On May 19, 1925 civil rights icon Malcolm X is born Malcolm Little on in Omaha, Nebraska. Growing up he saw the effect racism had on his family—his father, a Baptist preacher, was killed by a sub-branch of the Ku Klux Klan—as he was taken away from his mother following several brushes with the law. Malcolm dropped out of school and moved to Boston and later to New York where he became a numbers runner, a drug dealer and a pimp. On the streets of Harlem he became known as Detroit Red, and by 1942 he was the leader of an organized burglary ring. Four years later, Malcolm was arrested and sentenced to eight to 10 years in prison—where inmates introduced him to the Nation of Islam sect of the Muslim religion. He was instructed to drop his last name and add the letter X to symbolize his slave name. In 1952, a changed Malcolm was paroled from prison, marrying Betty Shabazz six years later.
A brilliant leader and speaker, Malcolm X moved quickly up the ranks of the Fruit of Islam (FOI), eventually becoming the spokesperson for Nation of Islam head Elijah Muhammad. His charismatic speeches and bold rebuke of the racist injustices black America faced daily—he advocated Black separatism in the face of segregation—made him a larger-than-life figure. Malcolm believed people of color had the right to physically defend themselves from harm, which countered civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s philosophy of non-violence. “I don’t even call it violence when it’s in self-defense,” Malcolm said. “I call it intelligence.” However, by March 1964 he had become disillusioned by the Nation, specifically by Elijah Muhammad’s relationships (and paternity suits) involving several women from the Mosque. After leaving the Nation, several attempts were made on Malcolm’s life as Elijah Muhammad said in response to his protégé leaving, “Only those who wish to be led to hell or to their doom will follow Malcolm. No one ever leaves the Nation of Islam."
In April 1964, Malcolm made a life-changing pilgrimage to Mecca, the Islamic holy city in Saudi Arabia. There he prayed with Muslims of various races and nationalities, including whites. He adopted a new name El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz and converted to orthodox Islam. Looking beyond the United States’ social ills, Malcolm now saw the plight of Black America as a human rights issue with links across the globe. He stressed racial and cultural heritage and at times reached out to progressive whites. Malcolm also was lauded as a well-regarded debater, where his views were displayed on various platforms including such prestigious organizations as the United Kingdom’s Oxford Union.
On February 21, 1965, Malcolm X was set to address several hundred people at Harlem’s Audubon Ballroom when three men shot and killed the outspoken leader. All three assassins had ties to the Nation of Islam and were later sentenced to life in prison. Years after his death, Malcolm X became a symbol of strength and courage as his spirit lived on in a best-selling book, 1965’s The Autobiography of Malcolm X, and a critically acclaimed film, Spike Lee’s stirring 1992 Malcolm X (Warner Bros.).
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