Malcolm X

This article is about the man. For the biographical movie of the same name, see Malcolm X (film).

Malcolm X

Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965), also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, was a Black Muslim Minister and National Spokesman for the Nation of Islam. He was also founder of the Muslim Mosque, Inc. and the Organization of Afro-American Unity.

During his life, Malcolm went from being a drug dealer and burglar to one of the most prominent black nationalist leaders in the United States; he was considered by some as a martyr of Islam and a champion of equality. As a militant leader, Malcolm X advocated black pride, economic self-reliance, and identity politics. He ultimately rose to become a world-renowned African American/Pan-Africanist and human rights activist.

During a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1964, Malcolm became a Sunni Muslim. Less than a year later he was assassinated in Washington Heights on the first day of National Brotherhood Week. Although three members of the Nation of Islam were convicted of his assassination (one of whom confessed), there are several theories positing the involvement of elements of the United States Government.

Early years

The young Malcolm X

Malcolm Little was born in Omaha to Earl Little and Louise Little (née Norton). He lived briefly as an infant at 3448 Pinkney Street in the North Omaha neighborhood. His father was an outspoken Baptist lay preacher and supporter of Marcus Garvey, as well as a member of the Universal Negro Improvement Association. Malcolm described his father as a big black man who had lost one eye. According to Malcolm, three of Earl Little's brothers died violently at the hands of white men, and one of his uncles had been lynched.

Earl Little had three children (Ella, Mary, and Earl, Jr.) by a previous marriage before he married Malcolm's mother. From his second marriage he had eight children, of whom Malcolm was the fourth. (Earl and Louise Little's children's names were, in order, Wilfred, Hilda, Philbert, Malcolm, Reginald, Wesley, Yvonne, and Robert.)

Louise Little was born in Grenada and, according to Malcolm, she looked more like a white woman. Her father was a white man of whom Malcolm knew nothing except what he described as his mother's shame. Malcolm got his light complexion from him. Initially he felt it was a status symbol to be light-skinned but later he would say that he “hated every drop of that white rapist's blood that is in me.” As Malcolm was the lightest child in the family, he felt that his father favored him; however, his mother gave him more hell for the same reason. One of his nicknames, "Red," derived from the reddish tinge of his hair. He was described as having, at birth, "ash-blonde hair ... tinged with cinnamon," and at four, "reddish-blonde hair." His hair darkened as he aged, but resembled the hair of his paternal grandmother whose hair "turned reddish in the summer sun."

According to The Autobiography of Malcolm X, his mother had been threatened by Ku Klux Klansmen while she was pregnant with him in December of 1924; his mother recalled that the family was warned to leave Omaha, because his father's involvement with UNIA was, according to the Klansmen, "stirring up trouble".

After Malcolm was born, the family relocated to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1926, and then to Lansing, Michigan shortly thereafter. In 1931, his father was found dead having been run over by a streetcar in Lansing. Authorities ruled his death suicide. Malcolm claimed that this cause of death was disputed by the Black community at the time, and he later disputed it himself, saying that his family had frequently found themselves the target of harassment by the white-supremacist Black Legion, which group his father accused of burning down their home in 1929. Malcolm wondered how his father could bash himself in the head and then lay down across street tracks to get run over.

Though Malcolm’s father had two life insurance policies, his mother received death benefits solely from the smaller policy. Malcolm claimed that insurance company that had issued the larger policy claimed that Earl Little's death had been a suicide, and accordingly refused to pay. Louise Little succumbed to a mental breakdown and was declared legally insane in December 1938. Malcolm and his siblings were split up and sent to different foster homes. Louise Little was formally committed to the State Mental Hospital at Kalamazoo, Michigan, and remained there until Malcolm and his brothers and sisters had her released twenty-six years later.

The Autobiography of Malcolm X states that, following the death of his father, Malcolm Little lived on Charles Street in downtown East Lansing. However, the 1930 U.S. Census (released in 2002) shows him living on a completely different Charles Street, in the low-income Urbandale neighborhood in Lansing Township, between Lansing and East Lansing. Later, at the time he was in high school, he lived in Mason, an almost all-white small town twelve miles to the south.

