Malcolm X Biography

Malcolm X Biography

Original name MALCOLM LITTLE, Muslim name EL-HAJJ MALIK EL-SHABAZZ (b. May 19, 1925, Omaha, Neb., U.S.--d. Feb. 21, 1965, New York, N.Y.), black militant leader who articulated concepts of race pride and black nationalism in the early 1960s. After his assassination, the widespread distribution of his life story--The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965)--made him an ideological hero, especially among black youth.

Growing up in Lansing, Mich., Malcolm saw his house burned down at the hands of the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan. Two years later his father was murdered, and Malcolm's mother was subsequently placed in a mental institution. Malcolm spent the following years in detention homes, and in his early teens he moved to Boston to live with his sister. In 1946, while in prison for burglary, he was converted to the Black Muslim faith ( Nation of Islam); this sect professed the superiority of black people and the inherent evil of whites. Released from prison in 1952, Malcolm went to Nation of Islam headquarters in Chicago, met the sect's leader, Elijah Muhammad, and embraced its rigorous asceticism. He changed his last name to "X," a custom among Nation of Islam followers who considered their family names to have originated with white slaveholders.

Malcolm X was sent on speaking tours around the country and soon became the most effective speaker and organizer for the Nation of Islam. He founded many new mosques and greatly increased the movement's membership. In 1961 he founded Muhammad Speaks, the official publication of the movement. He was eventually assigned to be minister of the important Mosque Number Seven in New York City's Harlem area.

Speaking with bitter eloquence against the white exploitation of black people, Malcolm developed a brilliant platform style, which soon won him a large and dedicated following. He derided the civil-rights movement and rejected both integration and racial equality, calling instead for black separatism, black pride, and black self-dependence. Because he advocated the use of violence (for self-protection) and appeared to many to be a fanatic, his leadership was rejected by most civil-rights leaders, who emphasized nonviolent resistance to racial injustice.

Malcolm X described the assassination of President John F. Kennedy (Nov. 22, 1963) as a "case of chickens coming home to roost"--an instance of the kind of violence that whites had long used against blacks. Malcolm's success had by this time aroused jealousy within the Black Muslim hierarchy, and, in response to his comments on the Kennedy assassination, Elijah Muhammad suspended Malcolm from the movement. In March 1964 Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam and announced the formation of his own religious organization. As a result of a pilgrimage he took to Mecca in April 1964, he modified his views of black separatism, declaring that he no longer believed whites to be innately evil and acknowledging his vision of the possibility of world brotherhood. In October 1964 he reaffirmed his conversion to orthodox Islam.

Growing hostility between Malcolm's followers and the rival Black Muslims manifested itself in violence and threats against his life. He was shot to death at a rally of his followers at a Harlem ballroom. Three Black Muslims were convicted of the murder.

The Autobiography of Malcolm X was written by Alex Haley after he had conducted numerous interviews with Malcolm X shortly before the latter's death. The book was immediately recognized as a classic of black American autobiography.

Malcolm X Timline - Short

Malcolm X Timeline - Detailed

1925
• (May 19) Born as Malcolm Little in University Hospital, Omaha, Nebraska.

1927
• Malcolm's brother, Reginald, is born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

1931
• Enrolled in Pleasant Grove Elementary School (kindergarten).
• Malcolm's father, Earl Little, is run over by a streetcar and is killed.

1938
• Enrolled in West Junior High School, in Lansing.

1939
• Malcolm's mother, Louise Little, is committed to the State Mental Hospital in Kalamazoo, consequently placing Malcolm in a juvenile home.
• He tells a teacher that his goal is to one day become a lawyer, the teacher recommends becoming a carpenter instead, as being a lawyer is not a realistic goal for a "nigger."
• Enrolls in Mason High School in Mason, Michigan.

1940
• Lives in various foster homes.
• Goes to Boston to visit his half-sister, Ella Collins, notices her strong and independent character.

1941
• Moves to Boston to live with Ella.
• Acquires various jobs, including shoe shining, dishwashing, and soda jerking, also occasionally works for the New Haven Railroad.
• He is now exposed to the criminal world.

1943
• Malcolm moves to New York, specifically Harlem.
• Becomes a waiter at Small's Paradise.
• The U.S. Army finds him unsuitable for the service on account of mental problems (apparently, he behaved in unsuitable manner on purpose, in order to avoid the draft).
• Known as "Detroit Red.
• Involved in criminal activities.

1944
• Indicted for larceny, he goes back to Boston, given a three month suspended sentence and one year on probation.

1945
• Returns to Harlem, New York.

1946
• Convicted of larceny, breaking and entering, and carrying a weapon. Malcolm is sentenced to eight to ten years in prison. He starts to serve the term in Charlestown Prison.
• Here he begins reading as many books as possible and educating himself.

1947
• Transferred to Concord Reformatory for fifteen months.
• Influenced by some family members and impressed by letters from Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm converts to the Nation of Islam (not to be confused with actual Islam).

1948
• Transferred to Norfolk Prison Colony, Massachusetts, where there is a great library.

1952
• Malcolm is released from prison after six years (instead of eight to ten) and meets Elijah Muhammad in Chicago. It is here that he receives the legendary 'X' from the Nation of Islam.

1953
• The FBI opens a surveillance file on Malcolm.
• He moves to Chicago to live with Elijah Muhammad.
• Becomes the Minister of the Nation of Islam's Temple Number Eleven, located in Boston.

1954
• Becomes the Minister of Temple Number Seven, located in New York.

1955
• Becomes the Minister of Temple Number Twelve, located in Philadelphia.
• First hears rumors of Elijah Muhammad's adultery.

1958
• Attracted to Betty Sanders, a nurse, he marries her in January.
• Their first child, daughter Attallah, is born in November.

1959
• Travels to United Arab Republic, Sudan, and Nigeria.
• As an ambassador for the Nation of Islam, he travels to the Middle East and Ghana.

1960
• Meets with Fidel Castro for half and hour in Hotel Theresa, Harlem.
• His second daughter, Qubilah, is born in December.

1962
• Discovers that Elijah Muhammad is an adulterer.
• His third daughter, Ilyasah, is born.

1963
• Watches the March on Washington critically, unable to understand why black people are 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."
• Because of his "Chickens Come Home to Roost" speech about the assassination of Kennedy, he is suspended from representing the Nation of Islam.

1964
• Begins collaboration on his autobiography with Alex Haley.
• Visits Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) for a week.
• Meets Martin Luther King, Jr. for the first and only time after a King news conference.
• Breaks away from the Nation of Islam and forms the Muslim Mosque, Inc.
• Travels to Makkah and Africa as Malik El-Shabazz.
• In Makkah, seeing the beauty of the unity of humanity, he embraces true Islam.
• He comes back to the U.S. thinking differently about white people.
• He forms the Organization for Afro-American Unity.
• He returns to Africa and meets with African leaders.
• His fourth daughter, Gamilah, is born in December.

1965
• House is firebombed in the early morning of the 14th day of February.
• (February 21) Right after beginning an address at the Audubon Ballroom, at 3:10 pm, he is shot several times...he is pronounced dead on arrival at Vanderbilt Clinic, Columbia Presbyterian Hospital....
• Body moved to Bishop Alvin S. Child's Faith Temple Church of God in Christ for funeral services, eulogy by actor/playwright Ossie Davis, over 20,000 people attend.
• Twin daughters, Malaak and Malikah are born.

1997
• Betty Shabazz (formerly Betty X, born Betty Sanders), wife of Malcolm X, the only person he would trust with his life, dies in a fire allegedly set by grandson, Malcolm, named after Malcolm X.