago in Arabia.... The Injil [New Testament] prophecies last right up to the resurrection, but how could the Holy Quran be the fulfillment (destroy) [sic] of the Injil prophecies when there was no resurrection in Muhammad's days 1400 years ago". Elijah Muhammad, on the other hand, was the last messenger, "raised up from among the dead" by the Mahdi (W. D. Fard or God in person). He and his followers were the real fulfillment of prophecy. "I am here to tell you", Muhammad wrote in a 1958 untitled pronouncement, "why America does not want you to accept Islam...not the 'old' Islam, but the 'New Islam'.... Ours is a new government and a new religion". Muhammad further clarifies that the United States was not alone in keeping the Black Man at the bottom of civilization. "I have seen the Black Man even in Africa and Asia working as the burden-bearer (doing all the heavy work) while the Brown Man sat in the shade". In a broadside, "What Is Un-American? Problems of the Black Man in Africa, Asia, America the Same", written in response to a 1961 report by the California State Senate Fact-Finding Subcommittee on Un-American Activities, he reaffirmed his Twelve-Point Program as the only salvation for African Americans.

The Muhammad Speaks file includes correspondence and typed articles by Abdul Naeem, a Brooklyn-based Pakistani immigrant who served as a go-between between Muhammad and the orthodox Islamic world, and articles by Charles P. Howard whose syndicated column, "United Nations Report", appeared in the NOI newspaper. Publicity Material in this subseries include leaflets, broadsides and a souvenir journal, advertising public appearances by Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad. The Printed Matter file consists of articles and essays by scholars such as C. Eric Lincoln, August Meier, J. Schacht, professor of Arabic and Islamics at Columbia University, and by law enforcement agencies.

This series is very sketchy, containing many gaps in the documentation. The MMI survived its founder for about a year, at which point the papers were reportedly dispersed. Included here are several statements by Malcolm X (March 1964) announcing his separation from the Nation of Islam, and his rationale for launching a new group. Malcolm X insisted he did not leave NOI of his own free will, but that he had been driven out by the "Chicago officials". The philosophy of the MMI was to be Black Nationalism. The switch to orthodox Islam came during his pilgrimage to Mecca in April 1964. In statements issued in Jedda, Saudi Arabia, and in Lagos, Nigeria, the author told the story of his conversion to "true Islam", which "removes racism" and "concerns itself with the human rights of all mankind, despite race, color or creed". James Shabazz, Malcolm X's personal assistant and Vice-President of the new organization, handled the day-to-day business of the group. His list of twelve questions put to Malcolm X, indicating the areas of responsibility entrusted by the latter to his associates can be found here.

In this series is a group of letters Shabazz sent on May 14, 15 and 16, 1964, to a wide array of national and international contacts, thanking the latter for their assistance to the MMI leader during his pilgrimage, and expressing Malcolm X's new disposition for "mutual cooperation" with leaders of the civil rights movement. The only substantive response to these letters in the collection came from James Farmer, Executive Director of the Congress of Racial Equality. Malcolm X's itinerary during the Hajj, his schedule of activities immediately after his return to the U. S. in early June, and a log of telephone calls received by his office at the Theresa Hotel during that period, give a sense of the tremendous interest occasioned by Malcolm X's new orientation.

Also included is a copy of the certificate from the office of the Supreme Imam of Al-Azhar University designating Malcolm X as "one of the Muslim community...with his true and correct faith", with the responsibility "to propagate Islam and offer every available assistance and facilities to those who wish conversion to Islam". A leaflet in the same file boldly advertised twenty "stipend-bearing" scholarships to Al-Azhar University and fifteen additional scholarships to the University of Medina in Saudi Arabia, and called on people to join the MMI, the Organization of Afro-American Unity and the Organization of Afro-American Students. Malcolm X had developed a strong NOI chapter in Philadelphia and retained a strong base of support in that city. The Philadelphia file in this series gives some indication that the MMI leader was planning to develop an MMI chapter there with the help of a local barber, "Brother Aaron". The remaining files in the series deal with mosque attendance, donations and charity slips, and the sale of the Theresa Hotel. There are also leaflets and publicity material, including a March 22, 1964 Spanish-language flyer advertising a talk by Malcom X at the Rockland Palace on "El Nacionalismo de la Raza de Color en Harlem".

Malcolm X founded the OAAU to broaden the scope of the African-American civil rights movement into a struggle for human rights with international linkages. Partly due to his prolonged trips abroad, he only played a limited role in the day-to-day life of the new organization. An early draft of the OAAU's "Basic Aims and Objectives" called for organizing "the Afro-American community block by block", and proposed to join or to form political clubs, and to establish local businesses "to stop the flow of millions of dollars that leave our community weekly, never to return". But superimposed on that grassroots "organization of the people" was the expectation of a leadership structure "patterned after the letter and the spirit of the Organization of African Unity", with the purpose of uniting "Afro-Americans and their organizations around a non-religious, non-sectarian program for human rights". These two contrasting views are reflected in the collection through Malcolm X's statements from abroad and in local efforts to organize a membership base for the new organization.

The correspondence file includes carbon copies of Malcolm X's well-publicized June 30, 1964 telegrams to Martin Luther King, Jr. in St. Augustine, Georgia, and to James Forman, chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, in Mississippi, proposing to "immediately dispatch some of our brothers there to organize our people into self-defense units capable of retaliating against the Ku Klux Klan in the only language it understands". Also included are OAAU acting chair, Lynn Shifflet's invitation, on behalf of Malcolm X, to representative African-American leaders and personalities, to a roundtable discussion on the so-called Harlem Riot of 1964; and a two-page letter from Ana Livia Cordero, Puerto-Rican independence activist and the wife of African-American expatriate writer Julian Mayfield, who had launched the first international branch of the OAAU in Ghana, on approaches to the Puerto Rican community in New York.

The file Working Papers consists of research material, and suggestions and recommendations from two OAAU research groups. At an initial May 30, 1964 meeting chaired by Malcolm X, it was decided that the new group would start work at the local level in Harlem. "When we control New York City, we will then be a model for other U. S. cities". The organization would try to mobilize mass resistance against Governor Rockefeller's "No Knock" and "Search and Seizure" laws, and against police brutality. In subsequent meetings, the group laid out its organizational structure, dealt with issues of membership and finances, debated the nature of its relationship with the civil rights movement, analyzed some of the "social, political and economic facts in Harlem", and attempted to define a basic policy on education, on self-defense and on culture. Also included are personal commentaries from Sara Mitchell, a prime contributor to this file.

The balance of this series comprises declarations and statements by Malcolm X upon launching the new organization. Included are his July 17, 1964 address to the OAU in Cairo, a series of research notes prepared by James Shabazz on the legality of rifle clubs in New York and elsewhere, copies of the OAAU newsletter, Blacklash, membership receipts, miscellaneous financial records, a complete set of the resolutions and recommendations adopted at the first OAU assembly of heads of state and government in Addis Ababa in July 1964, including a resolution against "Racial Discrimination in the United States of America", which is attributable to Malcolm X.

This is a broad mix of printed matter on individuals, organizations and subjects of interest to Malcolm X, and typescripts of stories written about Malcolm X, some of them after his death. The Africa file is a compilation of research papers by mostly black scholars on African Americans and Africa, African messianic movements, Africa in antiquity, and the African press. The Muhammad Ali file is mostly newspaper and magazine articles, including a two-page Associated Press report stipulating that "Scholars at Islam's 1,000 year-old university welcomed Cassius Clay's statement that he is a Moslem" but expressed "reservations about the 'Black Muslim' movement in the United States". The file dates from the mid-February 1964 period when the athlete was training for his championship fight against Sonny Liston, and attests to some of Malcolm X's activities and thinking during the later period of his silencing. Invited with his family for a winter vacation at the young boxer's training camp, Malcolm X is credited with recruiting Ali to the NOI. In a little known February 19, 1964 interview Malcolm X circumvented his silencing to tell the Miami News, through a third party, of his admiration for "The Champ", and to predict that "when warmer weather begins to appear in the North, the problem is going to get worse in 1964 than it was in 1963". Malcolm X presumably counted on his friendship with the young athlete to woo him to his side in the feud with his mentor, but the outspoken Ali quickly put any such hope to rest. "I don't know much what Malcolm X is doing", he told the Norfolk Journal and Guide, "but I do know that Muhammad is the wisest". (March 14, 1964).