Malcolm X graduated from junior high school at the top of his class, but dropped out soon after an admired teacher told him that his aspirations of being a lawyer were "no realistic goal for a nigger". After enduring a series of foster homes, Malcolm was first sent to a detention center and then later moved to Boston to live with his older half-sister, Ella Little Collins. In Boston he held a variety of jobs, and intermittently found employment with the New Haven Railroad. In 1942, Malcolm became "involved with Boston's underworld fringe."

Middle years

Malcolm left Boston to live for a short time in Michigan, but soon moved to New York City in 1943. There he worked again for a short time for the New Haven Railroad. Malcolm found work as a shoe-shiner at a Lindy Hop nightclub; in The Autobiography of Malcolm X, he says that he once shined the shoes of Duke Ellington and other notable African-American musicians. After some time, in Harlem, known as "Detroit Red" he became involved in drug dealing, gambling, racketeering, and robbery (all of which Malcolm collectively referred to as "hustling"). Between 1943 and 1946, when he was arrested and jailed in Massachusetts, Malcolm drifted between Boston and New York City three more times.

When Malcolm was examined for the World War II draft, military physicians classified him to be "mentally disqualified for military service." He explained in his autobiography that he put on a display to avoid the draft by telling the examining officer that he couldn't wait to organize with other Black soldiers and get his hands on a gun so he could "kill some crackers". His approach worked, and he was given a classification that ensured he would not be drafted.

In early 1946 Malcolm returned to Boston. On January 12th, he was arrested for a burglary after trying to steal back a stolen watch he had left for repairs at a Jewelry shop. Two days later, Malcolm was indicted once again for carrying firearms. On January 16th, Malcolm was charged with Grand Larceny and Breaking and Entering. Malcolm was sentenced to eight to ten years in Massachusetts State Prison.

On February 27th, Malcolm began serving his sentence at the Massachusetts State Prison in Charlestown. While in prison, Malcolm earned the nickname of 'Satan' for his vitriolic hatred towards the Bible, God and religion in general. Malcolm began reading books from the Prison Library; soon he developed first a voracious appetite for reading, then astigmatism. During this time, he received correspondence from his brother Reginald telling him about the Nation of Islam, to which Malcolm subsequently converted and for the remainder of his incarceration, he maintained regular contact with Elijah Muhammad. According to the Autobiography, Malcolm started to gain fame among prisoners, but also remained under the keen eye of the authorities, who recognized in him a force that could potentially foment trouble, and who did not grant him the expected early release after five years because they believed he was too dangerous to be released early. In February 1948, due largely to his sister's efforts, Malcolm was transferred to an experimental Prison in Norfolk, Massachusetts that had a much larger prison library. Malcolm later reflected on his time in prison: "Months passed without my even thinking about being imprisoned. In fact, up to then, I had never been so truly free in my life." On August 7, 1952, Malcolm received parole and was released from prison.

Later years

Nation of Islam

File:Savioursday041.jpg

Malcolm with Elijah Muhammad at Savior's Day

In 1952, after his release from prison, Malcolm went to meet Elijah Muhammad in Chicago. It was soon after this that he changed his surname to "X". Malcolm explained the name by saying, The "X" is meant to symbolize the rejection of "slave names" and the absence of an inherited African name to take its place. The "X" is also the brand that many slaves received on their upper arm. This rationale led many members of the Nation of Islam to change their surnames to X.

In March 1953, the Federal Bureau of Investigation opened a file on Malcolm, supposedly in response to an allegation that he had described himself as a Communist; according to the Church Committee, the FBI had long been used to monitor, disrupt, and repress radicals like Malcolm. Included in the file were two letters wherein Malcolm uses the alias "Malachi Shabazz". In Message to the Blackman in America, Elijah Muhammad explained the name Shabazz as belonging to descendants of an "Asian Black nation".

