Malcolm X (95 page)

156
protesters by declaring racial gerrymandering illegal.
A good general reference is August Meier and Elliott Rudwick,
From Plantation to Ghetto
, third edition (New York: Hill and Wang, 1976), pp. 267-79.

156
to investigating and publicizing racist crimes.
Myrlie Evers-Williams and Manning Marable, eds.,
The Autobiography of Medgar Evers: A Hero’s Life and Legacy Revealed Through His Writings, Letters and Speeches
(New York: Basic Civitas, 2005), pp. 14-15.

156
of the new Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).
Devon W. Carbada and Donald Weise, eds.,
Time on Two Crosses: The Collected Writings of Bayard Rustin
(San Francisco: Cleis, 2003), pp. x-xxv.

156
American Committee for the Protection of the Foreign Born.
Martha Biondi,
To Stand and Fight: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Postwar New York City
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2003), p. 162.

157
to endear Robeson to white authorities.
Martin Bauml Duberman,
Paul Robeson
(New York: Ballantine, 1989), pp. 454-55, 460.

157
to pressure his government to cancel the event
. Ibid., pp. 461-62.

157
promptly charged him with kidnapping.
See Timothy B. Tyson,
Radio Free Dixie: Robert F. Williams and the Roots of Black Power
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999).

157
conferences and rallies in more than two dozen cities.
Barbara Ransby,
Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003), pp. 178-83.

158
won more Harlem votes than in his previous elections.
See Charles Rosenberg, “Davis, Benjamin J., Jr.,” in Paul Finkelman, ed.,
Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present: From the Age of Segregation to the Twenty-first Century
, vol. 2 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), pp. 14-15.

158
the NAACP, also ran for the council.
Ransby,
Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement
, pp. 153-55, 157-58.

158
assembly members; and ten of its 189 judges.
Biondi,
To Stand and Fight
, pp. 215-19.

158
“couched in left-wing phraseology.”
Harold Cruse,
The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual: From Its Origins to the Present
(New York: William Morrow, 1967), p. 227.

158
its associations with the Marxist Left.
Ibid., p. 245.

159
such notable intellectuals as Allen Ginsberg, C. Wright Mills, and I. F. Stone.
Jon Lee Anderson,
Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life
(New York: Grove, 1997), pp. 399, 416, 409.

159
sponsored Williams's first trip to Cuba.
Peniel E. Joseph,
Waiting 'Til the Midnight Hour
(New York: Henry Holt, 2006), pp. 29-30.

159
“violence to successful revolutions.”
Cruse,
The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual
, pp. 356-57.

160
“know that the devil has no Justice for you.”
Elijah Muhammad to Minister James 3X Shabazz, April 28, 1959. Copy in possession of author.

160
presented the Nation of Islam in a favorable light
. See Al Nall, “Moslem Trial Begins,”
Amsterdam News
, March 7, 1959; Al Nall, “Moslems Accuse Cops,”
Amsterdam News
, March 14, 1959; and Al Nall, “Moslems Go Free,”
Amsterdam News
, March 21, 1959.

160
for a crusading African-American press.
“Say Paper Helped Free 5 Moslems,”
Amsterdam News
, April 11, 1959.

160
a familiar presence on New York-area television.
Val Adams, “Wallace May Get New TV Programs,”
New York Times
, February 11, 1959.

160
from American University and Yale (in 1944 and 1947 respectively).
See “Louis Lomax, 47, Dies in Car Crash,”
New York Times
, August 1, 1970; David Shaw, “Louis Lomax, Black Author, Killed in Crash,”
Los Angeles Times
, August 1, 1970; and “Author Lomax Killed When His Auto Overturns,”
Chicago Tribune
, August 1, 1970.

160
“skits over the air in the District of Columbia.”
FBI—Louis E. Lomax file, Memo, M. A. Jones to Louis B. Nichols, February 2, 1956.

161
during which time his wife had divorced him.
FBI—Lomax, Memo, Chicago Office, February 7, 1956.

161
the Associated Negro Press in Washington.
Ibid.

161
in magazines such as
Pageant
,
Coronet
, and
The Nation
.
FBI—Lomax, Memo, G. C. Moore to W. C. Sullivan, February 23, 1969. This memo states, “Bureau files reflect that Lomax is an unscrupulous charlatan who has been extremely critical of the FBI and the Director.” The FBI also noted that Lomax’s 1968 book,
To Kill a Black Man
, attributed the assassination to “the American Government, particularly the CIA . . .
ʺ

161
guests prior to their appearance on his show.
Walt Dutton, “Controversy Is Lomax Forte,”
Los Angeles Times
, April 23, 1965.

