Introduction
Malcolm X was an African American civil rights activist, preacher, and defender of Black Nationalism. He pushed black people to defend themselves against white violence by any means possible, a position that often contradicted the non-violent teachings of Martin Luther King, Jr. His charm and speaking ability helped him achieve national recognition in the Nation of Islam, a religious group that united Islam with Black Nationalism.
In the early 1960s, with the help of Alex Haley, the author of Roots, Malcolm X began to work on his autobiography. Malcolm X’s autobiography is about his life and his views on race, faith, and Black Nationalism. It was published posthumously in 1965 and became a bestseller. After Malcolm X’s death in 1965, his greatest autobiography, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, promoted his views and sparked the black rights movement. This work was written with the aim of studying the life of Malcolm X.
Early Life
In 1925, Malcolm X, Malcolm Little, was born in Omaha, Nebraska. His father was a Baptist preacher and disciple of Marcus Garvey. According to Myers, “his family name was little, but Malcolm’s father, the Earl, was a big man” (2019, p. 1). After the Ku Klux Klan made threats to a family in Lansing, Michigan, the family still faced threats in their new place of residence. In 1931, a gang of white nationalists called the Black Legionnaires reportedly killed Malcolm’s father, but police said his death was accidental. Mrs. Little and her children were denied benefits in connection with the death of her husband.
Prison Life
When Malcolm X was 6 years old, he ended up in a foster home and, his mother got scared. He dropped out of school after the eighth grade, despite the fact that he was quite smart and an excellent student. He began wearing zoot suits, taking drugs, and earning the nickname “Detroit Red.” At the age of 21, he was sent to a pre-trial detention center for theft. Malcolm X originally met in prison with Elijah Muhammad, president of the Lost Nation of Islam, or Black Muslims, a group of black nationalists who regarded white people as devils. Shortly thereafter, Malcolm was given the surname X as a rejection of his name as “slave.”
The Nation of Islam
Malcolm helped lead the Nation of Islam during its most significant expansion and influence since his release from prison. He met Elijah Muhammad in 1952 in Chicago and subsequently started organizing Nation temples in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and the southern cities. He established the Nation newspaper, Muhammad Speaks, which he produced in his house cellar, and started to sell an allocated number of publications on the road as a strategy to recruit and fund-raising every male member of the country. He also expressed the racial beliefs of the country on the inherent wickedness of the whites and on the innate superiority of the blacks.
Final Years
In 1963, Malcolm and Elijah Muhammad were deeply tensed about the nation’s political leadership. Malcolm challenged the nation to be more engaged than merely critical on the sidelines in broad-based civil rights marches. Mohammed’s infringements of the nation’s code of morality damaged his ties to Malcolm, who became distraught when he found that six of his personal secretaries fathered children, two of whom filed claims of fatherhood and made it a public matter.
In March 1964, Malcolm departed the country and formed Muslim Mosque, Inc. in the following month. He has a second transformation and embraces Sunni Islam on his trip to Mecca in the same year, with the Muslim name al-Hajj Malik Al-Shabazz. He renounced the nation’s independence and declared that authentic Islam was the solution to racial issues in the United States. The Organization for African Unity, an Intergoverning Group for promoting African Unity, international collaboration, and economic growth, was addressed during two visits to Africa in 1964. In 1965, he established the Afro-American Unity Organization as a secular means to globalize the struggle of Black Americans and to work together to transition from civil rights to human rights with the people of the developing countries.
On February 21, 1965, while performing at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem, Malcolm was killed and three members of the Islamic Nation were charged with the murders; Betty Shabazz, whom he married in 1958. His sacrifices, thoughts and speeches served to promote the independence and autonomous ideals of African Americans in the 1960s and 1970s. They led to the development of the ideologies of black nationalists and the Black Power movement.
Conclusion
Malcolm X was a Black Nationalist, African American preacher, and advocate for civil rights. He has challenged black people to protect themselves from white brutality, a viewpoint that often contradicts Martin Luther King Jr.’s nonviolent ideals. Its attractiveness and ability to talk contributed to its national renown in the nation of Islam, a religious group that merged Islam with Black Nationalism.
Reference
Myers, W. D. (2019). Malcolm X: By any means necessary. Scholastic Inc.