In May 1953, the FBI concluded that Malcolm X had an "asocial personality with paranoid trends (pre-psychotic paranoid schizophrenia)", and had, in fact, sought treatment for his disorder. This was further supported by a letter intercepted by the FBI, dated June 29, 1950. The letter said, in reference to his 4-F classification and rejection by the military, "Everyone has always said ... Malcolm is crazy, so it isn't hard to convince people that I am."

Later that year, Malcolm left his half-sister Ella in Boston to stay with Elijah Muhammad in Chicago. He soon returned to Boston and became the Minister of the Nation of Islam's Temple Number Eleven. In 1954, Malcolm X was selected to lead the Nation of Islam's mosque #7 on Lenox Avenue in Harlem (co-named "Malcolm X Boulevard" in 1987) and he rapidly expanded its membership. Malcolm X had great energy; he was able to work day after day with just four hours of sleep or less, he read a lot and once he believed in a cause he devoted himself to it completely. He was a compelling public speaker, and he became known to a wider audience after a local television broadcast in New York City about the Nation of Islam, which was an obscure organization until then, in 1959. After that, Malcolm was frequently sought after for quotations by the print media, radio, and television programs from the US and later around the world. Malcolm was aware that his fame was a cause of considerable jealousy in NOI, and he was careful in his public appearances not to incite them further. In the years between his adoption of the Nation of Islam in 1952, and his split with the organization in 1964, he espoused the Nation's teachings, including referring to whites as "devils" who had been created in a misguided breeding program by a black scientist, and predicting the inevitable (and imminent) return of blacks to their natural place at the top of the social order.

Malcolm X was soon seen as the second most influential leader of the movement, after Elijah Muhammad himself. He opened additional temples, including one in Philadelphia, and was largely credited with increasing membership in the NOI from 500 in 1952 to 30,000 in 1963. He inspired the boxer Cassius Clay to join the Nation of Islam and change his name to Muhammad Ali. (Like Malcolm X, Ali later left the NOI and joined mainstream Islam.)

Marriage

In 1958, Malcolm married Betty X (née Sanders) in Lansing, Michigan. They had six daughters together, all of whom carried the surname of Shabazz. Their names were Attallah (also spelled Attillah), born in 1958; Qubilah, born in 1960; Ilyasah, born in 1962; Gamilah (also spelled Gumilah), born in 1964; and twins, Malaak and Malikah, born after Malcolm's death in 1965.

Meeting Castro

In September 1960 Fidel Castro traveled to the United States to address the United Nations General Assembly. Castro did not receive a warm welcome from the U.S. government during his visit to New York City in 1960. The Cuban delegation relocated from the Shelburne Hotel to the Hotel Theresa in Harlem due to complaints from Castro that he had been asked to pay in advance.

Malcolm X met with Castro as a prominent member of a welcoming committee that had been set up in Harlem several weeks earlier. The purpose of this group, which included a wide range of Black community leaders, was to greet heads of state, particularly from African countries, who would be in New York to address the UN General Assembly. Sixteen African countries were admitted to membership in the UN at that session.

Tensions

Malcolm would later, in the Autobiography, explain his break with Elijah Muhammad by saying that in the early 1960s, he had begun to hear rumors of Elijah Muhammad's extramarital affairs with young secretaries. Adultery is condemned in the teachings of the Nation of Islam. At first, he claimed, Malcolm brushed these rumors aside. Later, he spoke with Elijah Muhammad's son and the women making the accusations and believed them. In 1963, according to the Autobiography, Elijah Muhammad himself confirmed to Malcolm that the rumors were true and claimed that this activity was undertaken to follow a pattern established by biblical prophets. Despite being unsatisfied with this explanation, and being disenchanted by other ministers using Nation of Islam funds to line their own pockets, Malcolm's faith in Elijah Muhammad did not waver.

