Biography Of Malcolm X

Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little, was an influential American Muslim minister and an activist for civil rights. He was a powerful political leader who expressed what he believed in, in a way that was violent and different to fellow activist, Martin Luther King Jr. He entered into a world full of hate on May 19, 1925, to homemaker Louise Little and a preacher who supported Marcus Garvey (the leader of the black nationalist party), Earl Little. From before he was even born, Malcolm was exposed to the cruel world of racism towards the blacks. Many of the hard struggles of discrimination, faced by Malcolm are what ultimately shaped him into the strong leader he came to be.
His father, Earl Little, being a preacher and a strong supporter of the leader of the Black Nationalist Party, had a target on not only his back, but on the backs of his entire family, from the Ku Klux Klan. The Little family faced numerous threats, physical and racial attacks, resulting in them being forced to move from their home in Nebraska to Michigan. However,
even the move did not stop things, it only made everything worse. The Little’s had their house burnt down by the KKK, and faced racial discrimination from those who are supposed to help others, the fire brigade. They were forced to watch their home burn down, while everyone refused to help them. At the young age of 6, Malcolm’s father died in what was obvious as murder, but was officially ruled as suicide by the police. This impacted the entire family financially because, as a result of it being ruled as suicide, the family lost their rights to the life insurance bought by Earl. Malcolm left the family home and moved in with family friends after his mother, Louise, could not mentally deal with the death of her husband and was admitted into a mental institution in 1937.
X’s school life wasn’t any easier. He was the only non-white student, and although voted as class president and well-liked by his classmates, he still felt more like the class pet. He excelled academically, however was put down by his teacher when he said he wanted to be a Lawyer. It was when he told her this that she then replied with it “not being realistic for an African American child to expect to being a professional” (Engelbert and Des Chenes, 1999). It was from this moment in his life that he felt that because being told no other way of life and losing his interest in school and his education, he dropped out when only 15 years old.
Upon leaving school, he relocated to Boston, where he moved in with his half-sister.
However, after landing a job shoe-shining, he started to find himself being drawn into the world of drugs and criminal activity. He gradually became more and more invested in this lifestyle, until 1946, where he was arrested for robbery. He spent the next 10 years in prison. It was during these 10 years, where he decided to convert to the Nation of Islam, alongside his siblings. It was through the Nation of Islam, that a small sect of blacks during this time, could embrace their beliefs of black nationalism. During this time of his life, Malcolm changed his name from Malcolm Little to X. “He took this step to rid himself of the name that his great-grandparents, who were slaves, had been given by their owners,” (Engelbert and Des Chenes, 1999) He changed to ‘X’ as this represented the “unknown name of his fellow African ancestors” (Biography.com,
2016).
Malcolm became invested in the Nation of Islam, as the teachings helped him to understand these events and provided an outlet for his anger (Engelbert and Des Chenes, 1999), and believed in fighting for what he believed in, literally fighting. Unlike fellow activist, Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm was all for violence and believed that in order to fight for their rights, violence was the answer. However, did this, along with his early on life experiences, just create the violent criminal or the man standing up for what he believed in? Malcolm’s life had not been easy, from the moment he was born to the moment he died, his life was full of racism, hate, segregation and discrimination. All the events which occurred in his life, made him the man he came to be. He was strong, powerful man who just wanted to fight what he believed him. However, fighting for what you believe in, and being a violent criminal are two different things. Malcolm strongly indicated a strong acceptance towards fighting back towards the violent racism and retaining self-determination ‘by any means necessary’. It was through this that, not only was he loved by his followers, but he was also hated and feared by almost all whites, along with numerous blacks. Malcolm had the strong belief that true alliance between the white and black societies was possible within a racist society. Here Malcolm felt that if true integration was to happen and blacks had the right to enter white establishments, then this would ultimately result in them being forced into becoming like the whites.