Malcolm X

Malcolm X

Malcolm X was born in 1925 and died in 1965. He was an African-American leader. His real name was Malcolm Little.

He joined a movement called the Black Muslims in 1952, an organisation which was formed in 1930 and called for the separation of Blacks from mainstream society.

Malcolm Little changed his name to Malcolm X and became the leader of the movement in 1963.

Malcolm X and his organisation wanted to create a separate African-American nation and he encouraged them to defend themselves in violent ways.

Contrary to Martin Luther King who advocated non-violence, Malcolm X advocated violence for Black people to obtain what they wanted. According to Malcolm X, non-violence could not permit Blacks to obtain what they wanted – only violent methods could. That's the reason why they opted for revolutionary violence and self-defence.

As time went by, Malcolm X's methods changed. He began to be in favour of less violent actions.

In 1964 he left the Black Muslims to establish the Organisation of Afro-American Unity, declaring that he was in the favour of peace between the races.

He was murdered (most probably by Black Muslims) in Harlem, New York, after a pilgrimage to Mecca, where he saw religious black and whiteMuslims together in harmony and adopted a less confrontational approach.

Spike Lee directed a film, Malcolm X (1992) with Denzel Washington in the main role.

Malcolm X, one of the most important "black" personalities in contemporary history

On February 21, 1965, Malcolm X, one of the most powerful figures in the black movement, was assassinated in the USA. The ex-leader of the "Nation of Islam" was a talented speaker, endowed with a brilliant and intuitive spirit, and of great moral and intellectual integrity, not content with incantatory speeches, his relentless commitment to service His community and human rights reflected the personality of a courageous man, vertebrated by strong convictions.

Malcolm Little was born May 19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. He is the seventh child of the family. His father is a Baptist pastor already very involved in the Black liberation movement. He was influenced by Pan-African black leader Marcus Garvey, who urged the black masses to return to Africa.

Little Malcolm's childhood was difficult: his father was murdered by a white supremacist organization close to the Ku Klux Klan under appalling conditions (he was pushed under a tram, his body was cut in two). His mother, extremely marked by the brutal death of her husband, made a nervous breakdown a few years later, in 1939, and was interned in a psychiatric hospital. His eight children are separated and sent to different foster homes and orphanages.

Malcolm turns out to be a good student in high school but loses interest in studies when one of his favorite teachers tells him that his ambitions to become a lawyer are "unrealistic for a nigger." He spent some time with his sister Ella in Boston where he did some odd jobs (shoe shiner, plate cleaner ...), then moved to Harlem where he began to commit small offenses. From 1942 to 1946, Malcolm was at the center of many traffics (drugs, prostitution, clandestine betting ...). He leaves for Boston where he and his companion "Shorty" Jarvis are arrested for burglary break-in and illegal weapons. The sentence is eight to ten years in prison.

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