By the summer of 1963, tension in the Nation of Islam reached a boiling point. Malcolm believed that Elijah Muhammad was jealous of his popularity (as were several senior ministers). Malcolm viewed the March on Washington critically, unable to understand why black people were excited over a demonstration "run by whites in front of a statue of a president who has been dead for a hundred years and who didn't like us when he was alive." When asked to comment upon the assassination of John F. Kennedy, he replied that it was a case of "chickens coming home to roost," and added that "Chickens coming home to roost never made me sad. It only made me glad." This comment led to widespread public outcry and led to the Nation of Islam's publicly censuring Malcolm X. Although retaining his post and rank as minister, he was banned from public speaking for ninety days by Elijah Muhammad himself. Malcolm obeyed.

In the spring of 1963, Malcolm started collaborating on The Autobiography of Malcolm X with Alex Haley. He also publicly announced his break from the Nation of Islam on March 8, 1964 and the founding of the Muslim Mosque, Inc. on March 12, 1964. At this point, Malcolm mostly adhered to the teachings of the Nation of Islam, but began modifying them, explicitly advocating political and economic black nationalism as opposed to the NOI's exclusivist religious nationalism. In April, he made a famous speech titled "The Ballot or the Bullet" (available online). Malcolm was in contact with several orthodox Muslims, who encouraged him to learn about orthodox Islam. He soon converted to orthodox Islam, and as a result decided to make his Hajj.

Umrah

On April 13, 1964, Malcolm departed JFK Airport, New York for Cairo by way of Frankfurt. It was the second time Malcolm had been to Africa. Malcolm left Cairo arriving in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia at about three in the morning. His status as an authentic Muslim was suspect due to his inability to speak Arabic and his United States passport. Since only confessing Muslims are allowed into Mecca he was separated from the group with which he arrived and was isolated. He spent about 20 hours wearing the ihram, a two-piece garment comprised of two white unhemmed sheets -- of which one is worn draped over the torso and the other (the bottom) is secured by a belt.

According to the Autobiography, it was at this time he remembered the book The Eternal Message of Muhammad by Abdul Rahman Hassan Azzam and which Dr. Mahmoud Yousseff Sharwabi had presented to him with his visa approval. He called Azzam's son who arranged for his release. At the younger Azzam's home he met Azzam Pasha who gave Malcolm his suite at the Jeddah Palace Hotel. The next morning Muhammad Faisal, the son of Prince Faisal, visited and informed him that he was to be a state guest. The deputy chief of protocol accompanied Malcolm to the Hajj Court.

It therefore was a mere formality for Sheikh Muhammad Harkon to allow Malcolm to make his pilgrimage to Mecca. On April 19, he completed the Umrah, making the seven circuits around the Kaaba, drinking from the well of Zamzam and running between the hills of Safah and Marwah seven times. According to the Autobiography, on this trip Malcolm viewed Muslims of different races interacting as equals and came to believe that Islam conceivably could erase all racial problems.

Africa

Malcolm X visited Africa on three separate occasions, once in 1959 and twice in 1964. During his visits, he met officials, as well as spoke on television and radio in: Cairo, Egypt; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Dar Es Salaam, Tanganyika (now Tanzania); Lagos and Ibadan, Nigeria; Accra, Winneba, and Legon, Ghana; Conakry, Guinea; Algiers, Algeria; and Casablanca, Morocco.

Malcolm first went to Africa in summer of 1959. He traveled to Egypt (United Arab Republic), Sudan, Nigeria and Ghana to arrange a tour for Elijah Muhammad, which occurred in December 1959. The first of Malcolm's two trips to Africa in 1964 lasted from April 13 until May 21. On May 8, following his speech at Trenchard Hall on the campus of the University of Ibadan in Nigeria, he attended a reception in the Students' Union Hall held for him by the Muslim Students' Society. During this reception the students bestowed upon him the name "Omowale" meaning "the son returns home" in the Yoruba language.

