He began receiving death threats and his house was burned down. On February 21, 1965, Malcolm was shot dead while delivering a speech in Manhattan's Audubon Ballroom. Malcolm was shot 16 times. Three men were convicted for the shots and they were all members of the Nation of Islam.
The funeral service was attended by a very large number of people and thousands of people came to pay their respects to Malcolm's body. The great number of people that came to pay their respects shows that Malcolm managed to reach during his lifetime many lives and that there were many people that followed the same principles that Malcolm was preaching. He was clearly a representative figure of the black community in America as he was always a supporter of the rights of black people.
The death of Malcolm X left regret in the hearts of the black community, as his passion and commitment to promoting the evolution of the situation of the black people in America. However, he was not always regarded as a symbol of black movements due to his radical position and extremist discourse. He was seen as a violent extremist black activist and his methods of trying to improve the situation of the black population in America were often criticized, both by white press and personalities and by black activists. After his death, the reactions were mixed, as there were voices that claimed that his violent death was nothing more than the result of the violent speeches he delivered during his lifetime.
Malcolm X's efforts to promote civil rights were even more appreciated after his death. In 1964, short after his death, the Autobiography of Malcolm X was published, a book written by Alex Haley as told to by Malcolm himself. In this book, the intentions and desires of Malcolm X and his beliefs of the rights of the black population were presented differently and his readers got to know more about his opinions on Black unity. He began to be viewed as a revolutionary for the cause of the black people and he began to be admired for his affirmation of black pride.
Malcolm's change from promoter of racial hatred to supporter of interracial brotherhood inspired many people, both white and black, and his legacy remains that of promoter of civil rights for black people. His past of a law offender, supporter of a racial hatred religious group and vivid critique of white supremacy and the complete change he made after he left Nation of Islam are the reason for which Malcolm X remains an example of the power of transformation that lies in every individual. Malcolm X had the power to become a spiritual leader from a prisoner and he later had the power to change his destiny and his beliefs and to become one of the most significant figures in the history of the civil rights movement in America.
However, despite the dramatic transformation of his ideas, Malcolm X's name will always be linked to the period when he instigated for racial hatred, claiming that "Every time you see a white man, think about the devil you're seeing!." Such affirmations were also made out of pure conviction at the time he was part of the Nation of Islam and his hatred speech can not be overlooked, despite the efforts he made in the last year of his life to promote racial equality. He fought against segregationists and racists in both periods of his life, before and after his transformation. However, his speech was a racist one during the period he was a leading member of the Nation of Islam and it is impossible to overlook his position at the time. He did urge black people to stand up for themselves and not to accept their fate and leave themselves stepped over by racist whites, but he also urged them to hate the white people and see in all of them their enemy.
Malcolm X lived his life always in a radical manner and even after his break with the Nation of Islam he continued to present vivid supports for his ideals. His last year of life was marked by change and religious re-orientation not in a mainstream manner, but in a manner that turned him into a revolutionary and an internationalist. He addressed questions that are still available today, questions of racism and imperialism. He became a strong supporter of the anti-imperialist movement and he even met with head-of-states from various Non-Aligned Movement nations, such as Egypt, Cuba, and Kenya. The common elements between these leaders, that were vivid opponents of the imperialist policy developed by the U.S., and Malcolm X show that Malcolm supported a rather revolutionary view, opposing the differentiation made at the international level between those that have the power and their slaves. He made a parallel between the situation of black men in America and the situation of the Non-Aligned countries,...
Malcolm X and Ellison Interracial sexual desire is depicted both in Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man and The Autobiography of Malcolm X Extreme social stratification and inequalities in social power play an important role in the depiction of interracial sexual desire in both Ellison's book and Malcolm X's autobiography, and also play an important role in the repulsion/attraction dynamic seen between the races. Both of these books leave little hope for humanitarian,
Even Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. noted that the Emancipation Proclamation promised more than it delivered. Both men knew that America had a long way to go before true freedom for African-Americans could be realized. Malcolm X dealt drugs and hung out with the underground African-American artists and musicians during the Harlem Renaissance, one of the greatest periods in African-American cultural history. This section of Malcolm X's Autobiography is one
..That's why black prisoners become Muslims so fast when Elijah Muhammed's teachings filter into their cages by way of other Muslim convicts. 'The white man is the devil' is a perfect echo of that black convict's lifelong experience." Prison solidified Malcolm X's -- and in his view, all African-Americans' -- position in society, and his faith clarified the predicament and gave an avenue both of understanding and of redress. Everyone's childhood, family,
However, many other strands of thought have converged to create a collective black identity and historiography. For example, the syncretic slave religions that merged African practices with Christianity allowed slave families and communities to hold on to their ancestry and traditions in the face of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual oppression. Similarly, the creation of the African Episcopal Church (AME) in the early nineteenth century marked a distinctive and
He was eventually able to communicate directly with the leader of the Nation of Islam, Elijah Muhammad. Malcolm X's oratory skills also developed through his participation in a prison debate team. Spiritually and personally transformed, Malcolm X was released on parole, and moved to Detroit to live with his brother who, like many of their other siblings, had converted to Islam. Malcolm X soon rose through the ranks of the
That is, my religion is still Islam. My religion is still Islam. I still credit Mr. Mohammed for what I know and what I am" (427). His philosophy was no pro-violence, he merely believed that one should not turn the other cheek when one was colonized: "The political philosophy of Black Nationalism only means that the black man should control the politics and the politicians in his own community...The
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now