Remembering Malcolm X

Born: Malcolm Little
May 19, 1925, North Omaha, NE

AKA:  El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, was an African-American Muslim minister and a human rights activist.

Born Malcolm Little, he changed his last name to X to signify his rejection of his “slave” name. Charismatic and eloquent, Malcolm became an influential leader of the Nation of Islam, which combined Islam with black nationalism and sought to encourageand enfranchise disadvantaged young blacks searching for confidence in segregated America. After Malcolm X’s death in 1965, his bestselling book The Autobiography of Malcolm X popularized his ideas, particularly among black youth, and laid the foundation for the Black Power movement of the late 1960s and 1970s.

In 1964, Malcolm X made a pilgrimage to Mecca and changed his name to 
El-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz.

Malcolm was the son of a Baptist preacher who was a follower of Marcus Garvey. After the Ku Klux Klanmade threats against his father, the family moved to Lansing, Michigan. There, in the face of similar threats, he continued to urge blacks to take control of their lives.

Influenced largely by Malcolm, in the summer of 1966 members of SNCC called for black power for black people. Their lack of power was the foundation of Malcolm’s charge that they were denied human rights in America. His clarity on this matter, as America continues its retreat from its commitment to full freedom for his people, has guaranteed for him pride of place among black leaders.

Tags: black, history, malcolm x, civil rights 
Source: The Reader’s Companion to American History. Eric Foner and John A. Garraty, Editors. Copyright © 1991 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.