Malcolm returned to New York from Africa via Paris, France, on May 21, 1964. On July 9, he again left the United States for Africa, spending a total of 18 weeks abroad. On July 17, 1964, Malcolm addressed the Organization of African Unity's first ordinary assembly of heads of state and governments in Cairo as a representative of the OAAU. On August 21, 1964, he made a press statement on behalf of the OAAU regarding the second African summit conference of the OAU. In it, he explained how a strong and independent "United States of Africa" is a victory for the awakening of African Americans. By the time he returned to the United States on November 24, 1964, Malcolm had established an international connection between Africans on the continent and those in the diaspora.

Malcolm held to the view that African-Americans were right in defending themselves from aggressors. On June 28, 1964 at the founding rally of the OAAU he said,

"The time for you and me to allow ourselves to be brutalized nonviolently has passed. Be nonviolent only with those who are nonviolent to you. And when you can bring me a nonviolent racist, bring me a nonviolent segregationist, then I'll get nonviolent. But don't teach me to be nonviolent until you teach some of those crackers to be nonviolent."

Increasingly though he did come to regret his involvement within the Nation of Islam and its tendency to promote racism as a blacks versus whites issue. In an interview with Gordon Parks in 1965 he revealed:

"I realized racism isn't just a black and white problem. It's brought bloodbaths to about every nation on earth at one time or another."

He stopped and remained silent for a few moments, then stated,

"Brother, remember the time that white college girl came into the restaurant -- the one who wanted to help the Muslims and the whites get together -- and I told her there wasn't a ghost of a chance and she went away crying?"

He also later reflected:

"Well, I've lived to regret that incident. In many parts of the African continent I saw white students helping black people. Something like this kills a lot of argument. I did many things as a [black] Muslim that I'm sorry for now. I was a zombie then -- like all [black] Muslims -- I was hypnotized, pointed in a certain direction and told to march. Well, I guess a man's entitled to make a fool of himself if he's ready to pay the cost. It cost me twelve years."

"That was a bad scene, brother. The sickness and madness of those days -- I'm glad to be free of them."

Visiting France and UK

In late 1964, Malcolm visited France together with Jamaican officials and spoke in Paris at Salle Pleyel where there were discussions and debates on the subject of the Rastafarian ideas (return of African-Americans to Africa, Ethiopia in particular) espoused by both the Jamaicans present and Malcom X at that time. He also visited the UK and participated in a debate at Oxford Union on December 3, 1964.

On 12 February 1965 Malcolm X visited Smethwick, near Birmingham, which had become a byword for racial division after the 1964 general election when the Conservative Party won the parliamentary seat using the slogan, amongst others, "If you want a nigger for your neighbour, vote Labour". He visited a pub with a non-coloured policy, and purposely visited a street where the local council would buy houses and sell them to white families, to avoid black families moving in.

Death and afterwards

Assassination

File:Malcomxm1carbine3gr.gif

Malcolm X holding an M1 Carbine and pulling back the curtains to peer out of a window. This photograph is a popular image on T-shirts and often appears with the slogan "By Any Means Necessary".

On March 20, 1964, Life published a famous photograph of Malcolm X holding an M1 Carbine and pulling back the curtains to peer out of a window. The photo was taken in connection with Malcolm's declaration that he would defend himself from the daily death threats which he and his family were receiving. Undercover FBI informants warned officials that Malcolm X had been marked for assassination.

Tensions increased between Malcolm and the Nation of Islam. It was alleged that orders were given by leaders of the Nation of Islam to "destroy" Malcolm; in The Autobiography of Malcolm X, he says that as early as 1963, a member of the Seventh Temple confessed to him having received orders from the Nation of Islam to kill him. The NOI sued to reclaim Malcolm's home in Queens, which they claimed to have paid for, and won. He appealed, and was angry at the thought that his family might soon have no place to live. Then, on February 14, 1965, the night before the property was to have been turned over the NOI, the house burned to the ground. Malcolm and his family survived, and no one was charged with any crime.

