Malcolm X

"When a person places the proper value on freedom, there is nothing under the sun that he will not do to acquire that freedom. Whenever you hear a man saying he wants freedom, but in the next breath he is going to tell you what he won't do to get it, or what he doesn't believe in doing in order to get it, he doesn't believe in freedom. A man who believes in freedom will do anything under the sun to acquire . . . or preserve his freedom." Malcolm X

Malcolm X was born in 1925 in Omaha, to Earl Little and Louise Helen. His father was an outspoken Babtist speaker, as well as a member of theUniversal Negro Improvement Assosation. Three of Earl Little's brothers died violently at the hands of white men, and one of his uncles had been lynched.
According to The Autobiography of Malcolm X , his mother had been threatened by Ku Klux Klansmen while she was pregnant with him in December 1924. His mother recalled the Klansmen warned the family to leave Omaha, because Earl Little's activities with UNIA were "stirring up trouble". In 1931, Malcolm's father was found dead, having been run over by a streetcar in Lansing. Authorities ruled his death a suicide . Malcolm said that the black community disputed the cause of death. His family had frequently found themselves the target of harassment by the Black Legion , a White supermacist group his father accused of burning down their home in 1929, and many blacks felt that the Black Legion had killed Earl Little.
Malcolm Little graduated from junior high school at the top of his class but dropped out soon after a 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 sent to a detention center. Then he moved to Bostonand held a variety of jobs. After some time in Harlem , he became involved in drug dealing, gambling, racketeering, robbery and steering prostitutes. When Malcolm was examined for the 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 could not wait to "kill some crackers ." His approach worked. His classification ensured he would not be drafted. In early 1946, Malcolm returned to Boston. On January , he was arrested for burglary trying to steal a stolen watch he had left for repairs at a jewelry shop. Two days later, Malcolm was indicted for carrying firearms. On January 16 , he was charged with Grand Lanceny and Breaking and Entering. Malcolm was sentenced to eight to ten years in Massachusetts State Prison. In early 1946, Malcolm returned to Boston. On January 12 , he was arrested for burglary trying to steal a stolen watch he had left for repairs at a jewelry shop. Two days later, Malcolm was indicted for carrying firearms. On January 16 he was charged with Grand Larceny and Breaking and Entering . Malcolm was sentenced to eight to ten years in Massachusetts State Prison. 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 a voracious appetite for reading, much of it after the prison lights had been turned off, leading to astigmatism . His brother Reginald wrote letters describing his experience with the Nation of Islam , and Malcolm decided to convert.
For the remainder of his incarceration, Malcolm maintained regular contact with Elijah Muhammad, the group's leader. On August 7, 1952, Malcolm received parole and was released from prison. After his release from prison, Malcolm went to meet Elijah Muhammad in Chicago . Soon after their meeting, 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 was the rationale that led many members of the Nation of Islam to change their surnames to X. In March 1953, the FBI opened a file on Malcolm X, after hearing that he had described himself as a Communist . Included in the file were two letters wherein Malcolm used 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 1954, Malcolm was selected to lead the Nation of Islam's Temple Number Seven on Lenox Avenue in Harlem . He rapidly expanded its membership. After a local television broadcast in New York City about the Nation of Islam, Malcolm became known to a wider audience. Representatives of the print media, radio, and television frequently asked Malcolm for comments on issues. He was also sought as a spokesman by reporters from other countries.
From his adoption of the Nation of Islam in 1952 until he left the organization in 1964, Malcolm X promoted the Nation's teachings. He referred to whites as "devils" who had been created in a misguided breeding program by a black scientist , and predicted the inevitable (and imminent) return of blacks to their natural place at the top of the social order. Malcolm has been widely considered the second most influential leader of the movement, after Elijah Muhammad. He opened additional temples, including one in Philadelphia .
In early 1963, Malcolm started collaborating with Alex Haley on The Autobiography of Malcolm X . The book had not been finalized at the time of Malcolm's assassination in 1965. Haley completed it and published it later that year. Malcolm criticized the 1963 March on Washington , which he called "the farce on Washington". He said he didn't know 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 for a comment about the assassination of President Kennedy in November 1963, Malcolm said that it was a case of "the chickens coming home to roost." He added that "Chickens coming home to roost never made me sad. It only made me glad." This remark prompted a widespread public outcry. The Nation of Islam publicly censured their former shining star. Although Malcolm retained his post and rank as minister, Elijah Muhammad banned him from public speaking for 90 days.
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.
On February 21, 1965 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 and his bodyguards moved to quiet the disturbance, a man rushed forward and shot Malcolm in the chest with a sawed-0ff 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. Malcolm was pronounced dead on arrival hospital .
Malcolm's body was made available for public viewing in Harlem's Unity Funeral Home from February 23 through February 26, 1965, and the number of mourners who filed past his body has been estimated between 14,000 and 30,000. Malcolm's funeral was held on February 27, 1965, at the Faith Temple Church of God in Christ, also in Harlem.