1A: Malcolm X

"Learning to Read," which appears in 50 Essays, is taken from The Autobiography of Malcolm X.
 The book, released in 1965, was written by Alex Haley, based on interviews he conducted with Malcolm X. 

Malcolm X was born in Omaha, Nebraska on May 19, 1925 and was assassinated on February 21, 1965 in New York City when he was about to address a crowd of 400 gathered for a meeting of the Organization of Afro-American Unity.

Where else can you turn to learn more about Malcolm X?  The Malcolm X Official Website, of course. You can also go to the Biography page on Malcolm to learn more about him.  They also have brief video clips clips about his life.

Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X
 meet on March 26, 1964.  It was their only meeting.

Malcolm and Martin, closer than we ever thought
By John Blake, CNN
May 19, 2010 11:36 a.m. EDT

(CNN) -- The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was leaving a news conference one afternoon when a tall man with a coppery complexion stepped out of the crowd and blocked his path.
Malcolm X, the African-American Muslim leader who once called King "Rev. Dr. Chicken-wing," extended his hand and smiled.

"Well, Malcolm, good to see you," King said after taking Malcolm X's hand.

"Good to see you," Malcolm X replied as both men broke into huge grins while a gaggle of photographers snapped pictures of their only meeting.

That encounter on March 26, 1964, lasted only a minute. But a photo of that meeting has tantalized scholars and supporters of both men for more than 45 years.

To read the remainder of the CNN report, follow this link.

The New Yorker,  April 25, 2011

"This American Life The making and remaking of Malcolm X".

by David Remnick

“You’re another of the white man’s tools sent to spy!” Malcolm told Alex Haley when they first met.CREDITPHOTOGRAPH BY EVE ARNOLD / MAGNUM

On summer nights, in 1963, Malcolm X drove his blue Oldsmobile from Mosque No. 7, the Harlem headquarters of the Nation of Islam, to an apartment building on Grove Street, in Greenwich Village, where a freelance writer named Alex Haley sat waiting for him in an eight-by-ten-foot studio. There, the two would remain until early morning. Haley sat at a desk typing notes while Malcolm—tall, austere, dressed always in a dark suit, a white shirt, and a narrow dark tie—drank cup after cup of coffee, paced the room, and talked. What emerged was the hegira of Malcolm’s life as a black man in mid-century America: his transformation from Malcolm Little, born in Omaha to troubled parents whose salve against racist harassment and violence was the black-nationalist creed of Marcus Garvey; to Detroit Red, a numbers-running hustler on the streets of Boston and New York; to a convicted felon known among fellow-prisoners as Satan; to Malcolm X, a charismatic deputy to the Nation of Islam’s leader, Elijah Muhammad, and the most electrifying proponent of black nationalism alive. “My whole life has been a chronology of changes,” Malcolm told Haley one night, and, in a few months, he would transform himself yet again, becoming El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, a Sunni Muslim.

You can read all of the The New Yorker arbicle, above, here

Here is a PBS Documentary on Malcolm X, if your browser allows you to watch it.  If not, try this link.

The Ballot or the Bullet
a speech delivered by Malcolm X
April 3, 1964
Cleveland, Ohio

Mr. Moderator, Brother Lomax, brothers and sisters, friends and enemies: I just can't believe everyone in here is a friend, and I don't want to leave anybody out. The question tonight, as I understand it, is "The Negro Revolt, and Where Do We Go From Here?" or What Next?" In my little humble way of understanding it, it points toward either the ballot or the bullet.

Before we try and explain what is meant by the ballot or the bullet, I would like to clarify something concerning myself. I'm still a Muslim; my religion is still Islam. That's my personal belief. Just as Adam Clayton Powell is a Christian minister who heads the Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York, but at the same time takes part in the political struggles to try and bring about rights to the black people in this country; and Dr. Martin Luther King is a Christian minister down in Atlanta, Georgia, who heads another organization fighting for the civil rights of black people in this country; and Reverend Galamison, I guess you've heard of him, is another Christian minister in New York who has been deeply involved in the school boycotts to eliminate segregated education; well, I myself am a minister, not a Christian minister, but a Muslim minister; and I believe in action on all fronts by whatever means necessary.

Although I'm still a Muslim, I'm not here tonight to discuss my religion. I'm not here to try and change your religion. I'm not here to argue or discuss anything that we differ about, because it's time for us to submerge our differences and realize that it is best for us to first see that we have the same problem, a common problem, a problem that will make you catch hell whether you're a Baptist, or a Methodist, or a Muslim, or a nationalist. Whether you're educated or illiterate, whether you live on the boulevard or in the alley, you're going to catch hell just like I am. We're all in the same boat and we all are going to catch the same hell from the same man. He just happens to be a white man. All of us have suffered here, in this country, political oppression at the hands of the white man, economic exploitation at the hands of the white man, and social degradation at the hands of the white man.

To read the remainder of the speech, click on this link.

Malcolm X at the time he was charged with breaking and entering in 1946.
  Known as Malcolm Little at the time, he would eventually serve his prison term
 through 1952 in Norfolk, Massachusetts, where he developed  his language skills
 and knowledge of history and philosophy, among other subjects.
He began signing his name Malcolm X in 1950.