Malcolm X (9 page)

March 10, 1964

NOI member sends letter to MX requesting that he return all NOI property, including his home at 23–11 97th Street, East Elmhurst, Queens.

Tells
Ebony
magazine that Black Muslim leaders have “got to kill me. They can't afford to let me live. . . . I know where the bodies are buried. And if they press me, I'll exhume some.”

NOI sends MX certified letter requesting that he and his family vacate the premises at 23–11 97th Street in East Elmhurst because the house was purchased and is owned by Muslim mosque No. 7.

March 11, 1964

Sends telegram to EM stating that actions are necessary because of pressures from within NOI; MX also releases copy of telegram to the press.

March 12, 1964

Calls 11:00
A.M.
press conference at
Park Sheraton Hotel, at which he issues copy of his March 8 statement and his March 11 telegram to EM.

Holds press conference in Tapestry Suite of Park Sheraton Hotel, New York; audience of sixty hears MX read a prepared statement and a telegram he sent to EM on March 11; announces a restricted meeting at 8:30
P.M
. on March 15 at the George Washington Carver Club in New York [FBI 3/13/64].

March 16, 1964

Certificate of incorporation is filed for MMI.

Appears in court and pleads not guilty for speeding violation [FBI teletype 5/19/64].

March 18, 1964

Speaks at Leverett House, Harvard University, according to March 19 report by informant [FBI 4/3/64].

March 23, 1964

Sends six followers to meet with leaders of EM's mosque in New York [FBI 3/27/64].

March 24, 1964

Speaks on “Bob Kennedy Show” on WBZ, Boston, from 6:30 –8:00
P.M.;
subject is “Negro—Separation and Supremacy” (according to March 25 informant's report; clarifies statement concerning death of President Kennedy [FBI 4/3/64].

March 26, 1964

Meets Martin Luther King, Jr. face-to-face for the first and only time after King news conference at U.S. Capitol.

April 3, 1964

Delivers speech, “The Ballot or the Bullet,” at Cleveland symposium sponsored by CORE (Congress of Racial Equality).

April 4, 1964

EM tells
The New Crusader
that MX's failure to maintain silence during his suspension forced EM to extend the suspension.

April 8, 1964

NOI files eviction proceedings against MX; MX answers them on April 13; hearing is set for April 17 but is postponed twice, first until May 26 and then until June 3.

Delivers speech at a Militant Labor Forum in New York.

April 12, 1964

Announces at MMI rally that he is preparing for a three-week African tour, expecting to leave on April 16 [FBI teletype 4/14/64].

Delivers “Ballots or Bullets” speech in Detroit.

April 13–May 21, 1964

Travels abroad.

April 13, 1964

Answers a hearing set for April 17; hearing postponed until May 26, then until June 3, and again until June 15.

Leaves for Cairo, Egypt [FBI 1/20/65]. Departs JFK International Airport in New York at 7:00
P.M
. under alias Malik El-Shabazz, according to informant's report; flies on one-way ticket to Frankfurt, Cairo, Jedda, Cairo [FBI teletype 4/14/64].

April 20, 1964

After pilgrimage to Mecca, MX writes letter stating that many white people he met during his pilgrimage displayed a spirit of unity and brotherhood that provided him with a new, positive insight into race relations; in Islam, he now feels, lies the power to overcome racial antagonism and to obliterate it from the heart of white America. May 8
New York Times
reports on a letter written by Malcolm while in Africa; article caption reads: “Malcolm X Pleased by White Attitude on Trip to Mecca” [FBI 1/20/65].

April 21–30, 1964

Prince Faisal, ruler of Arabia, honors MX as guest of the state.

April 30, 1964

Flies to Beirut; speaks at Sudanese Cultural Center on shortcomings and failures of American civil rights movement.

May 2–6, 1964

Flies back to Cairo and takes train to Alexandria, Egypt, where he boards airplane to Nigeria.

May 6–10, 1964

In Lagos, featured on Nigerian radio and television programs.

May 8, 1964

Sponsored by the National Union of Nigerian Students, MX speaks to an enthusiastic audience of approximately five hundred students at the University of Ibadan [FBI 1/20/65].

May 10, 1964

Flies to Accra, Ghana, invited by the Marxist Forum, a new student organization at the University of Ghana [FBI 1/20/65].

May 13, 1964

Delivers lecture entitled “Will Africa Ignite America's Racial Powder Keg?” at the University of Ghana [FBI 1/20/65].

May 14, 1964

Addresses Ghanian parliament.

May 15, 1964

Meets Ghanian President Kwame Nkrumah and describes meeting as his highest single honor, not only in Ghana but in all of Africa; that afternoon addresses two hundred students at the Kwame Nkrumah Ideological Institute in Winneba.

May 17, 1964

Encounters Cassius Clay at Hotel in Accra. Meeting is awkward because of Clay's continued loyalty to EM.

May 17–18, 1964

Flies to Dakar, Senegal, then to Morocco.

May 19, 1964

Thirty-ninth birthday; arrives in Algiers. Warrant issued for his arrest at 12:30 P.M. for failing to appear at May 19 trial for a speeding summons [FBI teletype 5/19/64].

May 21, 1964

Arrives at New York's Kennedy International Airport at 4:25
P.M
. aboard Pan Am flight from Paris, France [FBI 5/22/64].

May 22, 1964

New York Times
article appears titled “Malcolm Says He Is Backed Abroad” [FBI 5/22/64].

May 23, 1964

Debates Louis Lomax on “The Negro Revolt,” during which MX states that he has somewhat changed his mind regarding the white man [FBI 1/20/65].

Appears on “Kup's Show” on Channel 7 in Chicago; states that many whites want to help the struggle of the Negro [FBI 1/20/65].

