CLASS PRESENTATION

CLASS PRESENTATION

POWER POINTS SLIDES HAVE BEEN SENT THROUGH EMAIL

CLASS PRESENTATION

Malcolm X, b. May 19, 1925, d. Feb. 21, 1965, was an influential American advocate of black nationalism, and—as a pioneer in articulating a vigorous self-defense against white violence—a precursor of the black power movement of the late 1960s. Born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebr., he became a rebellious youth after the death (1931) of his father, who the family believed was murdered for advocating the ideas of Marcus Garvey. Malcolm spent a few years in a foster home but became an excellent student and was voted class president. Nevertheless, at age 16, he moved east with relatives and drifted to New York City, where he became involved in the Harlem underworld. In prison for burglary from 1946 to 1952, he read widely and was converted to the teachings of Elijah Muhammad. On his release, he embraced the Black Muslim movement and changed his name to Malcolm X. Following his initial training, he became the leading spokesman for the Black Muslims to the outside world.

Malcolm X (1925-1965), African American radical activist. Malcolm Little was born on May 19, 1925, the son of Louise and Earl Little of Omaha, Nebraska. Louise Little was a mulatto born in Grenada in the British West Indies, and Earl Little, a six-foot, very dark man from Reynolds, Ga., was a Baptist minister and organizer for Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association. Louise, his second wife, bore six children: Wildred, Hilda, Philbert, Malcolm, Yvonne, and Reginald. Earl Little also had three children by a first wife: Ella, Earl, and Mary. Little had migrated with his family from Philadelphia to the Midwest, first to Milwaukee, then Omaha, and finally to East Lansing, Mich.

In 1929 the family house was burned down, allegedly by the Black Legion Society, a white supremacist group. After Earl Little died in 1931 in a streetcar accident, Malcolm's mother raised the children as best she could, but she eventually had a mental breakdown and entered an insane asylum. The siblings were dispersed to other families. Malcolm lived with a foster family before moving to Roxbury, Mass., in 1941 to live with a half sister, Ella Collins.

A few months after his arrival in Roxbury, a predominantly black section of Boston, Malcolm dropped out of school (having completed eighth grade) and took a job as a shoeshine boy at the Roseland Ballroom in Boston's Back Bay section. A career as a hustler seemed a more tempting option, and he was soon peddling narcotics. Roxbury proved to be too small for him, and in 1942 he took a job as a railroad dining-car porter, working out of Roxbury and Harlem. Settling in Harlem, he became involved in criminal activities (robbery, prostitution, and narcotics).

Malcolm soon learned to survive in hustler society, which was composed of fleeting social arrangements constantly threatened by internal wars that rendered every man potentially every other man's enemy. He lived up to his nickname—"Red" (in the more urban-conscious New York, "Detroit Red"); red-headed black men ...