Malcolm X is one of the most controversial figures in US history. His dominant image is that of a ‘black supremacist’; an image embedded into the mass mind to such an extent it has become an ‘historical fact’. The picture painted has associated Malcolm with violence, racism and hate, so future generations will dismiss him as just a racist demagogue – a one-dimensional, fanatical enemy of America. This raises the issue of ‘facts in history’, and how such accusations became ‘facts’. However, in this essay, I will show that such images belie Malcolm X’s extraordinary dynamism and non-fixedness, and his immense metamorphoses as a man, leader, and thinker. Having divided his life into three stages – since he did live his life in three distinct stages, with three different personalities and goals – I conclude that while the dominant image is superficially plausible, it is in fact an image severely distorted due to the threat that Malcolm posed to racial domination and inequality, and by extension his threat to both US domestic security and US foreign policy, even after his death. Malcolm X himself predicted exactly this in his autobiography – that after he dies “the white man, in his press, is going to identify [him] with ‘hate’. He will make use of [him] dead, as he has made use of [him] alive, as a convenient symbol of ‘hatred’” (MALCOLM X, 1964, 381).…