Taken together, the Civil Rights files in this and the Printed Matter series attest to Malcolm X's intense preoccupation throughout 1963 with the nonviolence and integration movement represented by King. The annotated and underscored articles, noting every hesitation or setback, comforted the author in his claim that the civil rights movement was controlled by the white-Jewish "liberal establishment", and was running out of steam. The Education folder complements other materials in the NOI series. The Group on Advanced Leadership (GOAL) convened the November 1963 Grassroots Leadership Conference in Detroit at which Malcolm X delivered his celebrated speech, "Message to the Grassroots". The file documents the split between the GOAL group, led by Richard B. Henry, and the more conservative Detroit Council for Human Rights, which had initially called for a Northern Negro Leadership summit, with the exclusion of known nationalists and communists, including the Black Muslims. The Rev. Albert Cleague, who represented GOAL on the Council, insisted that "all black men, regardless of their views, should sit down and hammer out a concerted policy for a united civil rights push in the North".

The slim Martin Luther King file includes material by and critical of King's nonviolent strategy. The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) folder consists mostly of educational or promotional material leading to and following the MFDP Challenge to the white Democratic delegation at the 1964 National Democratic Convention. The Monroe "Kidnapping" file includes a draft article by the same title by Julian Mayfield, and printed matter of the Committee to Aid the Monroe Defendants. The story of the Monroe incident is told in Robert F. Williams's Negroes with Guns (Third World Press, 1975). The Repatriation Commission file contains a 25-page report to Prime Minister Michael Manley of Jamaica by a 1961 "Back to Africa" mission that traveled to five African states to explore the conditions for "Africans living abroad" to return to the "ancestral land". The original manuscripts in this series include "A Fallen Star" by Ruby Williams, a disillusioned Black Muslim who aspired to tell "the naked truth" of some of Elijah Muhammad's shortcomings, and "Malcolm", a screenplay by Betty L. Rhea, completed in 1974.

• Printed Matter 1959-1965 1.6 linear feet

Custodial history

The papers form the larger part of the Malcolm X collection, stored initially in the Shabazz family home in Mount Vernon and later sold at a storage auction in Miami. The Shabazz family regained control of the papers after cancellation of the public auction by Butterfields Auctioneers in Los Angeles, and deposited them at the Library for a period of 75 years.

Source of acquisition

Estate of Betty Shabazz, December 2002

Processing information

Processed by Andre Elizee, Millery Polyne and Lisann Lewin, with the expert assistance of Mr. Abdullah Abdur-Razzaq (formerly known as James 67X and James Shabazz), 2004-2005

Accessioned by Andre Elizee, January 2004

Separated material

The following records have been transferred:

Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division - Film and Audio Materials

Photographs and Print Division - 22 archival boxes and binders of photographs, slides and negatives.

Related Material

Malcolm X Material in Other Collections And Repositories

Schomburg Center, MARB: Organization of Afro-American Unity Collection, 1964-1965. 0.2 lin. ft.

Schomburg Center, MARB: John Henrik Clarke Papers, box 24. 1.0 lin. ft.

Schomburg Center, MARB: David Garrow / Freedom of Information Act Materials on the Civil Rights Movement, SCM 92-42, boxes 19-20. 1.6 lin. ft.

Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Detroit, MI: Malcolm X Collection, 1941-1955. 0.5 lin. ft.

Access to materials

Conditions governing use.

Reproductions, including scans, photographs, and photocopies, are prohibited.

Information on copyright (literary rights) available from repository.

Access restrictions

Researchers are restricted to the microfilm copy in the Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division. Reproductions, including scans, photographs, and photocopies, are prohibited.

Container List

The Correspondence series encompasses Malcolm X's personal and professional activities. The series begins with a group of thirty handwritten letters, with a later typed version, to his brother Philbert, and the latter's wife, Henrietta, between 1948 and 1952, shortly after Malcolm X joined the Nation of Islam. Writing from jail to another correspondent, Sister Beatrice, Malcolm X confided his desire to assist Elijah Muhammad in building the NOI. "There is nothing I would like more so than a beautiful Muslim wife and family, but something tells me fate has chosen me to lead a lonely life, for I have the ability to speak to my people and guide them to the Apostle, and I cannot go to Georgia, Alabama and into the heart of this devil's stronghold where the truth has not been heard unless I am free to travel and preach, and that is my one and only desire, to preach to my people". In a later letter to Sister Beatrice, dated March 1955, he commented on his recruiting successes while having "to take care of FOUR TEMPLES", and hints at the incipient jealousy among the older Muslims. "Many years now, Islam has been among our people, and they have sat on the curb waiting for ELIJAH MUHAMMAD to do all of the WORK himself. Now the new Muslims want to help 24 HOURS A DAY, and those who have been in the Temple all these years take our sincerity to DO our utmost, not as something good, but instead they accuse us of being self-righteous. Or they classify the faith we have in our ability to achieve success as a display of arrogance. They say that I have lost my sense of humor and gift of ease and humanness". [Emphases in original].

There are also seven letters from Malcolm X to Betty Shabazz, ranging from 1959 to August 1964, generally encouraging greater thriftiness ("Don't call unless it's vital; write letters. Phone costs too much. "), and patience with his busy schedule. He prods her to be more devout ("Stress to all the importance of Ramadan and regular prayers during Ramadan. ") and more involved in his overall activities ("Keep a close check on the papers and the newscasts. When I know you do this, I can call you to find out what's happening instead of someone else. ") Writing from an Organization of African Unity summit conference in Cairo in July 1964, he comments: "I realize many there in the States may think I'm shirking my duties as a leader (and even as a husband) by being way over here while there is so much trouble there, but what I'm doing here will be more helpful to the whole in the long run, and I always think in terms of the whole".

Other outgoing letters include a September 1962 tongue-lashing reply to a Sudanese Muslim in Philadelphia, where he recounts his and Elijah Muhammad's visits to the Sudan in 1959. "The letter that you wrote in a recent issue of the Pittsburgh Courier doesn't sound like it came from the heart of a Sudanese Muslim", he wrote to Yahya Hayari. "It sounds like it came from the heart of an American Negro Christian whose only excuse is that the condition of his heart and mind are the results of 400 years of brain-washing". In the same letter, he derides NOI's adversary Talib Dawoud whose "followers combined can fit in one station wagon", and the latter's wife, singer Dakota Staton, who sings "dirty songs in a nightclub to entertain drunken customers". Responding to Eleanor Mason, a California student, during the period of his silencing (December 6, 1963), he wrote that: "We are living at a time and in a world of paradoxes", and that "the Messenger has the right solution and the right program, if handled by intelligent persons who properly understand it". In a second letter to Mason, following his break from NOI (March 21, 1964), he ventured that "you were perhaps well aware of the many obstacles placed in my path to prevent the progressive moves necessary to unite our people and make them stand on their own feet", adding that "I have gotten responses from students throughout America expressing solid support in this new venture. All we have to do is organize energies into one progressive direction and our people will be free overnight". In several letters written that same day, Malcolm X clarified his position vis-à-vis Elijah Muhammad and sought to recruit members into his new "militant Muslim movement", pledging that they will be "actively involved in the Human Rights Struggle that our people are waging in this country".

In a three-page letter to Elijah Muhammad, also dated March 21, 1964, he assured his former mentor that he is still his "number one" follower: "You know well that I would never leave you of my own free will". Two paragraphs later he explained: "Some very bad lies have been spread and are still being spread about me among the Muslims by the officials.... I would do nothing to harm your image or your work or Islam, but I don't hesitate a minute to attack and expose these vicious hypocrites who are trying to make it appear that I am the hypocrite". He further explained that NOI members had been sent to kill him, and that he will readily abandon his East Elmhurst residence to the NOI officials if they would allow him to respond to their charges before the general body at Mosque No. 7. In another series of letters written in June 1964, he discussed his pilgrimage to Mecca, his meetings with several African heads of state and with the African-American expatriate community in Ghana. Writing to Maya Angelou on June 1, he conveyed that "the true reason for my splitting from the Muslim movement is being told here in the States.... It will be exactly as I explained to you". This was in reference to recent news stories about group conflicts and jealousy of Malcolm X on the part of the NOI leadership.

