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Malcolm’s life spanned an extremely tumultuous time, encompassing the Great Depression, World War II, and the civil-rights movement — four decades that were especially trying for a black man in America. Long before he became a subject of history himself, Malcolm’s day-to-day life was affected by the historical and social circumstances in which he lived.

1920s: Black Activism and White Supremacy

Malcolm’s parents were activists who held key positions in the Universal Negro Improvement Association, founded by Marcus Garvey. Garvey’s teachings about achievement and economic prosperity for black people spread from his native West Indies throughout the Caribbean, into the United States and around the world through the work of people like Earl and Louise Little. His famous outcry, “Up, up, you mighty race, you can accomplish what you will!” inspired black people everywhere. This great wave of Negro activism continued through the 1920s, with organizations like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) fighting legal battles against school segregation, lynchings, and a myriad of social injustices.

White supremacist groups like the Ku Klux Klan made a point of making life very difficult for black activists like the Littles. When Earl Little purchased land inside the Lansing city limits — land designated for white residents only — and moved his family there, the Black Legion, a splinter group of the Ku Klux Klan, retaliated by burning down the house in the night. Earl and his family barely escaped alive, and moved from Lansing to East Lansing. Such racial violence was far too common in that era, especially against black activists.

Malcolm witnessed firsthand the deeply ingrained racism that characterized America in those days. His father’s murder was a type of lynching — a senseless killing of a black person for a so-called crime that often was not a crime at all, like speaking one’s mind about social injustices. Lynching victims were typically hanged, but the term “lynching” did not necessarily mean hanging; it meant a killing that occurred outside of the justice system. Such vigilante justice, with no trial and no due process, was technically illegal, yet when the victims were black people, these laws were not enforced.

By the 1920s, lynchings had become such a common and accepted practice throughout the central and southern United States that white people gathered over picnics to witness the hangings. Many whites held so little respect for black life that they took pictures and even created postcards of the lynched bodies. “Strange Fruit,” a song written by Lewis Allen and famously recorded by Billie Holiday, chronicles the horrors of lynching culture by comparing the dead to dangling pieces of fruit. The haunting words and melody gave voice to the distress and fear that black people already carried inside them.

1930s: The Great Depression

After Earl was killed, Louise Little worked for eight additional years to support her family, but due to the Great Depression, jobs were scarce. The stock market crash of October 1929 had caused an economic crisis that plunged much of the nation into poverty, joblessness, and despair for nearly a decade.

Because of the same prejudice that led to white supremacist actions, the Great Depression disproportionately affected black families. White workers received preference in most jobs, especially the best-paying ones. Louise Little, like many fair-skinned black people, attempted what was known as “passing”: she applied to whites-only jobs and let the employers assume she was white. People like Malcolm’s favorite teacher, Mr. Ostrowski, reinforced the prevailing social attitude that black people could only hold low-wage menial jobs.

Many poor families survived the Depression by relying on government welfare. The Littles received some welfare assistance at times, but Louise’s pride — and the Little family values — prevented her from borrowing on credit or taking all of the welfare offerings available. State welfare workers insisted that Louise give up the children, but she held her own for nearly ten years, until the government forcefully intervened and committed her to a mental institution — not a unique occurrence for strong, independent women at the time.

1940s: World War II

Malcolm arrived in Boston shortly before the United States entered World War II. On a grand, global scale, this war was ostensibly about making the world safe for freedom, democracy, and equality — three things that black people in America were systematically denied. Black men who served in the military were often relegated to low-grade, unpleasant tasks like kitchen work, cleaning, and hard labor. Black infantry served in segregated units, routinely sent to form the front lines in dangerous battle conditions. Young black men (along with whites) ages eighteen to twenty-two could be drafted into military service, but some employed clever tricks to avoid serving. Common draft-evasion tactics included taking pills that created an arrhythmia, or irregular heartbeat, or faking other disabilities and health issues. Malcolm’s approach — acting crazy — also worked for some draftees. Black men who stayed on the home front benefited from new job opportunities, since so many white workers were also forced to leave their jobs to enlist.

Still, nearly a million blacks willingly served in the armed forces during World War II. Those who survived returned home to a nation beset by segregation, lynchings, poverty, and struggle. Over the next two decades, their anger and resentment toward this injustice would help fuel the civil-rights movement, in which Malcolm himself would eventually play a pivotal role.

1950s: Imprisonment and Awakening

When Malcolm went to prison in 1946, he became just one among a vast population of despairing, often hopeless, black prisoners. The living conditions in Charlestown Prison — dark, cramped cells with no plumbing — left them feeling degraded and dehumanized. Poor treatment of prisoners and the disproportionate imprisonment and sentencing of blacks are phenomena that continue today.

