PDF Summary:The Autobiography of Malcolm X, by Malcolm X and Alex Haley
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1-Page PDF Summary of The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Published in 1965, The Autobiography of Malcolm X chronicles how Malcolm X rose from a life of poverty and crime to become a significant leader of the civil rights movement. Malcolm X was a controversial figure—his views were often considered extreme and changed radically throughout his life. In telling his story (with the help of writer Alex Haley), Malcolm X explains why he believed what he believed—and why he fought for racial justice, even though he knew it would lead to his death.
This guide discusses the impact that early experiences of racism, pro-Black radical traditions, and Islam had on Malcolm X as well as his achievements as a civil rights activist. We’ll go into the historical and sociological context surrounding Malcolm X’s life and explore the civil rights movement (and Malcolm X’s relationship to other activists, like Martin Luther King Jr.) in more depth. We’ll also connect historical and present-day racism, and we’ll provide an update on the circumstances leading up to Malcolm X’s murder and his legacy.
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Eventually, Malcolm X traveled to Chicago to meet Elijah Muhammad and, under Muhammad’s guidance, set to work recruiting new members and building the religion. He tripled temple membership in Detroit within a few months and went on to establish new temples in Boston, Philadelphia, Springfield, and Atlanta. Because of Malcolm X’s success, Muhammad named him head minister of Temple Seven in New York City.
(Shortform note: Experts have concluded that Malcolm X was personally responsible for the Nation of Islam’s gains in popularity. The organization grew under Muhammad, but it lost steam after Muhammad was imprisoned for telling followers to dodge the draft during World War II. Recruitment didn’t pick back up again until Malcolm X began working on the organization's behalf. Experts have pointed to his strong leadership skills, like an aptitude for public speaking, to explain Malcolm X’s monumental success in building the Nation of Islam.)
At Temple Seven, Malcolm X met Betty, the woman who would become his wife. Although he didn’t want to be married because he felt that women were weak, troublesome, and in need of being controlled, he explains that he was inspired by Betty’s devotion to the religion and came to believe they were a good match.
(Shortform note: Malcolm X has been criticized by many prominent Black feminists as having misogynistic beliefs and directly contributing to the development of sexism within the Black Power movement. However, these beliefs seem to have evolved over time; Malcolm X was inspired by the strength and intellectual contributions of Black women he knew in his personal life and through his work, including his sister Ella and activists like Maya Angelou. After his death, his wife Betty shouldered a heavy load: She carried on Malcolm X’s civil rights work, completed a Ph.D. and pursued her own career, and was a single mother to their six children. She died in 1997, as a result of burns sustained in a fire caused by one of her grandchildren.)
How Malcolm X Became a Civil Rights Leader
Converting to the Nation of Islam didn’t just change the quality of Malcolm X’s life—it also radically transformed his politics, which led to his involvement in the civil rights movement. In this section, we’ll first discuss his political beliefs and then explain how he became an activist.
Malcolm X’s Political Beliefs
Malcolm X was critical of the American civil rights movement and its more moderate leaders—he felt that civil rights victories were negligible and that Black people shouldn’t be content to gain their freedom piece by piece. He also explains that he thought much of the movement, including the March on Washington (a civil rights protest led by Martin Luther King Jr.), was performative—it quieted discord but didn’t result in any meaningful changes, partially because it accepted white people’s money (and therefore influence) and sought white people’s approval. He was in favor of a more radical approach to Black liberation, and he believed that the Nation of Islam should participate in civil rights action in order to prove the efficacy of radicalism.
(Shortform note: The relationship between Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. has often been characterized as adversarial—but some evidence suggests that this rivalry may sometimes have been exaggerated. First, the historical record shows that each made strides toward understanding and identifying with the other’s position on civil rights activism over time. Second, it was recently discovered that Alex Haley (who collaborated with Malcolm X on this autobiography) misrepresented King’s view of Malcolm X in a famous published interview. He quoted King as claiming that Malcolm X had ultimately hurt the pro-Black movement, when King actually seemed to suggest that while they disagreed, Malcolm X may not have been wrong.)