A week later on February 21 in Manhattan's Audubon Ballroom, Malcolm had just begun delivering a speech when a disturbance broke out in the crowd of 400. A man yelled, "Get your hand outta my pocket! Don't be messin' with my pockets!" As Malcolm's bodyguards moved to quiet the disturbance and Malcolm appealed for peace, a man rushed forward and shot Malcolm in the chest with a sawed-off shotgun. Two other men charged the stage and fired handguns at Malcolm, who was shot 16 times. Angry onlookers in the crowd caught and beat the assassins as they attempted to flee the ballroom. The 39-year-old Malcolm was pronounced dead on arrival at New York's Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. He was killed by the shotgun blast, the other bullets having been directed to his legs.

Although a police report once existed stating that two men were detained in connection with the shooting, that report disappeared, and the investigation was inconclusive. Two suspects were named by witnesses — Norman 3X Butler and Thomas 15X Johnson.

Three men were eventually charged in the case. Talmadge Hayer confessed to having fired shots into Malcolm's body, but he testified that Butler and Johnson were not present and were not involved in the shooting. All three were convicted.

A complete examination of the assassination and investigation is available in The Smoking Gun: The Malcolm X Files, a collection of primary sources relating to the assassination.

Funeral

Fifteen hundred people attended Malcolm's funeral in Harlem on February 27, 1965 at the Faith Temple Church of God in Christ (now Child's Memorial Temple Church of God in Christ). Ossie Davis, alongside Ahmed Osman, delivered a eulogy, describing Malcolm as "Our shining black prince". Malcolm X was buried at the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York. At the gravesite after the ceremony, friends took the shovels away from the waiting gravediggers and buried Malcolm themselves. Later that month, actress Ruby Dee and Sidney Poitier became co-chairs of the New York affiliate of the Educational Fund for the Children of Malcolm X Shabazz. Civil rights leader and surgeon, T.R.M. Howard, was the chair of the Chicago affiliate of the Fund.

Biographies and speeches

File:MalcX,svenska.jpg

The Swedish translation of the autobiography of Malcolm X. Printed by Ordfront in 2003. The title reads: Malcolm X autobiography in collaboration with Alex Haley.

The Autobiography of Malcolm X was written by Alex Haley between 1964 and 1965, based on interviews conducted shortly before Malcolm's assassination (with an epilogue written after it), and was published in 1965. The book was named by Time magazine as one of the 10 most important nonfiction books of the 20th century.

Malcolm X Speaks: Selected Speeches and Statements ISBN 0-8021-3213-8 edited by George Breitman. These speeches made during the last eight months of Malcolm's life indicate the power of his newly refined ideas.

Malcolm X: The Man and His Times edited with an introduction and commentary by John Henrik Clarke. An anthology of writings, speeches and manifestos along with writings about Malcolm X by an international group of African and African American scholars and activists.

Malcolm X: The FBI File commentary by Clayborne Carson with an introduction by Spike Lee and edited by David Gallen. A source of information documenting the FBI's file on Malcolm beginning with his prison release in March 1953 and culminating with a 1980 request that the FBI investigate Malcolm's assassination.

The film Malcolm X was released in 1992, directed by Spike Lee. Based on the autobiography, it starred Denzel Washington as Malcolm with Angela Bassett as Betty and Al Freeman, Jr. as Elijah Muhammad. Both Roger Ebert and Martin Scorsese named the film as one of the ten best of the decade.

The 2001 film Ali, about boxer Muhammad Ali, played by Will Smith, also features Malcolm X, as played by Mario Van Peebles.

Malcolm X in popular culture

Malcolm X has become an icon of popular culture, from references by Hip Hop artists to films such as V for Vendetta. The legacy of Malcolm continues, like Che Guevara, to be an symbol of liberation across the world.