Following his second trip to West Africa and the Middle East in 1964, Malcolm X was intent on reorganizing the Muslim Mosque Inc. and the Organization of Afro-American Unity along separate lines. He engaged in detailed correspondence with his contacts abroad, as part of a broad OAAU networking drive, and also to solicit Islamic support for the Muslim Mosque. In a December 21, 1964 letter to Warith Muhammad (Wallace Muhammad), he sought to entice him to move to Philadelphia: "... we can work together like twins and in no time have Islam on the right path". The last letter in this file is an undated, handwritten protest to U. S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk, following the refusal by French officials on February 9, 1965 to allow him entry to the country where he had been scheduled to speak. The letter requested an investigation as to "why this incident took place with no intervention from the United States embassy".

Correspondents in this subseries include Ayo Emeka Azikiwe, the son of Nigeria's first president Nnamdi Azikiwe, then a student in the U. S.; Alex Haley who assisted Malcolm X in the writing of his Autobiography; Elijah Muhammad and two of his sons, Akbar and Wallace (Warith Deen). The Haley file includes an author-collaborator letter of agreement dated June 1, 1963, signed by the two parties, stipulating that the author, Malcolm X, had no desire to profit personally from this joint venture and that "any and all money representing your 50% share shall be made payable to Muhammad's Mosque No. 2" in Chicago. Also in this file are a series of letters written by Haley soliciting additional material needed to shore up various aspects of the narrative; the carbon copy of a letter to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, in which Haley lays out the basis of his association with the Muslim minister, upon his being informed that two teams of federal agents had been asking questions at a previous residence in Manhattan; copies of Haley's letters to his agent stressing the need for timely advances to Malcolm X and raising the prospect of another book using the latter's travel diaries; and two letters, dated June 21 and June 27, 1964, exhorting Malcolm X to follow in Prophet Muhammad's footsteps and embark on a Hegira or flight of his own, "to now remove yourself from the scene in which you are". The last letter in the Haley file, sent to Malcolm X during his second pilgrimage to West Africa and the Middle East, is concerned with distribution rights and with "the changes which have occurred in your perspectives" which would necessitate a complete rewriting of the last two chapters of the book. Other materials pertaining to the Autobiography are located in the Publishers and Agents subseries.

Akbar Muhammad's letters relate to his life in Egypt as a student at Al-Azhar University and to his expulsion from the Nation of Islam for refusing to denounce Malcolm X as a hypocrite. He encouraged his embattled correspondent "to strike a blow" against his enemies: "If you strike now, [Allah] will be with you because it will definitely be for the good of Islam in the Western hemisphere". Elijah Muhammad's letters, all written before the Malcolm X silencing, covered a broad range of topics, from discussing his own health, to the mechanics of selling 500,000 copies of C. Eric Lincoln's book on the Black Muslims through the NOI network. Praising his disciple's work as "wonderful among the educated class", he further instructed that when speaking on college campuses Malcolm X should not "go too much into details on the political side, nor into the subject of a separate state here for us". "Make the public to seek (sic) for the answers", he insisted, adding that "there are two other Ministers who have already gone too far on this subject". In another letter (March 1962), he acknowledged that "The people are more inclined towards the Teachings than ever before, especially about the program on 'some of this earth that we can call our own'" concluding that "This is winning the minds of most of our people today than the religious side which is Islam". In the same letter, he commented that his health was improving and that he was thinking of doing "a little more work", adding that "the greater part will be in study and preparing myself for the great 'rush' that I sense will come pretty soon". With Allah's help, he advised that "the institutions of learning of this devil's civilization will crumble like the others before his - ancient Babylon and Rome - they all fell. Great Kingdoms and Institutes fell before them. So this one is on the way and we are trying to save our people from falling with it".

In a signed letter to Minister Lewis (sic) (Louis Farrakhan) in Massachusetts, also in this file, Elijah Muhammad, reacting to the police killing of Black Muslim Ronald Stokes in Los Angeles commented: "It is very good to see our people showing, for the first time, sympathy with us. This tells us that the dead is (sic) now rising". But faced with the impatience of some followers who anticipated some form of retaliatory action for that killing, he warned that "Physical retaliation will not work too well for us at the present time, as Allah himself wants to show these devils who He is and cannot do so with us running ahead". In response to Malcolm X's offer to go to Detroit to help his brother Wilfred deal with "the ever increasing disagreement between the Ministers and the Captains of No. 1", he praised his disciple's ability to get along "with my near of kin there. Surely they love you and do love your brother, but your brother has not been able to see it because of certain other factors. I have yet to hear or see one of my kin folks say or act in no way other than good towards you". He turned down Malcolm X's offer. (June 17, 1962).

In other letters, Muhammad instructed his disciple to avoid the appearance of direct involvement in politics, which would "gradually ease over into just what the devil is desiring to charge us with". (September 18, 1962) Malcolm X was to avoid further public speaking engagements without first consulting with him. "You should always notify me in advance and give your leader just what you have in mind to say to the people ... on my mission and the teaching or message to the people that Allah has given to me". He advised Malcolm X to decline an invitation to speak in Canada, adding that he pays little attention to similar requests from Europe "because I am not particular about them. I am only after my people here in America". Other requests for personal appearances should be filtered through him, so "I can guide best on what to say". (September 20, 1962) Malcolm X wrote back he was canceling a debate against Martin Luther King that was scheduled for October 1962. The last letter in this group, dated August 1, 1963, warned Malcolm X to be "careful about mentioning Kennedy in your talks and printed matters [sic] by name; use U. S. A. or American Government".

Wallace Muhammad's correspondence begins with a July 24, 1964 letter from his father, setting the conditions "on which you may return and be recognized as a true Muslim Believer in Allah Who came in the Person of Master Fard Muhammad and follow me, His Messenger to His people". The conditions called for Wallace Muhammad and his wife to publicly repudiate their previous "disbelief and opposition of my mission", adding that "if you wish to sincerely return and follow me, if they [sic] will not repent themselves, I still could not accept you". In a December 14, 1964 letter, Wallace Muhammad reached out to Malcolm X to "help you find and serve your purpose in this world", and advised that "the greatest deterrent to the threat of violence is a strong warning and the readiness to back it up, especially when you are faced with religious psychopaths and popularity worshipers who measure their religion in terms of dollars". A one-page cover letter, December 17, 1964, attached to a threatening open telegram from Fruit of Islam Supreme Captain Raymond Sharrieff published in the New Crusader, warned that "they are ready to kill members of their own race with no desire for peace. They've never been this violent or vicious against their own kind before". Other letters spoke of mounting threats against Malcolm X, of Wallace Muhammad's financial and organizational troubles, and of his new name, Warith Ud'Deen, given to him by an Imam from India. A January 15, 1965 reply referred to the "many brothers throughout the country" who had been led astray by "the false shepherd that they were following", and for the need for the two correspondents to "start building a solid foundation right now which will make it possible for us to intelligently pick up the pieces and start building a good house that our people can come into and rest".

Other material in this series pertaining to Malcolm X's separation from the Nation of Islam include an August 15, 1964, open letter (18 pages, incomplete) from Assistant-Minister Henry X, FOI Captain Joseph X and Mosque Secretary Maceo X, local officials at Mosque No. 7, the purpose of which was to shame its recipient as a hypocrite.

The Adam Clayton Powell file consists of invitations to Powell-led discussions, and copies of Powell's correspondence with State and prison authorities protesting the use of shackles in bringing Muslim prisoners to the Federal courthouse in Buffalo, New York.

The Cairo file begins with Malcolm X's second stay in that city in July 1964, and includes correspondence with David Du Bois about the OAAU and the American Muslim Student Association in Ghana, a letter from Shirley Graham Du Bois, along with various articles by and about Malcolm X written in Cairo, and an appeal to Diallo Telli, Secretary-General of the Organization of African Unity to urge an investigation by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights "into the inhumane destruction of Afro-American life and property which the present United States government seems either unable or unwilling to protect". The England file relates principally to Malcolm X's presentations at the London School of Economics, Sheffield University and other venues, in late 1964. The France file consists of an August 1964 article in the Paris edition of the New York Times citing official concerns in the U. S. that Malcolm X's efforts to internationalize the plight of African-Americans could become "a touchy problem"; and a letter from Carlos Moore about the mass meeting the Afro-American Center was planning for Malcolm X's February 9, 1965 visit, which was abruptly cancelled by the French government. The text of a telephone conversation between Moore and Malcolm, recorded the evening of February 9, is located in a small OAAU collection, also at the Schomburg Center.