One part of this radical approach was Black separatism—Malcolm X believed that the races should be kept economically and culturally separated. He explains that he believed this because in his eyes, integration did more harm than good for Black people: Black people wanted to be free of white people, who were uniformly evil, and to have a chance to form their own self-sufficient communities. He also believed that integration would necessarily lead to interracial marriage, which would produce multiracial children and ultimately destroy both races.
(Shortform note: Malcolm X expanded on the difference between racial separation and segregation in a speech: Separatism requires Black self-sovereignty, while under segregation, Black people remain under the control of white people. Although the federal government ultimately mandated integration, the US remains racially segregated—neighborhoods usually comprise one race—and some experts have observed that Black separatist groups are gaining in popularity because of increased racial resentments over the last decade. On the other hand, interracial marriage has become more common and more popularly approved of since its legalization in 1967.)
Another part of this radical approach was self-defense against racism, by way of violence if necessary. Male members of the Nation of Islam were enrolled in a program called the Fruit of Islam—the Nation of Islam’s security division—where they’d be trained in self-defense tactics like judo. Malcolm X believed that this was necessary because white people had continually perpetrated violence against Black people; furthermore, he explains that not only did he believe that Black people had a right to protect themselves, but also that it would be morally wrong for them not to defend themselves against white violence.
(Shortform note: Some experts argue that the right to self-defense has always been racialized, especially when it comes to gun ownership (note, though, that the Fruit of Islam was unarmed). White people’s right to own and use guns for self-defense remains uncontested, especially when they say they’re defending themselves from a Black person. In contrast, Black people have been denied the right to own guns for most of American history and are often still presumed criminals when they’re armed. However, Black Americans’ gun ownership has risen dramatically since 2020, resulting from a cultural spike in anti-Blackness that drove home the need for self-defense.)
How Malcolm X Became an Activist
Malcolm X explains that he got his start in civil rights work when he led a resistance movement against police brutality. A Black Muslim man named Johnson Hinton had been attacked by New York police and taken into police custody. Accompanied by many members of the Fruit of Islam, Malcolm X demanded that Hinton be released for medical care. Hinton was finally taken to the hospital by ambulance, and the Black Muslims followed—and were joined by other Black people who were incensed by police brutality and excited by the possibility of organizing against it. Hinton had to have a steel plate put in his skull and sued the city, winning over $70,000—the debacle got a lot of publicity, making the Nation of Islam a household topic.
(Shortform note: The sum awarded to Hinton in 1961 was the greatest sum paid for police brutality in New York City history, worth over $760,000 dollars in 2023. Hinton’s case wasn’t the only case of police brutality that Malcolm X or the Nation of Islam fought against: According to experts, the Nation of Islam influenced the battle against anti-Black police brutality by responding with nonviolent acts of protest. However, Malcolm X eventually concluded that the Nation of Islam wasn’t doing enough and launched his own campaign against police violence. Because Black people are still more likely to be killed by police, the struggle against anti-Black police brutality continues today, such as with the Black Lives Matter movement.)
In 1959, a documentary about the Nation of Islam called The Hate That Hate Produced aired, broadcasting the organization’s radical views to the national stage for the first time—this catapulted Malcolm X to widespread recognition. He began visiting colleges as a much sought-after guest speaker; he also engaged in TV and radio debates to explain why Black separatism was necessary and to fight against accusations that he was inciting violence—in his view, he simply advocated resisting oppression. Because of the increased media attention, the Nation of Islam got more popular—and began to be surveilled by the government.
(Shortform note: The Hate That Hate Produced cast the Nation of Islam as reverse racists—a common criticism of pro-Black organizations which says that white people are targets of racism. Recent studies suggest that overall, white people think reverse racism is a bigger problem than anti-Black racism—an idea that became central to the battle against affirmative action, a policy that allowed colleges to take race into account in the admissions process until it was struck down in 2023. Because they posed a threat to the traditional anti-Black order of things, many Black leaders and organizations were surveilled by the government during the civil rights movement.)