Modern cultural references

• The band Rage Against the Machine, in several of their songs, such as Wake Up and Renegades of Funk, have mentioned and pictured Malcom X along with Che Guevara, Martin Luther King and others. In 'Wake Up' he is mentioned in the lyric "you know they [US Government] murdered X, they tried to blame it on Islam"
• Malcolm X, speeches and quotes appear as the central narrative in the film 500 Years Later

See also

• List of people from North Omaha, Nebraska
• Civil Rights Movement in Omaha, Nebraska
• Timeline of Racial Tension in Omaha, Nebraska

External links

• CBC Television Interview
• The Official Web Site of Malcolm X
• Full audio of Malcolm X speeches
• Text and Audio of Ballot or Bullet Speech from AmericanRhetoric.com
• Text of a letter written following his Hajj is given at Wikisource.
• Interview with UC Berkeley sociologist Herman Blake, 1963 (video)
• Minister Louis Farrakhan on the murder of Malcolm X, Malcolm X College, 1990 (video)
• Ancestry of Malcolm X
• A Malcom X media page
• Malcolm X (El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz) United States Postage Stamp
• Malcolm X Gravesite
• Malcolm X Reloaded: Who Really Assassinated Malcolm X
• Malcolm X on City Desk
• Lessons from Malcolm X: Freedom By Any Means Necessary

Research sites

• Malcolm X : A Research Site Abdul Alkalimat, ed. Launched May 19, 1999. University of Toledo and Twenty-first Century Books.
• malcolm-x.org. seeks to present Malcolm X within an Islamic context. Retrieved May 19, 2005.
• Malcolm X: Make It Plain. Documentary
• Malcolm X Reference Archive. Sound files of speeches The Ballot or the Bullet, Democrats are Dixiecrats, et al. Marxist Internet Archive. Retrieved May 19, 2005.
• Malcolm X Project. Project of the Center for Contemporary Black History at Columbia University. Retrieved May 19, 2005.
• Malcolm X's FBI file
• Malcolm X - An Islamic Perspective
• Malcolm X : A Profile by Det Danske Koranselskab

Articles and reports

• Frazier, Martin. Harlem celebrates Malcolm X birthday. People's Weekly World. May 26, 2005.
• Democracy Now!. Malcolm X: Make it Plain transcript. Excerpts of the documentary, "Malcolm X: Make it Plain". Segment available via streaming Real Audio, 128k streaming Real Video, or via MP3 download from Archive.org. 37:23 minutes. Hosted by Amy Goodman. Broadcast May 19, 2005.
• Waldron, Clarence. Minister Louis Farrakhan Sets The Record Straight About His Relationship With Malcolm X. Jet Magazine. Interview, June 5, 2000. Retrieved May 19, 2005.
• M, Yahyá. The name Shabazz: Where did it come from?. Revised from 'Islamic Studies vol. 32 no.1, Spring 1993. p. 73-76. Retrieved May 19, 2005.

Further reading

Articles

• Parks, Gordon. The White Devil's Day is Almost Over. Life, May 31, 1963.
• Speakman, Lynn. Who Killed Malcolm X? The Valley Advocate, November 26, 1992, pp. 3-6.
• Vincent, Theodore. The Garveyite Parents of Malcolm X. The Black Scholar, vol. 20, #2, April, 1989.
• Handler ,M.S.Malcolm X cites role in U.N. Fight. New York Times, Jan 2, 1965; pg. 6, 1.
• Montgomery, Paul L. Malcolm X a Harlem Idol on Eve of Murder Trial. New York Times, Dec 6, 1965; pg. 46, 1
• Bigart, Homer. Malcolm X-ism Feared by Rustin. New York Times, Mar 4, 1965; pg. 15, 1
• Arnold, Martin. Harlem is Quiet as Crowds Watch Malcolm X Rites. New York Times, Feb 28, 1965; pg. 1, 2
• Loomis, James. Death of Malcolm X. New York Times. Feb 27, 1965; pg. 24, 1
• n/a. Malcolm X and Muslims. New York Times, Feb 21, 1965; pg. E10, 1
• n/a. Malcolm X. New York Times, Feb 22, 1965; pg. 20, 1
• n/a. Malcolm X Reports He Now Represents Muslim World Unit. New York Times, Oct 11, 1964; pg. 13, 1
• Lelyveld, Joseph. Elijah Muhammad Rallies His Followers in Harlem. New York Times, Jun 29, 1964; pg. 1, 2
• n/a. Malcolm X Woos 2 Rights Leaders. New York Times, May 19, 1964; pg. 28, 1
• n/a. 1,000 In Harlem Cheer Malcolm X. New York Times, Mar 23, 1964; pg. 18, 1
• Handler, M.S. Malcolm X Sees Rise in Violence. New York Times, Mar 13, 1964; pg. 20, 1
• n/a. Malcolm X Disputes Nonviolence Policy. New York Times, Jun 5, 1963; pg. 29, 1
• Apple, R.W. Malcolm X Silenced for Remarks On Assassination of Kennedy. New York Times, Dec 5, 1963; pg. 22, 1
• Ronan, Thomas P. Malcolm X Tells Rally In Harlem Kennedy Fails to Help Negroes. New York Times, Jun 30, 1963; pg. 45, 1
• n/a. 4 Are Indicted Here in Malcolm X Case. New York Times, Mar 11, 1965; pg. 66, 1
• Handler, M.S. Malcolm X Seeks U.N. Negro Debate. Special to The New York Times; New York Times, Aug 13, 1964; pg. 22, 1