The Speaking Engagements subseries consists of invitation letters with attachments, arranged chronologically into three categories: Colleges and Universities, Radio and Television, and Churches and Community Groups. Correspondents in these categories include Daniel Schechter of Dialogue Magazine; Adelaide Cromwell Hill from the African Studies Program at Boston University; C. Eric Lincoln; Sterling Stuckey, Chairman of the Amistad Society in Chicago; Morroe Berger, Director of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University; Henry Kissinger, Director of Harvard's International Seminar; and Chester Himes for French radio and television.

The General Correspondence subseries includes students, editors and writers, soliciting interviews and data about the Nation of Islam; people commenting on Malcolm X's pronouncements in the media and at public venues; former NOI members writing their grievances against the group; a July 3, 1962 letter from his brother Wilfred X in Highland Park, Michigan, about a local Socialist newspaper's offer to raise funds for the legal expenses in the California police brutality case; a letter with attachment from Bayard Rustin inviting Malcolm X to write a response to be published alongside a critique by August Meier in the magazine Liberation; another letter from the author's sister, Hilda Little, alleging corruption in the Boston Mosque (October 1962); Ossie Davis's thank you letter in response to Malcolm X's invitation to attend the 1962 African-Asian Bazaar as his guest; and a note from Ron Karanga begging his indulgence for his "stereotypical negligence" in not writing sooner.

The 1963 file is mostly incoming letters from fellow activists like William Worthy, and NOI members like Jeanne 2X reporting on the indictment of several Black Muslims on felony charges in the aftermath of the police assault on the Los Angeles Mosque in April 1962. Other correspondents shared their insights, or took exception with the NOI version of Islam and its focus on racial separation. In a Letter to the Editor at the New York Times in response to an article by Robert Payne, Malcolm X denounced the "frantic effort" by American newspapers and magazines "to prove the Honorable Elijah Muhammad is wrong, to discredit him in the Muslim world, and to stop the rapid spread of his religious message". Also included are letters from other mosques discussing NOI activities in various cities; a detailed letter by a recent convert describing the raptures of his new faith, letters denouncing various instances of racial discrimination; and invitations to speak at venues outside the three categories outlined above.

Less voluminous, the 1964-1965 General Correspondence file begins with the same mix described above. News of Malcolm X's break from the Nation of Islam occasioned some elation and invitations to public forums in Chicago and San Francisco to expound on his new views. A March 12, 1964 letter referred to "several brothers in Washington who desire to unite with you in your new Party". J. ben Thomas and Shaynii Zeffii Tau of Radio Free Africa in New York offered to incorporate the Muslim Mosque in a regular discussion of Black nationalist politics in their broadcasts. Ruby Williams wrote from Phoenix, Arizona, (July 4, 1964) of her husband's "information about Mr. Muhammad and his family which includes the tape you made telling him about the low sexual morals of the so-called Muslims". Her narrative, "Fallen Star", from her "experiences while employed in Mr. Muhammad's home and from documents" is located in the Subject Files series (Box 15, folder 10). A correspondent from Tanzania confided that Malcolm X's visit to Dar-es-Salaam had conquered the minds and hearts of those who heard his message: "You left a host of followers and well-wishers behind". (December 17, 1964) The last letter in this file is a note from Maggie Hathaway (February 4, 1965) from the L. A. Sentinel, thanking the author for writing and looking forward to his upcoming visit to Los Angeles.

The Correspondence series ends with sample letters from high school and college students; letters from Roy Wilkins, James Forman, Whitney Young, James Farmer, Ralph Bunche's and Martin Luther King's secretaries, declining Malcolm X's invitation to speak at an August 10, 1963 outdoor rally in Harlem; and letters from public officials and from Black Muslims in jail.

Arranged chronologically

This subseries primarily encompasses social, economic and political themes, delivered to diverse audiences, regardless of race or religion. It includes several versions of Malcolm X's "God's Judgment of White America" (1963), "Farce on Washington" (1963) and his "Warning to White America" (1964) speech. In "God's Judgment of White America" Malcolm X asserted the impending collapse of white power rule in the United States. Moreover, he clearly addressed how an emerging black internationalism, the rise of Islam and the influence of decolonization efforts within the global arena served as tools for dismantling white supremacy, and that these factors and others could further the black revolution in the U. S.

Also, in "God's Judgment", Malcolm X makes the distinction between the "black revolution" and the "Negro revolution". The black revolution represented an independent, radical and immediate movement towards African-American liberation while the Negro revolution advocated gradualist reforms and was controlled by the U. S. government. In his "Farce on Washington" speech Malcolm X argued that the 1963 March on Washington movement was initially a radical "grassroots" movement, but was soon transformed "into one of the meekest demonstrations that the country has ever known". President John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X asserted, was unable to prevent the approaching black uprising in Washington so he had "to weaken it, to mix it up, to integrate it, to control it" by supporting the distribution of close to $800,000 in funds to civil rights organizations. According to Malcolm X, the March on Washington was "one of the best conducted picnics in history".

Although Malcolm X's split with the Nation of Islam, his well-publicized Hajj to Mecca, and his travels to Africa and the Middle East in 1964 often signal a more inclusive social and political philosophy, his assessments of racism and segregation remained critical. For example, his 1964 speech "Warning to White America" admitted that he "no longer subscribes to sweeping indictments of any one race", however, he maintained that many Anglo-Americans were averse to forced integration. This speech, also printed in the August 25, 1964 issue of the Egyptian Gazette under the title "Racism: The Cancer That is Destroying America", demonstrated the internationalization of Malcolm X's ideas.

Also located here are typescripts of speeches and other material from Malcolm X's speaking engagements between 1961 and 1963 at many of the nation's top colleges and universities, including Harvard and Yale Universities, the University of California at Berkeley and Howard University in Washington D. C. Indeed, during most of this period Malcolm X was at the forefront of Nation of Islam politics. His confidence and fluid articulation on U. S. and international racial politics, his deep faith in the NOI dogma and his loyal character, situated him as a central figure in the Black Muslim movement in the United States. In 1962, Howard University students invited him to debate Bayard Rustin, noted pacifist and civil rights leader. Malcolm X's opening lecture at Howard University is included in this subseries. He lectured so frequently that he often gave the same or similar lectures. The speeches", A Racial Powderkeg" and "The Anemic Negro Leadership" mirrored his Howard University speech in many ways.

Coupled with numerous college visits, local speeches and the growth of the NOI, the impact of television and documentary filmmaking propelled the image of Malcolm X and the NOI into the national and international arena. This subseries includes notes and transcripts for the 1961 NBC series "The Open Mind". Entitled "Where is the Negro Headed? " the program included such guests as psychologist Kenneth Clark and Richard Haley, field secretary of the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE). The subseries also contains a transcript for a 1962 interview of Malcolm X by a French television crew. Similar to the CBS documentary "The Hate That Hate Produced", the French documentary focused on the NOI's criticism of racism in the U. S. Chester Himes, the African-American writer who also served as assistant director and translator on the project, provided a list of questions for Malcolm X, one of which was: "What is the aim and purpose of your organization? " In a clear and concise fashion Malcolm X wrote in his notes, to "raise the dead". Malcolm X understood the power that television and radio wielded in shaping the image of the NOI and conveying their ideas. His direct style of communication often complemented the hunger of reporters and television producers seeking to tell a story.

Other documents in the Writings series include press releases written by Malcolm X, notes and talking points for college debates and other public meetings, and various declarations, statements, open letters and letters to the editor. In his many forays on college campuses, encouraging students' interests in "controversial issues" became one of Malcolm X's principal goals. The recurring themes of separation versus segregation, the resurrecting power of Islam in African America, token integration, the need for a Black revolution and African-American participation in voting stirred up audiences and inspired students to question anti-black prejudice and social injustice in the U. S. There are several intriguing letters from college students to Malcolm that offer solutions and suggestions regarding the Civil Rights struggle, but also reveal their intellectual wrestling with the ideas of social and economic justice.

