Malcolm X

On May 19, 1925, Malcolm Little was born to Louise Little, a homemaker, and Earl Little, a preacher who was a member of the Universal Negro Improvement Association. Because Earl was part of the association, the family faced lots of harassment from white supremacists groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and had to move around a lot. When Malcolm was just four years old, Klan members smashed all the windows of the family’s house so Earl decided to move from Omaha to East Lansing Michigan. However, East Lansing Michigan was much worse than Omaha. Just after moving in, a racist mob set their house on fire and the all white emergency responders refused to do anything. It didn’t end there though. One day Malcolm’s father’s body was found dead on streetcar tracks. The police ruled the incident a suicide even though it was most likely a murder by white supremacists. The mom never recovered from the shock of her husband’s death and was forced into a mental institution. Young Malcolm was left to live with other family members.

At school, there was turning point in his childhood when his teacher pretty much told Malcolm to choose a more realistic career after Malcolm had said that he wanted to be a lawyer. The experience had a significant effect on him and he dropped out of school when he was just 15 years old. As a dropout, Malcolm lived a life of drugs and crime and his life came to a screeching halt when he was arrested and sentenced to tens years. In jail, he was confronted by members of the Nation of Islam, a group that embraced black nationalism and believed that in order to secure justice and equality, black Americans need to establish their own state separate from the white Americans. He converted to the Nation of Islam during his stay in prison and also changed his name from Malcolm Little to Malcolm X.

As a free man, Malcolm X immediately took action. He was a gifted speaker and used his talent to move blacks to break the grasp of racism by any means necessary including violence. Because of his violent methods, Malcolm X was criticized by Martin Luther King Jr., who was the leader of a non-violent group. Malcolm ended up breaking away from the Nation of Islam because of a disagreement with its leader and after departing from the party, Malcolm travelled to North Africa and the Middle East where he had a political and spiritual turning point in his life. He learned that the Civil Rights Movement was a global anti-colonial struggle and he also made the Hajj, the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca. When he returned to America, he was less angry and more optimistic, but before he could take action with his new mentality, he was assassinated. On February 21, 1965, three gunmen rushed the stage where Malcolm X was about to give a speech and shot him 15 times. All three gunman were members of the Nation of Islam. After his death, many criticized him for being violent but The Autobiography of Malcolm X:As told to Alex Haley changed that view. The book was named by TIME magazine as one of 10 required reading non-fiction books of all-time. Today, Malcolm X is remembered as one of the great political and spiritual leaders of modern times.