May 29, 1964

Speaks at Militant Labor Forum symposium.

June 4, 1964

Radio station WDAS in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, interviews MX regarding his break with the NOI.

June 7, 1964

MMI sponsors public rally at Audubon Ballroom in New York. In answer to a question from the audience, Malcolm states that EM is the father of six illegitimate children.

June 8, 1964

Indicates to CBS that six women are involved in EM's scandal [FBI 1/20/65]. On the “Barry Gray Show” at 11:40
P.M
. on radio station WMCA in New York, states that he makes no distinction between Governor Wallace of Alabama and President Johnson [FBI 6/9/64].

June 9, 1964

On “Mike Wallace News Program” at 11:00
P.M
. states that there are some good white people [FBI 1/20/64].

June 12, 1964

Anonymous caller at 1:40
P.M.
says that MX will be “bumped off” [FBI 1/20/65].

Interviewed on WEEI (Boston) radio program, “Conversation for Peace,” from 2:40 to 5:00
P.M.
; states that he broke with the NOI because of moral problem; he also speaks about EM's illegitimate children [FBI 1/20/65].
Speaks on WMEX (Boston) radio program from 10:00
P.M.
to 1:00
A.M.
[FBI 1/20/65].

June 15, 1964

NOI eviction trial against MX ends at 1:30
P.M
.; ten MMI and fifty NOI members are present, but no incidents occur; MX does not request police protection [FBI teletype 6/16/64].

June 16, 1964

New York Herald Tribune
reports that MX is under protection of police and bodyguards because of anonymous telephone threats to wire service and newspaper that he would be shot if he appeared in court for his eviction trial; nevertheless, MX testifies at Queens County Civil Court.

Eviction trial ends at 1:30
P.M
.; judge reserves sentence [FBI coded teletype 6/16/64].

June 21, 1964

At MMI rally, MX calls Civil Rights Bill a “farce” and mentions emergence of a new group, the Organization of Afro-American Unity [FBI 1/20/65].

June 25, 1964

On Bob Kennedy's WBZ (Boston) radio show “Contact,” MX states that struggle for civil rights is struggle for human rights [FBI 1/20/65].

June 26, 1964

New York Post
publishes open letter from MX to EM calling for an end to hostilities between them.

June 28, 1964

MX announces formation of OAAU.

June 30, 1964

Wires Martin Luther King, Jr. and Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) about the Saint Augustine attacks; offers assistance on behalf of civil rights movement; states that “on King's word” he would send some brothers to give the KKK “a taste of its own medicine” [FBI 1/20/65].

Speaks in Omaha, Nebraska, with “considerable tolerance toward other Negro rights groups”;
Omaha World-Herald
reports on establishment of the OAAU, an organization committed to doing “whatever is necessary to bring the Negro struggle from the level of civil rights to the level of human rights.”

July 3, 1964

Reports to police a possible case of assault and battery on him by two black men at 11:30
P.M
. in front of his house in East Elmhurst. Police guard his home until 4:00
P.M.
the following day; On July 5, four black men with knives approach him in front of his house as he steps into his car [FBI 1/20/65].

July 4, 1964

Panel discussion on WLIB in New York.

July 5, 1964

Orders to kill MX come through from Chicago. MX informed that he can take NOI to court if he wishes [FBI 1/20/65].

July 6, 1964

Using the name Malik El-Shabazz, MX purchases one-way ticket to Cairo via London for departure on July 9 [FBI 1/20/65].

July 7, 1964

Reports to police in New York that an attempt on his life was made that day [FBI 1/20/65].

July 9, 1964

Leaves for Cairo [FBI 11/25/65].

July 17, 1964

Attends African Summit Conference in Cairo as representative of OAAU. Appeals to delegates of the thirty-four African nations to bring the cause of black people in the United States before the United Nations. Distributes a press release on OAAU letterhead on behalf of twenty-two million Afro Americans in the United States [FBI 9/17/64].

July 20, 1964

Calls someone (a woman) from Cairo; says he will continue to travel [FBI teletype 7/21/64].

July 1964

Interviewed in Cairo.

August 4, 1964

At a banquet in Alexandria, Egypt, addresses more than six hundred Muslim students representing seventy-three different African and Asian countries [FBI teletype 8/7/64].

August 21, 1964

Attends the second African Summit Conference in Cairo.

September 1, 1964

Confidential source visits Alex Haley regarding book Haley just finished on MX [FBI 1/20/65].

In eviction suit brought by NOI against MX, civil court judge Maurice Wahl orders MX to vacate the $36,200 house he is occupying at 23–11 97th Street in East Elmhurst by January 31, 1965.

September 2, 1964

Assistant Attorney General Yeagley requests that Hoover investigate MX's actions to see whether they violate the Logan Act [FBI letter 9/2/64].

September 12, 1964

First edition of MX autobiography published in
Saturday Evening Post
.

September 28, 1964

Yeagley informs FBI that if MMI is receiving funds from Arab or African governments, it will have to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act [1/20/65].

October 3, 1964

Addresses five to six hundred students in Addis Ababa [FBI 1/20/65].

October 16, 1964

Attorney General Lefkowitz requests that Yeagley use contacts in U.S. government to locate MX so he can testify in a New York NOI trial.

October 18, 1964

Flies from Dar es Salaam to Kenya with Kenyan President Jomo Kenyatta and Ugandan Milton Obote [FBI 1
/20
/65].

October 29, 1964

Visits Lagos and observes that factionalism is a major problem in Africa [FBI 1
/20
/65].

October 1964–November 1964

By mid-October MX has visited eleven countries, talked with eleven heads of state, and addressed most of their parliaments; will continue his tour of Africa for another five weeks “to better acquaint himself with the problems facing the continent,” as he says in a speech in Lagos.