Radio served as a means to further educate audiences on the religious and political philosophy of the Nation of Islam. Following Elijah Muhammad's bout with asthmatic bronchitis and his subsequent move to Phoenix, Arizona in 1961, Malcolm X played a greater role in the development of NOI's radio program titled "Mr. Muhammad Speaks". Many of the broadcast listeners were non-Muslims and the NOI took advantage of this to inform and possibly recruit black converts to its ranks. Malcolm X traveled widely, from Boston's Mosque No. 11 to Atlanta, Georgia and as far West as Phoenix, Arizona and Mosque No. 27 in Los Angeles, California, to broadcast the NOI's message. The radio scripts in this series have been numbered 1 through 80 and kept in the order that they were found after their acquisition from the auction house. See Appendix I for an itemized list of the radio scripts and the cities where they were broadcast.

Similar to his major speeches and university lectures, Malcolm X's radio broadcasts were recycled for different venues and also encompassed a wide range of themes, from economic self-help, religious teachings, to token African-American leadership in the Civil Rights movement. Although many of the radio scripts are not dated there are a few temporal references that may alert the researcher to approximate dates.

This subseries comprises speeches and notes used to enhance and advance spiritual knowledge to black people in the U. S. Several speeches delivered at Christian churches are included — specifically Abyssinian Baptist Church, the Community Church of New York City and Los Angeles Prayer Baptist Church. Most of Malcolm X's teachings were delivered to Muslim audiences in mosques across the country. But on Sundays Nation of Islam ministers often preached to mixed Muslim and Christian audiences. To some degree, one is able to distinguish between religious teachings to Muslims as opposed to religiously mixed audiences because of the subject matter. It was rare that Malcolm X or other NOI ministers would discuss NOI's cosmology or its theological beliefs to non-Muslim audiences. Other instances reveal where Malcolm X shared religious teachings designed for registered Muslims, with Christian and other religious listeners.

The Religious Teachings folders possess a wealth of knowledge regarding the NOI's Ten Questions ("Student Enrollment"), and questions that have to be answered in order to become a registered Muslim (the Lessons #1 and #2 and the Problem Book). Some of these materials are located elsewhere in the collection. A special five-part teaching by Malcolm X includes lectures on the "Reality of God and Heaven", "Reality of the Devil and Hell", "Messenger Elijah Muhammad" and "Morals, Prayer, Charity". The fourth teaching is absent. Other teachings address subjects such as how to become a good Muslim, the dichotomy between Islam and Christianity, the meaning of Yacub, the black scientist from Nation of Islam mythology who created the white race to commit genocide on black people, and the "Actual Facts", a series of questions to which all the answers are numbers that describe humans' place on the planet and in the universe. The Religious Notes entitled "Roots of Civilization" incorporate material on the question "Why did we [Muslims] run Yacub from the root of civilization? " This question presumably stems from the NOI's Lesson #1 Question #4. In addition, some of the material in this subseries include notes on "Bible, God and the Devil", "Ezekiel's Wheel", the "Muslim Girl's Training" program, and the "End of the World". The latter reveals Malcolm X's thoughts on the fall of Western civilization and its relationship to black peoples' spiritual development.

Malcolm X's religious teachings are infused with social and political commentary on black Americans' (Muslim and non-Muslim) relationship with Allah (God), the Earth and to their humanity. Presented at churches, mosques, street corner rallies, Malcolm X's radical and spiritual messages conveyed the enriching power of Islam, the beauty of a black identity and a rationale for black economic and political empowerment. Islam was the religion of truth, according to Malcolm X, and black people's commitment to Islam (the truth) could liberate them from racial oppression in the U. S. Interestingly, although a devout Muslim, Malcolm X and the NOI primarily utilized the Bible as their spiritual and educational guide. Documents in the Religious Teachings subseries and throughout his writings display and explain Biblical references more so than Qu'ranic verses. The Bible was considered a book of prophecy that spoke to modern day issues of racial oppression and social injustice. Preaching to a population predominately rooted in a Judeo-Christian tradition may account for the use of the Bible as a primary source for educating U. S. blacks.

Organized alphabetically by first sentence or by title. Original titles are in quotations. Periods and ellipses denote a sentence or portion of a sentence. Titles supplied by the processor are in brackets.

This subseries consists of eight notebooks numbered 1 through 8. The first two are disculpatory notes that chronicle Malcolm X's separation from the NOI. Notebooks 3 to 7 are travel diaries for the author's trips to Africa and the Middle East in 1964. The last notebook contains outlines of later speeches, up to "The Last Message" delivered in Detroit, Michigan, on February 14, 1965.

The influence of Malcolm X's sojourn through Africa and the Middle East on his personal and political philosophies is immeasurable. The travel diaries bring to light his day-to-day interactions and opinions on various peoples and issues — from Arab and African statesmen, religious figures and African-American expatriates, to modernization and industrialization in Africa and the Arab world. A transcription of the July to September 1964 travel diaries is also included.

The purpose of Malcolm X's journey to Africa and the Middle East was two-fold: to build better communication and understanding between African-American Muslims and Muslims throughout the world and to strengthen relations between African Americans of all faiths and the emerging African nations. A struggle on two fronts, Malcolm X's work focused on the spread of Islam, human rights and racial equality in the U. S. He asserted in a 1964 speech at Shuban al-Muslimin in Egypt:

"As a Muslim, I feel obligated to fight for the spread of Islam until all the world bows before Allah, but as an Afro-American, I can never overlook the miserable plight of my people in America, so I have two fights, two struggles.... So, I come before you here in the Muslim World, not only to rejoice over the wonderful blessings of Islam, but also to take advantage of the opportunity to remind you that there are 22 million of us in America, many of whom have never heard of Allah and Islam, and all of whom are the victims of America's continued oppression, exploitation and degradation."

The travel diaries detail Malcolm X's interactions with writers Maya Angelou and Julian Mayfield in Ghana, and his evolving ideas on Anglo-Americans and whiteness. Also included are notes for university speeches, perspectives on racial politics in the West and also the role that Africa should play in the lives of African Americans. Malcolm X clearly argued for a political and religious agenda of Black Nationalism and Islam if African Americans were to be successful in combating the social, economic and political divide in the U. S. He stated: "...it will take Black Nationalism to make our people conscious of doing for self and then Islam will provide the spiritual guidance...[that] will link us spiritually to Africa, Arabia and Asia". Malcolm X's ideas during this time period involved an interplay between local and global issues that addressed the plight of millions of black people in the U. S.

The travel diaries ground Malcolm X's thoughts and his international socio-political agenda during the pivotal year of 1964 — in which his trips to the Middle East and Africa and the formation of the Organization of Afro American Unity proved fundamental to the evolution of his identity and his politics.

Malcolm X's speech notes complement the myriad of ideas expressed in his completed lectures and informal talks. In some of the more detailed notes, the author focused on the separation versus integration debate (2 folders), the Los Angeles police brutality case involving Ronald Stokes, white supremacy in the U. S., and the importance of studying the history of African-descended peoples. The "African-Asian Bazaar" folder highlights the influence of the 1955 Bandung Conference on Malcolm X's ideas on economic independence and international cooperation. Also included here is a folder of notes for lectures at a number of academic institutions that further document his ideas on separation and integration, the theological and organizational mission of Elijah Muhammad, and Malcolm X's own understanding of the NOI as a religious institution. Overall, this subseries provides rich documentation to further examine Malcolm's socio-political message.

Incorporated in May 1956 as Muhammad's Temple of Islam, Mosque No. 7 was the largest and most active NOI chapter, under Malcolm X's direction. Its files in the collection consist of administrative and educational material, correspondence, disciplinary decisions and appeals, and advocacy and legal documents pertaining to police brutality in New York City and religious discrimination in New York State prisons. The 1956 Certificate of Incorporation bears Malcolm X's signature as presiding officer. The Leases and Space Rental file includes correspondence between NOI lawyer Edward Jacko and New York State National Guard officials for the rental of the 369th Regiment's armory in Harlem for a bazaar showcasing the achievements of African-American businesses. The request had been initially rejected on grounds that the Nation of Islam was a "controversial organization" whose religious character was "in litigation in this State". Also included are attendance slips, one for 1961 and 24 for 1963, ranging from March 17 to October 20. Weekly services were held at the original Mosque No. 7 in Harlem as well as in Corona, Queens, (No. 7-B) and in Brooklyn (No. 7-C). The attendance slip for March 17, 1963 in Harlem records the presence of 219 men (Fruits of Islam or FOI), 137 women (Muslim Girls Training or MGT), 49 Junior FOI and 37 Junior MGT, 34 Brothers and 76 Sisters "on Forms" (waiting for their "X"), 74 visitors and 53 "Lost-Founds". The keynote speaker was Minister Malcolm X. The subject was "Freedom, Justice and Equality". On Sunday, October 6, services were held at all three locations, with a total of 665 participants in Harlem, 107 in Corona and 394 in Brooklyn.

