Malcom X Flashcards
Born
Born as Malcolm little in 1925 in Omaha Nebraska.
Childhood
He had 4 siblings. His parents were activists in the Universal Negro Improvement association, established by Marcus Garvey.
Earl little was a preacher, who faced a lot of racial harassment and moved the family several times. One of their houses was even burned down in a mysterious fire.
Earl’s body ended up being found on train tracks in 1931. Cops said it was an accident. But some relatives doubted that. Malcolms mom went insane (this contributed to that) and had to go into an institution
School/trouble
Malcom did well in school but he started getting bitter towards white authority figures. He quit school in the 8th grade after a white teacher said being a lawyer is an unrealistic goal for a nigger.
He had to go to reform schools and foster homes because of what happened with his parents.
He ended up living in Detroit and then with his half sister, Ella, in Boston
Malcolm got the nickname Detroit red cuz of his reddish hair. He worked railroad jobs, and engaged in criminal activities such as selling illegal drugs and gambling stuff. He got arrested for larceny and breaking and entering and the judge gave him a harsher sentence cuz he was in a relationship with a white chic and she blamed it on Malcolm.
Nation of Islam
He joined the NOI in prison. His brother Reginald got him involved.
Elijah Muhammad was the head of this group and Malcolm did well and ended up being the most effective minister. He was great at recruiting and became the nations national representative (number 2 guy) in 1857.
He changed his name to X, meaning unknown African name
Accomplishments
He coined the phrase by any means necessary, in reference to freedom.
Famously confronted NY Police and made sure they gave a beaten and jailed NOI member medical attention
Was the star of the 1959 documentary “the hate TNA hate produced”
Became a frequent guest on radio and tv and was the face of the NOI
Malcom’s militancy vs non violent style
Malcolm was critical of the non violent approach to obtaining freedom. He wrote a letter asking king to participate in a rally about racial solutions. King ignored it. Malcolm did refer to king as an Uncle Tom at one point
Break with NOI
Some in the NOI felt Malcolm wanted the spotlight on him and wanted to take over. Malcolm also got dismayed with Elijah Muhammad for impregnating his secretaries with out of wedlock stuff.
The final straw was when Malcolm said Kennedy getting killed was chickens coming home to roost. Muhammad silenced malcom after that. But Malcolm still got Muhammad Ali to join the NOI
Malcolm left and started his own group “Muslim Mosque Inc”
Softened stance
After a pilgrimage to Mecca, malcom saw people of all colors worshipping and therefore he stopped referring to whites as devils, and no longer adopted the NOI racial theology
He also changed his name to El-Hajj Malik el shabazz and former the organization of afro American unity to bring all elements together
Malcom was still fairly militant and rejected the non violent approach but he briefly met king in 1964 on Capitol Hill. It was a cordial meeting.
The ballot or bullet speech
One of his most famous speeches. He urged blacks to put aside differences and unite to fight discrimination, regardless of religion.
Direct meetings with non violent movements
After his second trip to Africa for a organization of African unity summit, he met with leaders of the student non violent coordinating committee.
He met with Fannie lou hamer
Went to Alabama to meet with activists involved in voting rights
Tried to meet with Martin but he was in jail and met with correta Scott king and told her he didn’t wanna make life more difficult for Martin. He said, “if white people realize the alternative, perhaps they will be more willing to hear Dr. King”
Enemies/murder
The FBI tried to undermine his influence
The NOI tried to evict him from his queens NY home and the home was firebombed, but we don’t know by who
Louis Farrakhan condemned him as a traitor for talking shit about Elijah Muhammad
In 1965 members of the NOI shot and killed Malcom during a speech in NYC
