Malcolm X

Introduction

Malcolm X was a great African American Leader, but there is one question that comes to mind when his name is mentioned. Why was Malcolm X such a controversial man? I will now tell you about the life and times of Malcolm, and while doing so, attempt to answer this, o so timely question that so many have asked.

Early Life

Malcolm Little was born in 1925, in Omaha, Nebraska. His mother, Luis Little was a house wife. His father, Earl Little was a well-known Baptist Minister. When Malcolm was three years old, white supremacist's threats to his father forced the rather large family the parents had, to move. They chose to settle in Lansting, Michigan. But this homestead would not last for long. Soon after, their house was turned to ashes by more Area Nation members. But the hate would not stop there.

Only two years later Earl Little has found dead on the trolley tracks. The Police, of course, presumed both the death, and the fire, accidents. But Malcolm and his family knew the hateful truth.

These Events led to the mental sickness of the tattered widow and mother, Louis Little. She was committed to an Institution (Barbara Haberman, 2002). Malcolm and his brothers and sisters were split up into foster homes and orphanages.

Despite all this tragedy, Malcolm became a good student in Elementary and middle school. He had dreams of becoming a successful lawyer someday. But one teacher, that Malcolm had favored, shattered these dreams in just one ignorant statement. He told him that this aspiration of becoming something of such a profession, was "no realistic goal for a nigger"-Teacher's name not known- (Barbara Haberman, 2002). This statement, that if told to any white man of that time, would have been thought to be true. Malcolm soon turned away from school and all he had cared about.

Malcolm's Imprisonment

In High School, Malcolm became rebellious. After he later dropped out, he became a hustler while going through odd jobs. New York City was the place for this zoot suit wearing bad boy. For four years he shifted between NYC, Boston, and Michigan. Soon Malcolm had gotten caught up the conation and lost trace of his morals. He was even caught staling from friends and family. Once Malcolm said he wanted "to fight for the Japanese and kill crackers (white people)" ((whole paragraph) William Strickland, 1964)

In 1946 Malcolm was sentenced to 10 years in Massachusetts State Prison for the burglary he had recently committed. He used this time to self educate himself. Malcolm even rewrote the alphabet over and over to improve his handwriting (William Strickland, 1964). He studied the dictionary and read thousands of books. With his new wide spread vocabulary he had turned himself around in one of the most unthinkable of places and circumstances. All he needed now was something to belong to.

Malcolm's Great Leadership

After all of this great revolution, Malcolm had a visit from his brother, Reginald.

He told Malcolm of his recent conversion to a Black Muslim group called The Nation of Islam (Barbara Haberman, 2002). This was intriguing to Malcolm. He studied the beliefs and the work of the leader, Elijah Muhammad. He continued this through out the remainder of his sentence.

The Nation of Islam believed that white people didn't want the black man to succeed on the white man's land. Malcolm believed blacks and whites should segregate and succeed without the "enemy's" regulations. The Blacks Muslims even wanted their own state to gain unity in the black community (Barbara Haberman, 2002). Soon Malcolm would become a great leader of this new group of people.

After Malcolm got out of prison he decided to change his last name from Little, to "X". He had studied his origin and found his family had been brought over as slaves.

He believed that "little" had been given to him by a white man who sold slaves. He didn't like the fact that a white man could control something so major. When he went to find his ancestor's original name, he could not find anything at all. As a result, he changed his last name to "x" to represent the lost name he rightfully owned. It also represented his new step in life. Malcolm X, A great American leader.

Malcolm filled every news show and paper in, and out of the New York City area. People crazed over the controversial "Black Muslims" the name, which Malcolm detested as he said in his Autobiography. He, along with many other leaders gave speeches on their beliefs. Because Malcolm advocated violence and because of the harsh, blunt manner of setting forth his message, Malcolm X and his followers were referred to as "black racists" and "black supremacists" by the hypocritical white man. Even some black people were