The Youth Training Program at Mosque No. 7 was geared toward children aged 3 to 7, 8 to 12 and 13 to 18, and addressed the academic and moral needs of the children. Included in the file are a Parents-Teachers Association newsletter, proposals by Muslim educators and the Mosque's Youth Training Committee, an address by Sister Bernice entitled "The Children of Islam", the first two pages of an "ABC of Divine Knowledge" for children, and a 15-page "Guide for Teachers: Contributions of Afro-Americans to the American Culture" by Edwina Chavers Johnson. NOI women learned "how to keep house, how to rear children, how to take care of their husband, sew, cook, and in general, how to act at home and abroad", in classes designed by founder W. D. Fard for the Moslem Girls' Training and General Civilization Class (MGT-GCC). The MGT file consists of two short essays on the woman in Islam and some notes. Additional material on women and the NOI are in the Printed Matter series.

The slim correspondence file in the New York Mosque subseries includes inquiries from NOI members on such things as the meaning of Ramadan, sleeping arrangements for visiting Muslims attending a NOI rally in New York City, and members seeking guidance or redress against other members. MGT women in Mosque No. 10 (Atlantic City) wrote in alarm, in November 1962, of accusations made by their minister "that we are unfit for the brothers to give their life for us and that we are uncouth". One telegram dated December 1, 1962 offered "iron clad proof of an organized plot against you". An August 14, 1963 letter from FOI Captain Quinton R. X. in Washington, D. C., is concerned with a purported statement by Bayard Rustin that organizers of the historic 1963 March on Washington would welcome Malcolm X if he would embrace nonviolence. Also included are two January 1963 letters from the New York State Commissioner for Human Rights about a reported confrontation between the Rochester police and local Black Muslims. That meeting and a subsequent one between Malcolm X and the Commissioner for Public Safety in Rochester, Donald Corbett, were amply reported in an attached issue of the news magazine We.

The NOI held its members to strict codes of personal conduct, and enforced its discipline through temporary banishment or "Time Out". The disciplinary process involved the Minister, the FOI Captain and Investigators of both sexes. Some cases were forwarded to Chicago for a decision. The Disciplinary file includes several reports detailing member misconduct. The Police Brutality file deals marginally with New York City. An October 20, 1961 draft resolution in Malcolm X's hand called for the sub-committee on police brutality of the Emergency Committee for Unity on Social and Economic Problems to "disband at once and give back to the entire body of UNITY the gigantic responsibility of forming an Emergency Committee on Law Enforcement". The Emergency Committee was a coalition effort chaired by A. Philip Randolph. A four-page "Program for Correcting and Preventing the Breakdown of Law and Order Enforcement in the Black Community" is also included, along with other documents dealing with police misconduct in New York. On January 2, 1963, Malcolm X sent a telegram to Mayor Wagner, Police Commissioner Michael Murphy and District Attorney Frank Logan, to protest the increased harassment of Muslim street sellers of the Muhammad Speaks newspaper. The telegram called for an immediate investigation of the previous Christmas day arrest of two paper sellers at gunpoint in Times Square. Other documents in this file include a handout entitled "America has become a police-state for 20 million Negroes", a telegram to President Kennedy protesting the detention of a NOI minister and 12 Black Muslims in Rochester, and a press release announcing a February 13, 1963 protest in Times Square.

Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X filed a multi-million dollar damage suit against the Hearst Corporation in 1960, for a New York Journal-American article that characterized Muhammad's Temple of Islam as a "terrorist organization". The article stemmed from Malcolm X's thirty-minute private meeting with Fidel Castro at the Theresa Hotel in Harlem in September 1960. The complaint file by Edward Jacko recalled the context of Castro's stay at the Harlem hotel where he entertained Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev, among others. The two plaintiffs filed another lawsuit against the New York World-Telegram newspaper, following a February 17, 1961 article about "the Muslim Brotherhood, also known as the Black Muslims, Muslim Cult of Islam, Nation of Islam and other Arabic-sounding names". Citing police sources, the article referred to the Muslim Brotherhood as "one of the most dangerous gangs in the city", as a "fanatic Negro cult" responsible for a riot at the United Nations in which some 40 people had been injured, following the assassination of Congolese Prime-Minister Patrice Lumumba.

The remaining New York files relate to Black Muslims in jail and the restriction of their rights as a religious group by prison authorities. The Rikers Island folder refers to a policy prohibiting in-jail conversion to Islam. "The only inmates who are permitted to attend the [Muslim] services are those inmates who previously stated, prior to admittance to the institution, that they are Muslim.... All others are kept out of the services even if the guards have to resort to violence". At Attica, the Rules of Religious Services limited the chaplaincy only to candidates who held a degree from an accredited four-year college or university. This and other requirements disqualified most NOI ministers. In 1962, a group of Muslim inmates who had filed a suit against this discriminatory policy were brought to court in leg chains. A vigorous campaign involving Mosque No. 7, Congressman Adam Clayton Powell and African Americans in Buffalo, challenged Governor Nelson Rockefeller to discontinue these discriminatory practices. The file includes copies of correspondence between Powell and the governor's office, press releases, accounts in local newspapers, and various petitions filed by the plaintiffs. A similar situation at Clinton Prison in Dannemora, NY, led the NOI through its attorney, Edward Jacko, to file a civil rights brief on behalf of three inmates: James Pierce, Martin Sostre and William Marion. Inmates in Greenhaven Prison, Dutchess County, NY, also sought a relief order for the ministration of their faith. The Greenhaven file includes a late 1963 handwritten draft press release penned by Malcolm X, indicating that "two Negro inmates" had "filed a complaint last week with [United Nations] Secretary General U Thant charging violations of their human rights by the U. S. government and by the state of New York". This and other briefs are included here.

On May 4, 1962, Malcolm X issued a press alert in Los Angeles to call attention to an incident that had occurred a week earlier when a police squad forced its way inside the local mosque killing mosque secretary Ronald Stokes and wounding several others. A Grand Jury subsequently brought felony charges against fourteen of the Black Muslims, all of them unarmed at the time of the confrontation. Malcolm X went to L. A. as Elijah Muhammad's national representative, and sought to mobilize support in the local black community for the indicted men and against police brutality. The file includes Malcolm X's initial notes on the case, his "Open Letter to America's Five Negro Congressmen", press releases from the local and national NAACP, correspondence, legal documents, newspaper clippings and publicity material for several NOI-organized protests.

The Philadelphia file consists of correspondence and publicity material pertaining to the October 1962 NOI national convention in that city, and the minutes of a Fellowship Commission on Community Tension meeting on the Black Muslim movement. Also included are material developed by Minister Clifford X on organization and community relations. The Boston file includes three letters by Minister Louis X (Farrakhan) to Malcolm X, to community organizations, and to Massachusetts elected officials on the subject of police brutality in Los Angeles and Boston. In 1963 Malcolm X assumed stewardship of Mosque No. 4 in Washington, D. C. Included in the file for that city are monthly tallies of expenditures and income from May through August, attendance slips for the month of August, correspondence between Malcolm X and the District of Columbia Department of Corrections about the religious rights of Muslim inmates in D. C. jails, and some printed matter.

This subseries consists of articles from the national press and from local newspapers gathered by Malcolm X as he traveled around the country and across the world. The articles are arranged chronologically, according to preexisting headings found in the collection. Malcolm X used current events in his political agitation and as a result paid close attention to the news media. A fair number of articles are annotated and underlined. Malcolm X also expected his associates to write frequent press releases to publicize their events and their views, however when the media covered the events in question, the views expressed were often sensationalized, as if to constantly fuel public fear of the Black Muslims' more radical or extreme views. The nationalist leader understood this dynamic and warned the country in his prophecy of "the Ballot or the Bullet" that the price of denying the accommodationist demands of the civil right movement was the prospect of racial confrontation and unbridled violence.