161
Elijah Muhammad’s approval through Malcolm.
DeCaro,
On the Side of My People
, p. 134.

161
to film Muhammad at a rally in Washington on May 31.
Louis E. Lomax, “10,000 Muslims Hold Meeting in Washington,”
Amsterdam News
, June 6, 1959. Lomax reported in his story that “following the speech, Mr. Muhammad was given a police escort back to the hotel where, for the first time, he submitted to a filmed TV interview. . . . A reporter and camera crew were flown to Washington from New York for that purpose.” In that interview, Muhammad predicted “the pending destruction of the white man will occur before 1970.”

161
“pertinent facts in refutation is not conscientious or constructive reporting.”
Jack Gould, “Negro Documentary: Wallace’s Guide to the ‘Black Supremacy’ Movement Challenged by Experts,”
New York Times
, July 23, 1959.

162
“an invasion by ‘men from Mars.’”
Malcolm X and Haley,
Autobiography
, pp. 240-42.

162
longest-running news feature program in television history.
See Mike Wallace with Gary Paul Gates,
Close Encounters
(New York: William Morrow, 1984); Susan King, “Q and A: Mike Wallace: 40 Years of Asking,”
Los Angeles Times
, September 23, 1990; and Donna Rosenthal, “Mike Without Malice,”
San Francisco Chronicle
, September 23, 1990.

162
to exploit their connections with the NOI.
See M. S. Handler, “Author Describes Slaying of 3 Rights Workers in Mississippi,”
New York Times
, October 26, 1964; Walt Dutton, “Controversy Is Lomax Forte”; and “Louis Lomax, 47, Dies in Car Crash,”
New York Times
.

162
“No enemy wants to see the so-called American Negro free and united.”
DeCaro,
On the Side of My People
, pp. 134-35; MX FBI, Memo, New York Office, July 29, 1959; MX FBI, Summary Report, New York Office, November 17, 1959, pp. 34-35; and MX FBI, Correlation Summary, August 22, 1961, p. 55.

163
under the title
The Black Muslims in America,
became the standard work for decades.
See C. Eric Lincoln,
The Black Muslims in America
(Boston: Beacon, 1961). Lincoln believed that the Nation of Islam, despite its unorthodox beliefs, had some legitimacy in claiming to be part of the larger Islamic faith community. His principal thesis, however, was that the Nation was essentially a black nationalist political movement that used Islam as the pretext for demanding complete separation from white Americans and their religion, Christianity.

163
“and work at a job that leads only to a dead end.”
See Louis E. Lomax,
When the Word Is Given . . .
(Cleveland: World Publishing, 1963); and Herb Nipson, “Black Muslims—Promise and Threat,”
Chicago Tribune
, November 10, 1963.

163
“spiritual growth among the Negroes of America.”
Advertisement, “Hon. Elijah Muhammad/
The Messenger
Magazine,” in
Amsterdam News
, November 7, 1959.

164
and distribution also shifted to Chicago.
DeCaro,
On the Side of My People
, pp. 180-81.

164
“do without our wonderful MGT Sisters? (smile).”
Malcolm to Betty Shabazz, April 1, 1959, MXC-S, box 3, folder 2.

164
some stamps in the envelope he mailed to her.
Malcolm to Betty Shabazz, April 1, 1959, MXC-S, box 3, folder 2.

165
“lifting their voices to Allah five times a day.”
DeCaro,
On the Side of My People
, p. 135.

165
“Believers in Allah recognize no such thing as race.”
Yusuf Ibrahim, Letter to the Editor,
Pittsburgh Courier
, March 1, 1958.

165
“all of them, though the polytheists may be adverse.”
Elijah Muhammad,
Message to the Blackman in America
, front cover.

165
Egypt’s president, Gamal Abdel Nasser.
“Mister Muhammad’s Message to African-Asian Conference,”
Pittsburgh Courier
, January 18, 1958.

166
scheduled from June 9 to June 16.
MX FBI, Memo, Washington Office, July 27, 1959; and MX FBI, Summary Report, New York Office, November 17, 1959, pp. 31-32.