Many prisoners turned to faith to sustain them through their sentences. The Nation of Islam, an American sect of Islam founded in 1931, specifically recruited black prisoners to join its ranks. Islam itself is a faith tradition that dates back to the early seventh century. The Qur’an (sometimes spelled “Koran”) is the Islamic holy book of scripture, a series of poetic verses revealed to the Prophet Muhammad around the year 610. Followers of Islam, called Muslims (or “those who submit to God”), commit to enacting the five pillars of the faith: profession of faith, daily prayer, tithing, fasting, and making a pilgrimage to Mecca, a holy site in Saudi Arabia. Islam encompasses people of all races, ethnicities, nationalities, and backgrounds. As many as two million enslaved Africans in America were Muslims who had been kidnapped from Africa’s western regions. In the 1950s there were about 500 million Muslims worldwide.

The Nation of Islam combined these fundamental beliefs with a Black Nationalist agenda, limiting membership to black Americans and promoting them as a chosen people, deserving of their own land and government. Elijah Muhammad, their leader, spoke eloquently about the challenges facing blacks, and the NOI as a whole worked to empower them. Throughout the country, segregation laws grated on black people, creating day-to-day challenges and reinforcing the notion of white supremacy. The Nation of Islam taught that segregation could work just fine if black citizens could be allowed to govern themselves and determine their own destinies rather than remaining second-class citizens subject to oppressive control by whites.

Malcolm’s prison experience had taught him that society considered most black prisoners to be lost causes best shut away. Soon he realized that American society tended to treat
all
black people as criminals and lost causes. The Nation of Islam fought against this reality, a mission that resonated with Malcolm because it echoed the teachings of Marcus Garvey and of his father, which he knew so well.

The social and political consciousness that Malcolm gained in prison mirrored the growing unrest among blacks nationwide. After nearly two centuries of enslavement, degradation, poverty, oppression, and injustice, black Americans felt their anger and frustration once again coming to a head. This fight was not exactly new — Malcolm knew from the long lessons of history his mother had taught him that black people had been fighting for freedom and equality all along — but the struggle gained new momentum through the 1950s.

1960s: Civil-Rights Movement

Between about 1957 and 1965, black Americans staged repeated public demonstrations in favor of justice and equality. Common tactics employed by blacks, along with many white supporters, in this movement for civil rights included public marches and protests, boycotts, sit-ins, and voter registration drives. The most effective acts, sit-ins and boycotts, created economic turmoil for white businesses that refused to serve black citizens. Equally powerful was the movement’s decision to respond to violence with nonviolent resistance. White authorities publicly attacked black protesters, who refused to fight back. These conflicts, when captured on film and video, revealed the extent of the brutal hatred and racial violence black citizens had been enduring for centuries.

Similar organizing activities continued through 1968 and beyond. The United States became involved in the Vietnam War in 1960 and did not withdraw until 1972. The familiar anti-enlistment conflict among blacks (“Why should we fight abroad to protect rights we don’t have yet at home?”) helped fuel civil-rights organizing, particularly late in the decade.

Although Malcolm’s ministry as a leader in the Nation of Islam occurred concurrently with the civil-rights movement, he is often considered a peripheral figure because his organizing took place in the urban North, while the heart of the movement was widely considered to be in the segregated South. In reality, Malcolm’s work and words had a direct and profound impact on black Americans nationwide, especially the youngest, most disenfranchised blacks.

While other civil-rights activists focused on changing segregation laws and mobilizing the middle and working classes, Malcolm focused on raising the attention of the most overlooked, downgraded members of society — using himself as a model for the potential to turn one’s life around. He didn’t agree with many other civil-rights leaders that nonviolent protest was a sufficient reaction to the brutalization of black communities. Instead, he argued that all people had the right to self-defense and self-determination. The intense, powerful rhetoric Malcolm used to talk about the needs of his people spoke directly and coherently to this target population, but confused and frightened many others. Malcolm never minded this controversy; he went ahead and said what needed to be said, and history has shown that he consistently spoke difficult but necessary truths.

Malcolm X’s Life and Work

The Autobiography of Malcolm X
by Malcolm X, with the assistance of Alex Haley (New York: Random House/Ballantine, 1992).

By Any Means Necessary
by Malcolm X, a collection of his speeches and writings (New York: Pathfinder, 1992).

Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary
by Walter Dean Myers (New York: Scholastic, 1993).

Malcolm X: Make It Plain
by William Strickland (New York: Viking, 1994).

Black History

The African Origin of Civilization — Myth or Reality
by Cheik Anta Diop (New York: Lawrence Hill Books, 1974).

The Fire Next Time
by James Baldwin (New York: Vintage, 1993).

Freedom’s Children: Young Civil Rights Activists Tell Their Own Stories
by Ellen Levine (New York: Putnam, 1993).

From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans
by John Hope Franklin and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, 9th ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011).

Great Speeches by African Americans,
edited by James Daley (Mineola, NY: Dover, 2006).

Nat Turner
by Terry Bisson (New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1988).

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
by Michelle Alexander (New York: New Press, 2010).

Selected Writings and Speeches of Marcus Garvey,
edited by Bob Blaisdell (Mineola, NY: Dover, 2004).