The Malcolm X file picks up in 1962, as the NOI became "one of the fastest growing mass movements in the United States (Cornell Daily Sun, 3/7/62), and the young Muslim leader its most visible emblem. Articles in the file range from the mainstream New York daily press to local papers like the Ithaca Journal and the Omaha Star, with more coverage after his break from the NOI from the leftwing press and publications in Africa. The next file, Separation from the Nation of Islam, lends credence to claims that a campaign had been underway, prior to President Kennedy's November 22, 1963 assassination to foster division in the Black Muslims' ranks, or at the very least to drive Malcolm X away. The Chicago Defender and two other Chicago newspapers ran stories, in early November 1963, alleging a feud between Malcolm X and Muhammad. The black press sensationalized his silencing, and in the case of the Afro-American declared a "showdown" between the two men, set for the annual NOI Convention on February 26, 1964 in Chicago. The New York Times wrote (2/25/64) that the "chickens coming home to roost" remarks had been used by Muslim officials in Chicago to "cut Malcolm down to size". After the separation, the headlines veered to alleged armed confrontations between Malcolm X followers and NOI members, and to sizzling accounts of Muhammad's extra-marital affairs. Additional materials on Malcolm X are also found in the Black Muslims folder. The file "Mr. Muhammad Speaks" contains copies of the weekly column written by Elijah Muhammad and published in various African-American newspapers. Copies of the weekly column, "The Woman in Islam", published in the New Crusader and written by NOI member Tynetta Deanar are filed under that title. Other files relate to Black Muslims in jail, the L. A. police killing of Ronald X Stokes, the civil rights movement, the Kennedy administration, and racial unrest in the U. S. in 1964.

There is also a box of oversized newspapers featuring articles about Malcolm X and his activities at home and abroad. Printed matter not microfilmed include a Bible and three copies of the Quran, Muslim publications brought back from trips in Africa, the Middle East and Europe, and a copy of the book History of Palestine Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine which is said to support Elijah Muhammad's claim that 33-Degree Masons were initially accepted as members of the Shrine, also known as Moslems Sons.

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115 Malcolm X Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best malcolm x topic ideas & essay examples, 💡 most interesting malcolm x topics to write about, ⭐ good research topics about malcolm x, 👍 simple & easy malcolm x essay titles, ❓ malcolm x research questions.