Malcolm X used his leadership skills to recruit more converts with the aim of uplifting Black people and uniting them against racism. He explains that initially, many converts to the religion were people who struggled with addiction. The Nation of Islam forbade all drug use, so when someone wanted to convert, they had to give up drugs—a difficult but health-promoting process. Once they had, they’d seek out drug addicts they’d known in their former lives and help them through the process of getting sober. As the organization grew, it began to recruit traditionally successful Black people, including Christians. The Nation of Islam was successful because it gave Black people a supportive community and proactively helped them through their struggles.
(Shortform note: The New York Times reported that the Nation of Islam’s program for rehabilitating addiction was so successful that health professionals and probation officers turned to Malcolm X for advice about breaking addictions. One part of the rehabilitation process was to instill in each addicted person a strong sense of Black pride—they believed that Black people struggled with addiction because they couldn’t otherwise cope with living in a world that valorized whiteness and denigrated blackness, and that a greater sense of Black pride would help them cope in healthier ways.)
A Pilgrimage to Mecca Opened Malcolm X’s Eyes
Although the Nation of Islam helped turn Malcolm X into a successful civil rights activist, problems were brewing within the organization that he couldn’t abide by. In this section, we’ll explain why Malcolm X broke from the Nation of Islam and explore how his beliefs and civil rights work changed afterward.
Malcolm X’s Break From the Nation of Islam
Malcolm X gained prominence that other Nation of Islam leaders didn’t—and he explains that eventually, Elijah Muhammad became jealous of him. He made Malcolm X the first National Minister of the organization and praised him to his face; all the while, he told others Malcolm X was untrustworthy and that he’d betray the Nation of Islam. But Malcolm X came to know that Muhammad was the untrustworthy one: He’d been having adulterous affairs with his secretaries, who became pregnant and were harshly punished for it.
Eventually, some of those secretaries filed a paternity lawsuit against Muhammad, and Malcolm X spoke to them himself to discover the truth. He’d been hearing rumors about Muhammad’s adultery for years, but his respect for the man and dependence on his teachings had prevented him from believing them. After talking to the secretaries, he was convinced—but still loyal. He brought his concerns directly to Muhammad, who told him that he had only fulfilled a prophecy, and Malcolm X prepared other ministers to teach about prophecy fulfillment so that followers wouldn’t be upset by Muhammad’s guilt when word inevitably got out.
Their relationship would only end after President John F. Kennedy was killed. Muhammad told ministers not to comment on it—but Malcolm X did anyway, arguing that the assassination was a punishment for JFK’s wrongdoing. For his disobedience, Muhammad sentenced Malcolm X to 90 days of silence and alerted the news to the punishment. That made Malcolm X suspicious of him—and eventually, it became clear to him that Muhammad wanted him dead. Malcolm X explains that he felt more disturbed by Muhammad’s betrayal than by the threat of violence because he had been so devoted to Muhammad and the cause that he was willing to die for them—the fact that Muhammad would rather lie than come clean destroyed his faith.
Muhammad did indeed want Malcolm X dead—he assigned someone to kill him, but that person respected Malcolm X and told him about the plan instead. At that point, Malcolm X knew he had to give up on the Nation of Islam—but he wasn’t willing to give up on civil rights activism. He created his own organization called Muslim Mosque, Inc. (MMI), which he hoped would embrace Black people of all religions and lift them out of their plight. He notes that many members of the Nation of Islam left to join his organization.
How Elijah Muhammad’s Misdeeds Made Malcolm X His Enemy
Other sources, including the FBI and subsequent accounts made by Malcolm X, have clarified that many of Elijah Muhammad’s partners were underaged girls. Malcolm X kept relatively quiet about this information until Elijah Muhammad attempted to evict him from the house he’d been provided by the Nation of Islam, at which point he took his accusations to the press and clarified that Muhammad had fathered at least eight children with six teenage girls. Malcolm X later explained that he believed that making these public accusations endangered his life because it threatened the power of the Black Muslim movement.
