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upplemental Reading
M
alcolm X was born in Nebraska on May 19, 1925.
His real name was Malcolm Little. Malcolm’s
father died when he was thirteen. A few years
later, he started a life of crime. He was
arrested for stealing in
1945 and spent seven years in prison. In prison, he educated
himself by reading books. At the urging of two of his brothers,
he joined the Nation of Islam.
After leaving prison, he became
a minister for the Nation of Islam and then an important leader in the African-
American civil rights movement. He took the last name “X” to symbolize his
true, unknown African name.
Malcolm X had a different philosophy than Martin Luther King.
While King
wanted black people and white people to live together peacefully, Malcolm X at
first claimed that black people were superior to white people and should live
separately from them. Also, while King urged equal civil
rights for black people
and white people, Malcolm X emphasized equal human rights. “Human rights are
something you were born with,” he said. He saw the struggle
for equality as being
international and wanted to affect worldwide change at the United Nations. While
King stressed non-violence, Malcolm X said that black people should be able to
protect themselves “by whatever means necessary”–– including weapons.
Later in his life, Malcolm X no longer called white people a race of “devils.”
He continued, however, to encourage African-Americans
to have pride in their
heritage, and he continued to advocate violence, if necessary. Malcolm X was
shot to death while giving a speech in New York on Feb. 21, 1965.
