Malcolm X

« Malcolm X I) Presentation  Malcolm X was born on May 19 th , 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska and he was assassinated on February 21 st , 1965 in Harlem, New York.  He was born Malcolm Little, and he take the name of El-Hajj Malek El-Shabazz after his pilgrimage in Mecca.

 He was a Muslim preacher African American, a speaker and a human rights activist.

 Malcom X was one of the most popular members of Nation of Islam, a racist association in USA, which claims the black supremacy.

 For his admirers, he was an involved defender for the rights of African Americans and a fighter against segregation and racism.

His fight was parallel to that of the Martin Luther King, this fight allowed an international awareness on the condition of the African Americans and a favourable evolution of this condition.

 His detractors accused him to having preached racism against white people. They blamed him because he advocated black supremacy and violence against the white community.

 Malcolm X thought that the white man was the common enemy.

He stirred up hate against White people and he called to the violence against them.

He advocated the black supremacy, in reaction to the murders and the violence of the Ku Klux Klan, the racist organization which advocated supremacy of the Protestants since the half of 19th century. II) Childhood  Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little, in 1925.  X isn’t his name but a nickname which he gave itself when he joined Nation of Islam in 1952.

 Little is the white master’s name who has his ancestor as slave.

So he refused this name, and prefer to take the letter X as name, to indicate that he didn’t know his real name, the name of his African ancestors.

It was maybe also to to remind that the black slaves were marked with a cross.

 His father died in 1931: he was hit in the head and put on tramway rails, probably by members of the Ku Klux Klan. III) Nation of Islam  Growing up, Malcolm committed several thefts and attacks.

He was arrested and incarcerated in 1946.

It’s during his jail stay that he crosses paths with Nation of Islam.

He is converted to the Islam and, on his release from prison in 1952, he becomes an activist of this racist organization.  Then, he communicates the beliefs of Nation of Islam, themselves racists.

In particular, the black people would be superior to the white people, and the Whites would be the product of an experimentation led by a black scientist.. »