166
he continued carrying out his duties throughout June.
MX FBI, Summary Report, New York Office, November 17, 1959, pp. 8, 21; and MX FBI, Correlation Summary, New York Office, August 22, 1961, p. 22.

166
religious leaders at Al-Azhar University.
DeCaro,
On the Side of My People
, p. 139.

166
“all mortals are equal and brothers.”
“Arabs Send Warm Greetings to ‘Our Brothers’ of Color in U.S.A.,
ʺ Pittsburgh Courier
, August 15, 1959.

167
“are destined to play a key role.”
Ibid.

167
“for administrative jim-crow in the United States.”
Ibid.

168
and by African-American newspapers.
MX FBI, Summary Report, New York Office, November 17, 1959, p. 33.

168
“and robbed of his name and wisdom.”
Ibid., p. 23.

168
made
umrah
, a spiritually motivated visit.
DeCaro,
On the Side of My People
, p. 168.

169
Muhammad arrived back home on January 6, 1960
. “Muhammad Speaks,”
Los Angeles Herald Tribune
, January 14, 1960.

169
in keeping with orthodox Islam.
DeCaro,
On the Side of My People
, p. 23.

169
“that he would make such charges.”
MX FBI, Memo, New York Office, March 18, 1960.

170
“and their own teachings are filled with it.”
Ibid.

170
exchange went on for more than two hours.
See “Defends Muslim Leader at Meet
,ʺ Chicago Defender,
March 15, 1960.

170
black leader who so sharply opposed its policies.
Ibid.

170
in the streets and along the sidewalks.
See FBI—Leon 4X Phillips (also known as Leon Ameer) file, Summary Report, New York Office, January 1962; and “Malcolm X on ‘Unity,’ ” in Lomax,
When the Word Is Given
, pp. 128-35. This speech is reproduced in John Bracey, Jr., August Meier, and Elliott Rudwick, eds.,
Black Nationalism in America
(New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1970), pp. 413-20. A typed manuscript of Malcolm’s speech is located in MXC-S, box 5, folder 1.

170
“but have as yet not received.”
Lomax,
When the Word Is Given
, p. 129.

171
significant increase in BOSS's surveillance.
Memorandum, BOSS Detective Ernest B. Latty to the Commanding Officer, May 30, 1960, BOSS.

171
himself to Mosque No. 7 at all hours.
Ibid., pp. 4-12.

171
“Elijah Muhammad was a messenger of God.”
Louis Farrakhan interview, December 27, 2007.

171
Malcolm might run for public office.
MX FBI, Summary Report, New York Office, November 17, 1960, pp. 17-18.

171
selling records featuring “A White Man’s Heaven Is a Black Man’s Hell.”
See
Yale Daily News
(New Haven), October 21, 1960; MX FBI, Summary Report, New York Office, November 17, 1960, pp. 22-23; and MX FBI, Summary Report, New York Office, May 17, 1961, p. 17.

172
“We are used to sleeping in the open air.”
Max Frankel, “Angry Castro Quits Hotel in Row Over Bill; Moves to Harlem,”
New York Times
, September 20, 1960; “Castro Moves Out of Hotel in Huff, Takes His Party to One in Harlem,”
Washington Post
, September 20, 1960; and Jules Du Bois, “Irate Castro Moves to Harlem Hotel,”
Chicago Tribune
, September 20, 1960.

172
“much propaganda as possible out of his move.”
Mel Opotowsky, “Castro Settles Down in Harlem, Paying Double, Minding Manners,”
Washington Post
, September 21, 1960; and Philip Benjamin, “Theresa Hotel on 125th St. Is Unruffled by Its Cuban Guests,”
New York Times
, September 21, 1960.

172
“He knows what’s hip and bugs the squares.”
“Nikita Visits Castro in Harlem,”
Chicago Defender
, September 21, 1960; Harrison E. Salisbury, “Russian Goes to Harlem, Then Hugs Cuban at U.N.,
ʺ New York Times
, September 21, 1960; and “Police Break Up Harlem Crowd as Groups Mingle,”
New York Times
, September 22, 1960.

173
to “fish” Castro, inviting him to join the NOI.
“Fidel Castro,” in Jenkins, ed.,
Malcolm X Encyclopedia
, p. 144.

173
visit Cuba, but made no commitments.
Carlos Moore,
Castro, the Blacks, and Africa
(Los Angeles: University of California Center for Afro-American Studies, 1988), p. 120.