Malcolm X, also known as Malcolm Little was a civil rights
campaigner. He was born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1925 and
was the fourth of eight children born to Louise and Earl
Little. He also was a part of the Nation of Islam and at that
time he believed in separatism(it means African
Americans living apart from white people).But when
Malcolm X went on pilgrimage of Hajj to mecca he saw
different people from all the world. He learnt people
should treat each other equally and live together no
matter what there color or race. He was killed in1965 .
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Malcolm X had a very troubled childhood due to racism.
His family were continuously attacked by the Ku Klux
Klan as his father was a civil rights activist. Eventually his
father decided to move the family to East Lansing,
Michigan. Instead of things getting better things got
worse. A racist mob set fire to their house and the white
police and firemen stood and watched the house burn.
Sadly, his father died and even though it was most likely
white supremacists as he had many death threats they
claimed it was suicide so the family could not get life
insurance. Malcolm X had to move with family friends as
his mother couldn't recover from the shock and grief of
her husband's death.
When Malcolm x was in school he was the only black child in the
class. He felt they treated him more like a animal than a human
being. At the age of 14 in1939 he told the teacher he wanted to
be a lawyer but she said “One of life's first needs is for us to be
realistic… You need to think of something you can be…why don’t
you plan on carpentry?” Having been told there was no point of
having any education as he was black he left school the year
after and moved to Boston. There he lived with his older half
sister, Ella. When he moved there he said Ella was the only
person proud of her dark skin. But soon he got involved in the
city's crime and was arrested in 1946.In prison he spent his
time reading and making up for all the leaning missed by
quitting school. Also he joined the nation of Islam whilst in
prison. He changed his name from Malcolm Little to Malcolm X.
In 1964 Malcolm X travelled through North Africa and the
Middle East. The journey proved to be a major change in his
life, politically and spiritually. Malcolm X also made Hajj, the
traditional Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, during
which time he converted to traditional Islam and again
changed his name, this time to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz.
After Mecca, Malcolm X returned to the United States less
angry and more hopeful about a peaceful resolution to
America's race problems. "The true brotherhood I had seen had
influenced me to recognize that anger can blind human
vision," he said. Tragically, just as Malcolm X appeared to be
trying to change things in the Civil Rights Movement, he was
assassinated.
On February 21, 1965 Malcolm X was assassinated by
Talmadge Hayer, Norman 3X Butler and Thomas 15X Johnson, all
members of Nation of Islam. He was just about to give a speech
when they shot him. He was only 39 when he died. Fifteen
hundred people attended Malcolm's funeral in Harlem on
February 27.
In 1965 ‘The Autobiography of Malcolm X’ as told by Alex Healy
was published - this was a story about the struggle against
racism, and an inspiring spiritual journey, It instantly made
Malcolm X one of the great political and spiritual leaders of
modern times and made him a hero to future generations of
activists.