Malcolm X was an African American civil rights leader and minister who promoted Black nationalism extensively until he was assassinated in the year 1965. By analyzing his lifestyle, philosophy, and activities, we find many interesting facts about Malcolm X. In this article, I am going to share some interesting facts about Malcolm X.
Interesting facts about Malcolm X
1. Birth and Early Life
Malcolm X was born on Tuesday, May 19, 1925, in Omaha, Nebraska, Midwestern United States. His parents, Louise, a homemaker, and Earl Little, an social activist had 8 children and Malcon X was the 4th among them.
His parents had been confronting cruel harassment even before the birth of Malcolm X, due to their role in Black nationalism. In another way, Malcolm was the 7th of his father’s 9 children among them 3 were from a previous marriage.
2. Hardship in early life
His parents had been facing continuous torture by Ku Klux Klan and “white police” and Malcolm X lost his father (who was supposed to be murdered by KKK) at the age of 6, and mother was in the mental asylum for the next 26 years in the shock and grief of the death of Malcolm’s father.
3. Adoption
After the death of his father and the insanity of the mother, Malcolm’s family unity began to dissolve, and due to discipline problems, and living, Malcolm was sent to live with another family in 1937 as adoption.
4. Education
Malcolm X had a career ambition to be a lawyer. He was brilliant and was one of the few black students in Mason High School.
Earlier that, he was sent back from the school in 1938 and held to a juvenile detention home in Mason, Michigan. Malcolm X again dropped out of school in 1940, when he was 15.
5. Heretical enmity with the while
His father was reported to be murdered by white supremacist groups, aggravated the long terms enmity between white supremacist and black Malcolm X.
6. Adamant Behavior
Malcolm was a defiant personality since childhood and showed his adamance toward authority. At 13, he was sent to the Michigan State Detention Home, a reform school.
7. Dropped Slave name
Earlier, his name was Little Malcolm, in order to drop the White, European culture, Malcolm X skipped his last name (Little) with the letter X, as he believed this was nothing but a “slave name”.
8. Insignificant careers in Earlier days
Malcolm’s first profession was to shine shoes in the streets of Boston. He also worlds illegal drug peddlers, automobile factory, and then worked as kitchen help on the Yankee Clipper train that was plying between New York and Boston, where he again involved in drug peddling and crime.
Money earning in any good or bad ways became a staple need to meet up his lavish lifestyle during those days.
9. His ambition was shattered by a white teacher
While he had the ambition to be a lawyer in his career, one of his eighth-grade teacher English white teachers criticized him for dreaming that Malcolm was black!
10. Imprisonment
In the year 1946, Malcolm X had been sent to jail for 10 years because of his illegal involvement in larceny. Life in imprisonment was the turning point in his life.
11. Life in Jail for 7 years
Malcolm X was an avid reader and read out many books while he was in jail. Reading more and more had changed his philosophy of life.
His siblings used to come to the jail to meet him. Malco, thus, was in touch with family and understood the value of the family. Before his release from prison in 1952, he was converted to the Nation of Islam.
12. Memorize dictionary
During his time in jail, he had gained much learning and knowledge, and memorizing dictionaries was one of them.
13. Change of Name
Just before being released from jail, he changed his name to Malcolm X. It was a fresh reborn.
14. Rise of “Nation of Islam”
After being released from jail, Malcolm was then a complete man with matured youth, consolidated philosophies, prudence knowledge, and an inspiring lifestyle.
He devoted himself to flourish the Nation if Islam, with Elijah Muhammad, the leader of that the Islamic and Black movement in Detroit, Michigan.
He initiated a newspaper in 1960 named Muhammad Speaks, to disseminate the message of Islam.
Earlier, Malcolm X became the minister of Temple No. 7 in Harlem and Temple No. 11 in Boston. He also founded new temples in Hartford and Philadelphia for the expansion of his movement.
15. Brief and insignificance Boxing Career
Malcolm X had a short, unsuccessful, and insignificant boxing career as he signed up to become a boxer in 1937.
16. A spokesman for the Nation of Islam
During his Malcolm X was a spokesman of the Nation of Islam and promoted his philosophies to extend the followers up to 40000 from only 400 in just 8 years. He was a Minister, a prominent Black nationalist as well as a human rights activist leader.
17. A successful public speaker
Malcolm X was a successful orator and public speaker. He was popular during his time for catchy speeches. He had the ability to spellbound the audience with his meaningful and emotional speeches. His famous speech is “The Ballot or the Bullet”.
18. University engagements
Reputed universities like Harvard and Oxford invited Malcolm X to speak in front of students for his oratory and debating quality.
19. Black Movement
Malcolm X was in favor of a violent revolution to establish an independent Black nation “by any means necessary”.
“You don’t have a peaceful revolution. You don’t have a turn-the-cheek revolution… There’s no such thing as a nonviolent revolution,” he said to his followers. He was constantly battered and criticized for his black skin throughout life that he never liked.
20. Opposite to Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision
Malcolm X had gradually emerged as a spearhead of the radicalized wing of the fuming civil rights movement, which by the early 1960s.
It was in fact a dramatic alternative to Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision who dreamt of a racially-integrated society to be achieved by peaceful means, not a destructive way.
21. Left the Nation of Islam
His leader Elijah Muhammad was proved leud and commented sensitively irrational on the assassination of John F. Kennedy. These had forced Malcolm to leave the Nation of Islam in 1964.
22. Change of Name Again and leniency to Whites!
He changed his name again as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz as he took part in the holy Hajj in Mecca and converted to mainstream Islam as a Sunni. It brought a huge change in his philosophy and transformed to run his mission peacefully.
“The true brotherhood I had seen had influenced me to recognize that anger can blind human vision,” he said. “America is the first country … that can actually have a bloodless revolution.”
23. A brutal assassination and conspiracy
Since he was transforming the civil rights movement in a new, peaceful direction, Malcolm X was brutally assassinated by some of the gunmen on February 21, 1965, when he was addressing the Audubon Ballroom in Manhattan. It was alleged to be a conspiracy against him from the members of the Nation of Islam.
24. The Autobiography of Malcolm X
In the year 1965, The Autobiography of Malcolm X was published soon after the assassination of Malcolm. The New York Times mentioned this as a “brilliant, painful, important book,”.
Considering the impact of his contribution and philosophies, Time magazine listed the autobiography as one of the 10 most influential nonfiction books of the 20th century. Movies were also made to demonstrate his life.
I hope this article on Interesting facts about Malcolm X was worth reading.
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