Malcolm X also explained in a later televised interview that Muhammad would try to excuse his actions by saying that as a Muslim, he was entitled to have multiple wives—and some scholars agree that Muhammad considered these extramarital partners his “secret wives.” However, Malcolm X argued that if they were legitimate wives, under Islamic tradition, Muhammad would’ve had to treat them with respect—instead, he publicly humiliated them and forced them into isolation. Experts say that according to Islamic scripture, a man can only have up to four wives—if he can provide for them all. In contrast, Muhammad was involved with at least seven women, with whom he had a total of 13 illegitimate children.
Experts say that another major disagreement that led Malcolm X to break with Muhammad was how to handle a police attack on several Black Muslims in Los Angeles that resulted in the death of Ronald Stokes. Malcolm X wanted to launch a counterattack, but Muhammad warned him not to—and shamed the attacked Muslims for allowing the police to enter their mosque and continue the violence. Malcolm X was frustrated by Muhammad’s response and his general refusal to allow the Nation of Islam to engage publicly in civil rights activism—so instead of a counterattack, Malcolm X went on a speaking tour and turned Ronald Stokes into a martyr, symbolic of the white establishment’s continual violence against Black Americans.
While these were the straws that broke the camel’s back, Malcolm X’s rupture from the Nation of Islam may have begun much earlier, with a 1961 meeting with the KKK. The Nation of Islam shared with the KKK a belief in keeping the races separate, and Muhammad wanted Malcolm X to ask for the KKK’s assistance in acquiring land for a self-sovereign Black state. Malcolm X despised the KKK and hoped instead to verbally annihilate them in this meeting—and he became disillusioned with the prospect of collaboration entirely after the KKK suggested that they work together to kill Martin Luther King Jr. Malcolm X threatened to expose the Nation of Islam’s affiliation with the KKK shortly before his death.
Despite being disappointed in Muhammad’s leadership and ultimately breaking away from the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X still expressed some loyalty to Muhammad—even after Malcolm X had created his own organization, MMI. In one 1964 interview, he explained that he believed Muhammad had a perfect understanding of racism and its only solution—Black nationalism—and that the purpose of establishing the MMI was to carry out that solution without hindrance, in collaboration with any Black person of any religious belief (or lack thereof). At this point, he still held Muhammad in high esteem—but later, he would completely renounce Muhammad and his belief system.
Racial Harmony Among All Muslims
Malcolm X explains that he’d heard criticism that the Nation of Islam was not truly Islamic—and since he was still a firm believer in Islam, he decided he needed to learn more about the religion. Since all Muslims are required to make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their lifetime if they’re able, Malcolm X decided to do so—he wanted to see for himself what Muslims were like in the Middle East.
(Shortform note: Most modern Muslims still don’t accept the Nation of Islam as a truly Islamic organization for a few reasons: First, the Nation of Islam’s first leaders, Fard and Muhammad, didn’t seem familiar with the teachings of the Quran (the Islamic holy book). Second, mainstream Islam holds that God is a strictly nonhuman entity—Muhammad, on the other hand, claimed that Fard was God’s human incarnation. Third, during Fard and Muhammad’s tenure, members only practiced three of the five pillars of Islam—Islamic practices seen as essential to the religion. One of those pillars is the pilgrimage to Mecca or hajj—adherents believe that the hajj cleanses their sins.)
During Malcolm X’s travels, he was continually surprised by how united Muslims in the Middle East were—it seemed that racism didn’t exist there, as people with all complexions and ethnic backgrounds treated each other with respect and dignity. All the pilgrims were spiritually equal, and that was all that mattered as they traveled to Mecca. This was the first time Malcolm X had experienced racial equality, and it bewildered and excited him to finally be treated as a human being by the general public.
(Shortform note: Although Malcolm X recounts experiencing racial harmony in the Middle East, contemporary scholars are divided as to how extensive anti-Black racism is in the area. Some experts have argued that Islam is uniquely antiracist, since its founding prophet, Muhammad, explicitly stated that no ethnic group was superior to another—which transformed Arab society. However, others argue that the Middle East has a long history of anti-Black thought, dating back to at least medieval times, and that this was fueled in part by the trans-Saharan slave trade, which lasted for over 1,300 years.)