Books

• The Autobiography of Malcolm X (by author Alex Haley) ISBN 0-8124-1953-7
• Acuna, Rodolfo. Occupied America: A History of Chicanos. New York: Harper & Row, 1981.
• Alkalimat, Abdul. Malcolm X for Beginners. New York: Writers and Readers, 1990.
• Als, Hilton. "The Women." (a chapter on Malcolm's mother)
• Asante, Molefi K. Malcolm X as Cultural Hero: and Other Afrocentric Essays. Trenton, N.J.: Africa World Press, 1993.
• Baldwin, James. One Day, When I Was Lost: A Scenario Based On Alex Haley's "The Autobiography Of Malcolm X". New York: Dell, 1992.
• Breitman, George, ed. Malcolm X Speaks. New York: Merit, 1965.
• Breitman, George. The Last Year of Malcolm X: The Evolution of a Revolutionary. New York: Pathfinder, 1967.
• Breitman, George and Herman Porter. The Assassination of Malcolm X. New York: Pathfinder, 1976.
• Brisbane, Robert. Black Activism. Valley Forge, Pennsylvania: Judson Press, 1974.
• Carson, Claybourne. Malcolm X: The FBI File. New York: Carroll & Graf, 1991.
• Carson, Claybourne, et al. The Eyes on the Prize Civil Rights Reader. New York: Penguin, 1991.
• Clarke, John Henrik, ed. Malcolm X; the Man and His Times. New York: Macmillan, 1969.
• Cleage, Albert B. and George Breitman. Myths About Malcolm X: Two Views. New York: Merit, 1968.
• Collins, Rodney P. The Seventh Child. New York: Dafina; London: Turnaround, 2002.
• Cone, James H. Martin & Malcolm & America: A Dream or A Nightmare. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1991.
• Davis, Thulani. Malcolm X: The Great Photographs. New York: Stewart, Tabon and Chang, 1992.
• DeCaro, Louis A. On The Side of My People: A Religious Life of Malcolm X. New York: New York University, 1996.
• DeCaro, Louis A. Malcolm and the Cross: The Nation of Islam, Malcolm X, and Christianity. New York: New York University, 1998.
• Doctor, Bernard Aquina. Malcolm X for Beginners. New York: Writers and Readers, 1992.
• Dyson, Michael Eric. Making Malcolm: The Myth and Meaning of Malcolm X. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
• Essien-Udom, E. U. Black Nationalism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962.
• Evanzz, Karl. The Judas Factor: The Plot to Kill Malcolm X. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 1992.
• Franklin, Robert Michael. Liberating Visions: Human Fulfillment And Social Justice In African-American Thought. Minneapolis, MN : Fortress Press, 1990.
• Friedly, Michael. The Assassination of Malcolm X. New York: Carroll & Graf, 1992.
• Gallen, David, ed. Malcolm A to Z: The Man and His Ideas. New York: Carroll and Graf, 1992.
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