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Malcolm X
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"Black is beautiful"
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Malcolm X was a legendary African American leader. Born Malcolm Little, his father (a Garveyite Baptist minister) was killed by the Ku Klux Klan. His mother never recovered from it and was placed in a mental institution. Though he was a brilliant student, he dropped out of school at an early age influenced by a teacher who told him that his dream of becoming a lawyer was unrealistic.
He became a gangster and was arrested as a youth. While in jail he discovered the Nation of Islam writings of Elijah Muhammad. After getting parole, he moved in with his brother Wilfred and became very active in the Detroit temple of the Nation of Islam. He decided to drop his last name and adopted the placeholder "X" for his surname. The letter represented the lost name of his African ancestors. After meeting the Nation of Islam's leader, Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm moved from the rank of temple assistant in Detroit to the Nation's first national minister.
Due to ongoing conflict between him and Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm left the Nation of Islam and founded his own organization, Muslim Mosque, Inc. On his pilgrimage to the Middle East and Africa, he discovered what he called true Islam, which contrasted to what he had been teaching. He converted to the original Islamic religion and became a Sunni Muslim, changing his name to El-Hajj Malik Al-Shabazz.
Assassinated in 1965 by Elijah Muhammad followers, Malcolm has been described as one of the greatest and most influential African Americans in history. He is credited with raising the self-esteem of black Americans and reconnecting them with their African heritage. Many African Americans, especially those who lived in cities in the Northern and Western United States, felt that Malcolm X articulated their complaints concerning inequality better than the mainstream civil rights movement did at the time.
In the late 1960s, increasingly radical black activists based their movements largely on Malcolm X and his teachings. The Black Power movement, the Black Arts Movement, and the widespread adoption of the slogan "Black is beautiful" all trace their roots to Malcolm X. He also strongly believed that "education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today."
In 1963 Malcolm X began collaboration with Alex Haley on his life story, The Autobiography of Malcolm X. He told Haley, "If I'm alive when this book comes out, it will be a miracle", and indeed, Haley completed and published it some months after the assassination.