Once Malcolm X got to Mecca, he was turned away—an admittance clerk wasn’t convinced he was a real Muslim, so he’d have to prove before a court that he was. In the meantime, he had to remain at the airport. Eventually, he called a friend of a friend—the son of a diplomat named Abd-Al-Rahman Azzam—who quickly had him released to his family’s home. The Azzams’ hospitality deeply touched Malcolm X—he explains that since they were white-complexioned, it caused him to rethink his beliefs about the supposedly inherent evil of white men. When he did go to court, he was declared a true Muslim, so he finally completed his pilgrimage to Mecca, continually wondering at the racial harmony he was finally experiencing.
(Shortform note: The elder Azzam would become the first Secretary General of the Arab League, which sought to unite Arab nations after it was established in 1945. He was also famous for writing a book, The Eternal Message of Muhammad, which argued that one of Islam’s purposes was to unite all people, regardless of race. His grandson—also named Abdul Rahman Azzam—is a historian who keeps his grandfather’s relationship with Malcolm X alive by discussing the continuing legacy of their battle against colonialism.)
Malcolm X says that before he left Mecca, he wrote a letter to some of his family members, collaborators at the MMI, and the media about the impact his pilgrimage had made on his beliefs—signing the letter with a different name, El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. He explained that he now believed the spread of Islam was the only thing that could solve racism in the United States, since the bonds of religious fellowship were stronger than racial differences could undermine. He also no longer believed that all white people were evil; instead, he believed that the next generation of white people would play a role in achieving racial unity.
(Shortform note: A handwritten copy of Malcolm X’s letter from Mecca was recently discovered in a New York storage locker and put up for auction. Experts note that the name he signed at the bottom of the letter was of great significance: “El-Hajj” is an honorable title assigned to those who’ve completed the pilgrimage to Mecca, and “Malik El-Shabazz” signified his conversion to Sunni Islam—the mainstream branch of the religion. He converted because he was inspired by Islam’s emphasis on religious unity—both the unity of God and the unity of worshippers. Malcolm X may have been right on some levels about Islam’s potential for unifying the races—American Muslims are the most racially diverse religious group in the US.)
After his pilgrimage was over, he traveled around the Middle East for a while. He discussed the plight of US racism with everyone who would listen—poor people and nobles, people of all colors, who were astonished, sad, and angry to hear about these conditions. He explains that this made him start thinking about how isolated from the rest of the non-white world Black Americans were—and how powerfully world-changing such international connections might be. This led him to venture to Africa.
(Shortform note: Experts note that Malcolm X expressed explicitly anti-colonial politics during this time of his life, as he sought to help his followers understand how the struggles of people of color all over the world were interrelated—and that the sources of their oppression were white imperialists and colonizers. Multicultural unity against colonial power gained steam in the 1960s, as activists championed solidarity between Black and brown people and formed groups like The Rainbow Coalition—a Chicago socialist group that united Black, Latino, and white working class revolutionaries.)
Malcolm X’s Pan-Africanism
Malcolm X says that first, he traveled to Nigeria, where he made several public appearances to discuss Black liberation. In one address, he spoke on the necessity of including Black Americans in the pan-African movement—an initiative intended to unite people of African ancestry around the globe, no matter where they now lived. He also argued that free African nations should bring the issue of American racism to the United Nations’ attention. After Nigeria, he traveled to Ghana, where he was invited to speak to the Ghanaian parliament about the need for pan-Africanist support of Black Americans. Then, he traveled to Liberia, Senegal, and Morocco to learn more about how Black people lived across Africa.
