History 6393
Readings in Post-1945 U.S. History
Isaac Hampton II
Book review
The Autobiography Of
MALCOLM X
03/08/2005
Alex Haley wrote The Autobiography of Malcolm X in 1964. In 1965 Haley and
Malcolm’s wife Betty Shabazz wrote a second edition. In 1999 Malcolm’s daughter
Attallah Shabazz wrote a new and insightful forward that gives an intimate view of her
father’s character, principles and Malcolm X significance not only to black America, but
white America also.
Malcolm presents several arguments in this book, but it does not come in the shape of
a grand thesis supported by secondary sources. Malcolm’s argument is far richer because
he actually lived the experience. Haley chronicles Malcolm’s life from Omaha, Nebraska
to Harlem, New York. The book covers a time period from 1925-1965 with Malcolm
telling his life story to Haley. In Boston and Harlem, Malcolm lived the life of a zoot
suitor, hustler, numbers runner and bugler. Malcolm served time in prison for burglary
from 1946-1952. Malcolm was introduced to the Nation of Islam by his brother and
sister. They wrote him regularly and occasionally visited him from Michigan. It was
during this time that Malcolm became Muslim and gravitated to Elijah Muhammad, the
leader of The Nation of Islam.
To get a clear understanding of Malcolm’s perception of the world and his motives, it
is critical to remember that he is a black man living in America at a time when the white
racial superiority complex was widespread. Malcolm lived in a segregated society with
Jim Crow laws and racial tension all around him. He had the memory of the KKK
threatening to burn down the house he lived in as a child and his father being killed by
white men. As Malcolm grew up, the stress of his mother losing her husband and having
to raising eight children alone caused her great mental anguish that she was committed to
a mental hospital. This event broke up his family and forced Malcolm to be passed
2
around to different families. The whole time all he saw were white people deciding what
they thought was best for him.
If the reader can use a filter with the above mentioned variables to analyze Malcolm’s
philosophy, his words may not seem as belligerent and racist as white America first
interpreted it during the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. Malcolm’s primary goal was to
enlighten African Americans and uplift their mentality, social and economic condition in
America.
For Malcolm, African Americans first problem was white America. At universities
such as Harvard and Yale or at press conferences he would define white Americans as
“white devils” and he would support this with history and the current situation of African
Americans. While this history at times seemed a bit slanted, he did make a convincing
argument. Malcolm injected race and religion into nearly all of his arguments. He called
Christianity the white man’s religion. He explained that The Holy Bible in the white
man’s hands has been the single greatest ideological weapon for enslaving millions of
non-white human beings (263).
In the early 1960’s when African Americans were being led by Dr. Martin Luther
King and fighting for integration and equal rights, Malcolm and The Nation of Islam took
a radical and different approach. Malcolm stated that:
No sane black man really wants integration! No sane white man really wants
integration! No sane black man really believes that the white man ever will give the
black man anything more than token integration. No! The Honorable Elijah Muhammad
teaches that for the black man in American the only solution is complete separation from
the white man…and the only way the black people caught up in this society can be saved
is not to integrate into this corrupt society but to separate from it, to a land of our own,
where can reform ourselves.” (268)
3
This statement came as a shock to black and white Americans since, from the time period
of Plessy vs. Ferguson, African Americans such as DuBois, Jams Weldon Johnson and
King believed that more integration was best for both races. More integration and equal
rights seemed like the key for whites and blacks to better understand each other. Booker
T. Washington stated during his Atlanta address in 1895 that blacks and whites are “as
the hand in all things essential to mutual progress.” Malcolm obviously did not see it this
way.
Malcolm believed that blacks did have some responsibility for their own demise. He
felt that blacks had been brainwashed to the point that one had to be careful when
introducing the truth to blacks that had never previously been exposed to it. Malcolm
states that when telling black prison inmates about the slave trade and African history,
many would not believe it until they could see that a white man had said it. Malcolm
preached that blacks needed to start self-correcting their own moral and spiritual defects.
He believed that blacks should focus on building their own businesses as other ethnic
people have done and patronize their own kind.
Malcolm also attacked Negros that held Ph.D's and held positions such as doctor,
judge and reverend. Many blacks in these positions denounced Malcolm. He called
these people the twentieth-century Uncle Thomas. He also said these blacks were in the
profession of being a Negro for the white man. Malcolm’s method of what he called
educating people or telling them the truth was a double-edged razor that did not attract
the mass back in the 1960s. Once he split with the Nation of Islam, his support system
was severely weakened. He found it difficult to turn to blacks that were not Muslims
4
because most blacks at that time did not support such radical views. They also did not
identify with Islam.
The ideology of Malcolm X before his pilgrimage to Mecca was separation from the
white race, civil rights for African Americans, and educating America as a nation to the
injustices that have been done to people of color. After his pilgrimage, his goal was to
build an all-black organization whose objective was to help create a society where an
honest white-black brotherhood existed. Malcolm stated that he had no less anger but his
visit to the Holy Land helped him to recognize that anger can blind human vision.
The methodology Haley used was a long series of oral interviews and notes that
Malcolm would give to Haley during interview sessions. Malcolm would discuss the
different stages of his life to Haley. Haley does not say in the epilogue if it was done
chronologically or not. The book's place in history is important for several reasons.
Number one being that Malcolm X is the first African American man to boldly criticize
America for its transgressions against people of color. He did it with authority, charisma
and intelligence. He used logic, race and white history to support his stance.
The book is also important because in Malcolm’s early life as a hustler in Harlem and
Boston, the reader gets an intimate view of what life was like for many black Americans
in the 1930s and 1940s. The pageantry of Harlem, black music, the art of hustling
interracial sex, drugs, and African American’s way of survival in this underworld is
expertly detailed. At times the book reminds you of the Harlem Renaissance and has the
feel of Claude McKay’s Home to Harlem. Overall, this book is excellent for the
aforementioned reasons. A minor shortcoming of the book is its lack of dates. Dates are
present but one has to search them out. Perhaps a little more could have been written
5
about Malcolm ministering to convicts while he was in prison. His concerns about the
CIA and FBI following him could have been discussed in more detail.
In the 1960s, Malcolm X went far beyond Leon Litwack’s idea of the new Negro.
Malcolm carried his head high and always delivered a fiery message. As one reads The
Autobiography of Malcolm X we come to realize that Malcolm displayed some of the best
and worst characteristics of human behavior. However, what stands out the most is how
a young black man with only and eighth grade education affected so many people and
redefined Africans Americans demand for equality.
6