• Malcolm X’s “Ballot or the Bullet” Speech The speech was powerful and motivational, with the speaker masterfully using the rhetorical devices of ethos, pathos, and logos to appeal to his audience.
• Malcolm X and Frederick Douglass’ Comparison He was challenged in the area of writing and was incapacitated without the skill and ability to write letters to Mr. He was then to be imprisoned, and inside the four walls of the prison, […] We will write a custom essay specifically for you by our professional experts 808 writers online Learn More
• Martin Luther King Jr.’s and Malcolm X’s Leadership Styles Thesis: Martin Luther King and Malcolm X were both charismatic leaders, but the latter was more of a transformational leader as well because of his idealistic views and his ability to inspire his followers to […]
• Reading Competition: “Malcolm X” by Helfer and DuBurke Probably, it is because they realize neither the best way to read nor the importance of reading to their future. Likewise, I have learned to read using competition to encourage me, thus it is my […]
• Film Studies: “Malcolm X” But in doings so he earned the wrath of the very people with whom he worked and was assassinated while he was crusading for the cause of equality.
• Comparing MLK with Malcolm X Martin Luther King and Malcolm X were the two major leaders in the Civil Rights Movement of mid 20th century. Though Malcolm X did not live to achieve his goals, his followers were instrumental in […]
• The Speech “Message to the Grassroots” by Malcolm X When Malcolm refers to black people as a big family and when he constantly repeats the word “common” in regards to the white man as the common enemy, he makes the audience experience a feeling […]
• Race Identity Evaluation in the Film “Malcolm X” Considering the points at which Omi’s work crosses the plot of the movie and marking the differences between the two, one can track the slightest implementations of racism in the modern American society, which is […]
• Malcolm X: Life and Influence in History Upon release on Parole Malcolm becomes a model citizen and an active member of the Detroit temple of the Nation of Islam. Even after his parole, he remained very active in organizing his fellows and […]
• Malcolm X’s “Learning to Read” During Imprisonment The mind of an imprisoned person will want to free itself in spite of the fact that it is tightly coupled to the body of the person.
• Reflection on Malcolm X This is reflected in the speech Malcolm X delivered in a bid to unify the African Americans. In my view, Malcolm X was using these revolutions to spur the African Americans into action.
• Malcolm X Warns, “It Shall Be The Ballot or The Bullet” Near the beginning of his speech, Malcolm X said: The first step for those of us who believe in the philosophy of Black Nationalism is to realize that the problem begins right here.
• Martin Luther King and Malcolm X Although Malcolm X did not favor violence, he had a strong objection on the subject of nonviolence philosophy on the blacks.
• Aspects of “Learning to Read” Essay by Malcolm X In the essay, he describes how learning to read gave him a new sense of purpose and self-esteem and transformed his life.
• Socio-Religious Philosophies of Malcolm X and King Malcolm X and King have similar socio-religious philosophies in terms of viewing the role of religion in freeing Black people from oppression.
• “A Homemade Education” Book by Malcolm X After the release, Malcolm had the tools he needed to change his life and the lives of many others in America.
• The Speeches by Martin Luther King and Malcolm X I want to thank you for this interesting and properly built discussion about how justice and the law are combined in the speeches by Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. The indefatigable aggressiveness of the […]
• “The Ballot or the Bullet” by Malcolm X and “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” by M. L. King According to the activist, the latter means allowing all people to live freely and without fear, segregation, violence, and the need to fight for their rights.
• Malcolm X: Galvanizing Change Through Speech Malcolm X is remembered as a literary genius, and “The Ballot or the Ballot” is his greatest oratory achievement. In conclusion, in 1964, Malcolm X made the landmark “The Ballot or the Bullet” speech expressing […]
• Malcolm X and His Second Conversion However, Malcolm would never have the opportunity to fully evolve his new worldview, as he was shot and killed in 1965.
• Malcolm X: The Idea of Black Supremacy Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X had an arduous relationship at the beginning of the 1960s due to the rumors of the latter’s marriage, which was prohibited by the organization’s codex and doctrine.
• The Ballot or the Bullet Speech by Malcolm X Malcolm X’s philosophy is partially separatist in nature, but, at the same time, it is filled with the spirit of unity.
• Dr. King, Jr. and Mr. Malcolm X to the Civil Rights Struggle Martin Luther King addressed both black and white people, and his goal was to convince them of Jim Crow’s moral injustice and social discrimination.
• Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X Under the leadership of Martin Luther King, whom the activists chose as their representative and leader, they protested the arrest with a bus boycott that put a strain on the town’s economy.
• Malcolm X and Sherman Alexie In fact, Learning to Read is an account of Malcolm, his life as a prisoner showing how the dictionary contributed to his present position.
• The Autobiography of Malcolm X as Told to Alex Haley After Malcolm X has gained a huge popularity, as he thought, and was suspended from the Nation of Islam, the real fear for his own life attended him more often.
• Freedom: Malcolm X’s vs. Anna Quindlen’s Views However, in reality, we only have the freedom to think whatever we like, and only as long as we know that this freedom is restricted to thought only.
• Malcolm X’s “Ballot or Bullet” Speech: An Analysis There is nothing ethical in Malcolm’s urgings in his overt and covert ‘call to arms’ though he cleverly covers up by giving a choice of either using the ‘Ballot’ or the ‘Bullet’ when he actually […]
• The Sixties: Malcolm X’s Speech Black Nationalism, Religion, African-American integration, Violence/non-violence are some of the main issues that Malcolm X addressed in his speech in regards to the Civil Rights movement and the larger American society.
• “The Ballot or the Bullet“ the Speech by Malcolm X Malcolm X’s speech “The Ballot or the Bullet” is focused on several themes important for describing the experiences of many African Americans in the sixties.
• Martin Luther King and Malcolm X: Who Is Closer to Success? Martin Luther King Jr.and Malcolm X are remembered for their outstanding fight for civil rights in the United States at a time when the black community faced oppression and inequality in different ways.
• “Malcolm X” (1992) by Spike Lee The movie tells the story of Malcolm Little, also known as Malcolm X, – the Afro-American spiritual leader and a fighter for human rights who lived in the USA in the 1960s. Washington’s talent is […]
• Islam and Racism: Malcolm X’s Letter From Mecca Malcolm’s experience of the pilgrimage has made him believe that real unity and understanding actually can exist between people regardless of their country of birth, the color of skin, or the language they speak.
• John Locke’s vs. Malcolm X’s Political Philosophy In the context of Malcolm X’s view, the American war for independence underpins the notion that American society awaits another fight for the liberation of the black community.
• Emotional Scene in the “Malcolm X” Film The most powerful part of the film was when Malcolm X started his ‘Nation of Islam’ campaign in the streets of the ghetto.
• King Jr. and Malcolm X in African American History Malcolm was able to sell his ideas to the African Americans in various meetings in the streets of Harlem and in major universities across the United States.
• The Civil Rights Movement: Martin King and Malcolm X’s Views King also stressed that the major concepts he adopted were taken from the “Sermon on the Mount and the Gandhian method of nonviolent resistance”.
• Harrison Bergeron and Malcolm X as Revolutionaries Harrison was the man who was not afraid to stand up to the existing social order and makes some steps to achieve his major goal, which was to make all people free from burdens that […]
• The Activities of Malcolm X This desire elevated him to one of the highly influential African Americans in the long history of the United States and the black community in the country.
• Malcolm X’s Influence across the World Malcolm was fast and precise in his esteemed roles, and he utilized both the print and broadcast media to pass the NOI’s agenda across the American society.
• Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Comparison In the entire history of the United States, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King were the greatest advocators of freedom and civil rights. He believed that the whites were not to be allowed to misbehave […]
• Fight Against the Demonization in «Malcolm X» In light of critics’ remarks in the book “The mistakes of Malcolm X”, the director went beyond propaganda and told the story of a society changer. In this instance, the signifier refers to the negative […]
• Change One’s Life: “Malcolm X” In addition, the film is entertaining and makes the audience stay alert to capture all the happenings in a dynamic manner.
• The Autobiography of Malcolm X One of the greatest and most influential men that captured the attention of both his friends and enemies, and articulated the struggle, the hunger, and the credence of African-American in the early 1960s is none […]
• Critical Review: Malcolm X by Spike Lee In prison, Malcolm experienced an epiphany, a vision by Elijah Muhammed which aimed to make him understand his role and purpose in life, to promote the deliverance of the black man against the “devil’s curse”.
• The Black Arts Era: Contributions of Malcolm X & Martin Luther King Jr. The era was heralded by the establishment of the Black Arts Movement in Harlem in the decade of the 1960s. Many historians view this movement as the artistic arm of the Black Power movement, representing […]
• Political Theories of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. The struggle reached a climax in the mid 1960s, and in the midst of it all were two charismatic and articulate leaders, Martin Luther King, Jr.and Malcolm X.
• Autobiography of Malcolm X Written by Alex Haley, a journalist by profession, The Autobiography of Malcolm X is a description of Malcolm’s life in a country dominated with racial discrimination, poverty, abuse of drugs, and crime.
• Malcolm X’s Legendary Speech: The Ballot or the Bullet
• Strategies and Goals of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. And Malcolm X During the Civil Rights Movements
• Malcolm X and His Goals in the Civil Rights Movement in America
• African American Literature: The Autobiography of Malcolm X
• Childhood and Young Adulthood of Malcolm X
• Black Nationalist Movement: Malcolm X
• Martin Luther King and Malcolm X – Two Views, One Cause
• Race and Gender Throughout Malcolm X’s Life
• Malcolm X’s and Black Separatism
• The Black Power Movements vs. The Civil Rights Movement: Martin Luther King vs. Malcolm X
• The Inspirations From the Life Story of Malcolm X
• Perfect Examples of Freedom Fighters: Martin Luther King, Jr. And Malcolm X
• The Civil Rights Strategies of Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King
• The Ideological and Spiritual Transformation of Malcolm X
• Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X: Vision for Equality and Freedom From Racism
• Religious and Social Visions of Malcolm X
• Malcolm X’s Legacy From the Ghetto to Activist
• Breaking Down the Symbolism in Malcolm X’s Life
• Early and Late View of Nation of Islam Leader Malcolm X
• Social Justice and Civil Equality: Martin Luther King and Malcolm X ​
• Icons for the Civil Rights Movement: Martin Luther King Jr. And Malcolm X
• The Idea That All Men Are Created Equal: A Contradiction Study of Martin Luther King Jr. And Malcolm X
• Civil Disobedience and Various Approaches of Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X
• Ritual Dimension: Malcolm X’s Hajj
• Contemporary Black Nationalism and Malcolm X
• Philosophies and Tactics of Dr. King and Malcolm X
• Life and Times of Malcolm X Essay
• Malcolm X: A Radical Vision for Civil Rights
• The Impact Malcolm X Had on the Civil Rights Movement
• Societal Structural Changes and the Influence of Malcolm X
• American Civil Rights Leaders: Martin Luther King and Malcolm X
• Malcolm X’s Knowledge and Liberation
• 1960’s Diary Entries Witness to the Assassination of Malcolm X
• Malcolm X’s Ideologies Before Mecca and Following
• Beyond Pan-Africanism: Garveyism, Malcolm X and the End of the Colonial Nation-State
• Civil Rights Leaders: Dr. Martin Luther King vs. Malcolm X
• The Life and Leadership of Malcolm X
• Malcolm X’s Life, Philosophy, and Accomplishments
• African American Leader: Malcolm X: A Man Who Changed American History
• The Life and Influence on the Black Civil Rights Movement of Malcolm X
• Who Is Malcolm X, and Why Is He Famous?
• What Was Malcolm X Best Known For?
• Who Died First, Malcolm X or Martin Luther King?
• Why Was Malcolm X Jailed?
• What Is a Good Thesis Statement for Malcolm X?
• Why Was Malcolm X Important?
• What Was the Purpose of Malcolm X’s Writing?
• What Was Malcolm X Known for Saying?
• What Did Malcolm X Symbolize?
• What Does Malcolm X Tell His Teacher He Wants to Be When He Grows Up?
• How Important Was Martin Luther King Compared to Malcolm X?
• How Martin Luther King Jr, Stokely Carmichael, and Malcolm X Fought for Black Power and Civil Rights?
• Was Martin Luther King Jr’s or Malcolm X’s Doctrines a Better Course of Action for African Americans?
• What Impact Did Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam Have on the Civil Rights Movement?
• What Do Martin Luther King, Jr. And Malcolm X Represent in America, World History, and Culture?
• What Short-Term Impact Did Malcolm X Have on the Black Civil Right Movement 1965-1968?
• What Would Have Happened if Malcolm X Had Not Been Assassinated?
• Why Black Activists Rejected Martin Luther King and Followed Malcolm X?
• Why Does Martin Luther King Have a Public Holiday but Not Malcolm X?
• Why the Life and Journey of Malcolm X Should Be Taught in School?
• How Did Malcolm X Overcome the Obstacles of His Early Life?
• What Did Malcolm X Do Almost to Get Killed by Archie?
• What Was Malcolm X’s Essential Attitude Toward the Issue of Education?
• What Happened to Malcolm X’s Historical Reputation Over Time?
• What Was Malcolm X’s Main Accomplishment?
• What Praises and Criticism Is There of Malcolm X?
• How Did Malcolm X Push for Equality?
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

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Home — Essay Samples — Social Issues — Malcolm X — Malcolm X And His Legacy In Fighting For Equal Rights

Malcolm X and His Legacy in Fighting for Equal Rights

• Categories: Civil Rights Individual Rights Malcolm X

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Published: Mar 18, 2021

Words: 1658 | Pages: 4 | 9 min read

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Home Essay Samples Social Issues Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King Jr. vs. Malcolm X: A Comparative Analysis

Table of contents, philosophies and approaches, rhetorical styles, approaches to integration, legacy and impact.

• Branch, T. (2006). Parting the waters: America in the King years, 1954-63. Simon and Schuster.
• Marable, M. (2011). Manning Marable speaks on Malcolm X: A documentary film. AK Press.
• Carson, C., & Shepard, S. (2001). A call to conscience: The landmark speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Grand Central Publishing.
• Haley, A. (1965). The autobiography of Malcolm X. Ballantine Books.
• Garrow, D. J. (1986). Bearing the cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. HarperOne.

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