(Shortform note: Pan-Africanism was new to Malcolm X, but it wasn’t a brand new idea. According to experts, the pan-African movement was popularized in the US around the end of World War I by W.E.B. DuBois, a pre-eminent sociologist and Black liberationist of the early 20th century, who recognized that colonized Africans and marginalized Black Americans had a lot in common politically. Beginning in the 1990s, the pan-Africanist sentiment was countered by Afro-pessimism (an intellectual tradition that focuses on anti-Black violence), which emphasizes the differences—and increases the cultural distance—between Africans and Black Americans.)
The Organization of Afro-American Unity
When Malcolm X returned to the United States in the summer of 1964, race riots had begun popping up across the country—and he explains that the press was making him the scapegoat for these riots. In response, he told reporters that it was time for Black Americans to stop asking the government for equal rights—they needed to organize alongside African nations and make their case to the United Nations (UN).
(Shortform note: The race riots of 1964 began in Harlem when a white off-duty police officer killed a Black teenager. The riots began as a protest march but escalated into a six-day clash between the protestors and police, followed by numerous other riots in cities like Philadelphia. Some experts on race relations understand race riots like these as an expression of anger about unanswered requests for racial justice—for example, Martin Luther King Jr. famously said that “riots are the language of the unheard.” Malcolm X believed that these requests would continue to go unheard, which is why he advocated petitioning the UN—a method that had been tried before by DuBois.)
However, the white press continued to paint Malcolm X as a violent instigator, since he continued to insist on Black people’s right to self-defense against racism. While he no longer believed that white people were inherently evil, he explains that he did believe that living in a racist society made them dangerously arrogant and hypocritical. They despised having to consider the possibility that racism was wrong—and that therefore they were wrong. And while they had no problem using violence to accomplish genocide, slavery, discrimination, and the spread of Christianity, they insisted on nonviolence from non-white people who threatened their power worldwide.
(Shortform note: In White Fragility, Robin DiAngelo argues similarly that living in a racist society has a negative effect on white people’s psyches. Specifically, she says that progressive white people are fragile—because they don’t want to believe that they’re doing something morally wrong, they can’t bear being criticized as racist. As a result, they react harshly to such criticisms and ultimately buttress white supremacy. Other experts have noted that hypocrisy about nonviolence continues to be a central feature of white supremacy—and that instead of emphasizing the need for a nonviolent response to oppression, people should focus on creating a system that doesn’t perpetrate violence against people of color.)
He also established the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU), whose goal was Black liberation and eventually racial harmony, which would be accomplished by means of pan-Africanism and Black nationalism. He believed that Black nationalism (which refers to Black people’s total self-governance) was necessary because before they could truly unite with white people, Black people first had to recognize and become confident in their own essential humanity. The OAAU was open to Black people only—he explains that one reason for this was his belief that progressive white people should focus on teaching other white people how to become nonviolent toward Black people.
(Shortform note: The OAAU was the secular counterpart to the Muslim Mosque, Inc., and it was different from the MMI in at least one significant way: It employed women in leadership positions, which was unique because women were largely marginalized in key parts of the civil rights movement. Although the OAAU initially pursued Black nationalism (which can be traced back to Marcus Garvey, whom Malcolm X’s parents followed), Malcolm X stated in an interview a month before he died that he’d been rethinking Black nationalism—since it excluded some activists from participating in the struggle for liberation, he thought it might not be the most effective path forward.)
Malcolm X’s Death and Legacy
Before Malcolm X had a chance to accomplish very much with his newfound beliefs and organization, he was murdered in front of his family and community. In this section, we’ll explore the circumstances around his death and discuss his legacy.
Malcolm X explains that from a young age, he believed he would die a violent death—partly because that had happened to his father and other men in his family. Now that he’d left the Nation of Islam and begun making headway as a civil rights activist, he was even more convinced that someone would kill him.
(Shortform note: Although Malcolm X expected to be killed primarily because he was a Black activist, Black men in general have a significantly higher chance of dying a violent death. Some studies suggest that young Black men in the US are 20 times more likely to die by homicide than young white men—homicide is the most common cause of death among the demographic, and this likelihood shaves six months off the average Black man’s life expectancy. Police shootings account for a disproportionate number of homicide deaths of American Black men, according to other studies—and researchers suggest that police killings of unarmed Black men have a seriously negative impact on Black men’s mental health, which in turn may affect their physical health. That negative impact may be further exacerbated by witnessing footage of the killings.)
Co-author Alex Haley explains that although Malcolm X expected to die before his autobiography was published, Malcolm X continued to work on it because he wanted people to understand racism and how he’d tried to combat it. Malcolm X also predicted that white people would continue to associate him with hatred long after he was dead—because if they could write him off as hateful and violent, they’d never have to confront their own hatred and violence.
Haley says that in the weeks before his death, Malcolm X told him that he believed the Nation of Islam was going to kill him, as agents of the group had been following him everywhere. When his house was firebombed one night, endangering his entire family, he publicly claimed that it was the Nation of Islam’s doing. However, he later told Haley that he wasn’t sure it was the Nation of Islam. Up to the day of his death, Malcolm X received disturbing phone calls and perceived threats all around him.
(Shortform note: According to some experts, the Nation of Islam tried repeatedly to kill Malcolm X. But the day after his house was firebombed, Malcolm X explained in a speech that he wouldn’t let such attacks hold him back—in part because he believed his children would be proud of him for persevering. Like many children of civil rights activists, his children weren’t taught about their father’s civil rights work after his death because it was too painful for the family to talk about. His daughter Ilyasah, who was only two when he died, has explained that after she learned more about him in college, she came to be very proud of him.)
Haley explains that on February 21, 1965, Malcolm X was to give a speech to the OAAU at the Audubon Ballroom in Manhattan, New York. After he started speaking, there was a commotion—and suddenly, he was shot. His wife and children were in the audience—she covered their children with her own body, then she hurried to the stage to try to save him. He was rushed to the hospital, but it appeared that he was already dead by his arrival.
According to Haley, the police ultimately arrested and indicted three members of the Nation of Islam for Malcolm X’s murder—Talmadge Hayer, Norman Butler, and Thomas Johnson.
Haley notes that Malcolm X remained controversial in death—although masses of people attended his funeral, the proceedings were also plagued by bomb threats, and his family had trouble finding somewhere to hold the funeral. Ultimately, they were accepted by the Faith Temple, Church of God in Christ, and Malcolm X was buried in Ferncliff Cemetery in Ardsley, New York.
Decades Later: An Update on Malcolm X’s Death and Legacy
Hayer, Butler, and Johnson—now known as Mujahid Halim, Muhammad Aziz, and Khalil Islam, respectively—were convicted and sentenced to prison in 1965 for the murder of Malcolm X. But a Netflix documentary released in 2020, Who Killed Malcolm X?, called into question the circumstances surrounding the murder—and as a result, the district attorney of Manhattan decided to review the case, which led to the exoneration of both Aziz and Islam. Halim, who is the only one of the three men who admitted to shooting Malcolm X, was vocal about the innocence of the other two men from the beginning. Nevertheless, they each spent 20 or more years in prison, and Islam died before he was officially exonerated in 2021.
The investigation that led to their exoneration revealed that the FBI and New York Police Department (NYPD) withheld evidence related to the murder. Around the same time, a letter was discovered in which a former NYPD police officer, Ray Woods, alleged that the murder of Malcolm X had been orchestrated by government officials—and that Woods had been forced under duress to participate in the scheme. Altogether, these developments have led the family of Malcolm X to initiate a $100 million wrongful death lawsuit against the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), FBI, and NYPD.
Some experts argue that the miscarriage of justice following Malcolm X’s murder highlights the need for his legacy to be carried on—particularly his work around criminal justice reform. But his legacy is complicated—he’s often remembered as a hateful foil to more peaceful civil rights figures like Martin Luther King Jr., despite the shift he made toward peace and racial harmony in the final years of his life. He’s also typically erased from US history classes—and when he is included, he’s represented as violent, angry, and dangerous. On the other hand, Malcolm X continues to influence pro-Black activists and politicians, including former President Barack Obama, and there’s been a recent effort to rehabilitate his image.
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