Malcolm X

Could Alex Haley's False Quotation of MLK Have Changed History?

by Peniel E. Joseph

By exaggerating the conflict between Martin and Malcolm, Haley helped feed a narrative of the two men's approaches to politics as irreconcilable instead of as facets of a more complex struggle for freedom. It has probably helped to push radical demands for justice to the margins. 

Alex Haley Fabricated Quotes Portraying MLK as Implacable Critic of Malcolm X, Biographer Finds

by Gillian Brockell

Jonathan Eig tracked down a secretary's transcript of writer Alex Haley's interview with Martin Luther King and found that Haley seriously misrepresented King's response to Malcolm's militant approach to the Black freedom struggle, contributing to longstanding misunderstanding of King's views and relationship to other political factions. 

Malcolm X Returns to the Opera Stage

Anthony Davis's 1985 opera "X" was slow to catch on in the American repertory, a fact that would have been no surprise to its subject. 

Exoneration of Convicted Malcolm X Killers Shows FBI Needs to be Held Accountable

"Were the real killers working with the FBI? And is that why the FBI withheld the information? What does it say that the only witnesses who placed Aziz and Islam at the scene of the crime were FBI informants?"

2 Men Convicted in Malcolm X Assassination to be Exonerated

The investigation by the Manhattan DA did not identify who prosecutors believe did kill Malcolm X, and it does not affirm what many suspect – that law enforcement agencies conspired to assassinate the leader. 

How Malcolm X Inspired John Coltrane to Embrace Islamic Spirituality

by Richard Brent Turner

John Coltrane's embrace of influences from religious music from Africa, Asia and the Middle East, profoundly influential to the Black Arts movement and African American spirituality, was influenced by Malcolm X. 

Did A Black Undercover NYPD Detective Unwittingly Aid Malcolm X’s Assassination?

A posthumous letter attributed to former NYPD Detective Ray Wood details a sting operation that resulted in the arrest of two of Malcolm X's bodyguards days before his assassination. Debate has raged if the letter is authentic and, if it is, if it reflects NYPD involvement in a conspiracy to kill Malcolm. 

Malcolm X's Family Releases Letter Alleging FBI, Police Role In His Death

The family of the late leader released a letter they claim shows the involvement of a NYPD detective in a conspiracy to assassinate Malcolm X. 

Malcolm X Warned Us about the Pitfalls of Black Celebrities as Leaders

by Kyle T. Mays

The media’s overemphasis on the voices of Black celebrities obscures the voices of ordinary Black people, whose lives are vastly different from those who have wealth and visibility.

Beyond the Myth of Malcolm X (review essay)

A new biography of Malcolm X sets his political thought in the context of the midcentury Black communities where he lived and how his Black contemporaries saw him. 

‘Ten Days in Harlem’: An Interview with Historian Simon Hall

An interview with historian Simon Hall examines the links between revolutionary Cuba, anticolonial rebellion, and civil rights militancy in the United States as revealed by Fidel Castro's 10-day visit to Harlem and the United Nations in 1960.

Who Really Killed Malcolm X? Fifty-five years later, the case may be reopened.

55 years after that bloody afternoon in February 1965, the Manhattan district attorney’s office is reviewing whether to reinvestigate the murder.

Missing Malcolm X Writings, Long a Mystery, Are Sold

The unpublished material, or at least some of it, has suddenly emerged and was offered for sale at a Manhattan auction house, along with another artifact that scholars have never seen: the manuscript for the published book, which bears dense traces of Mr. Haley’s and Malcolm X’s complex negotiations over the finished text.

Harvard historian says we should turn prisons into colleges

by Elizabeth Hinton

Elizabeth Hinton cites as an example a prison celebrated by a jailed Malcolm X. (It’s where he wanted to be sent.)

Excavation of Malcolm X Home Yields Link to Colonial Past

An excavation on the site of Malcolm X’s boyhood Boston-area home has yielded historical links not to the civil rights activist’s past, but to older periods of history – which could include the Colonial era.

Remembering Malcolm X Fifty Years Later

by Daniel Pipes

Malcolm X was anything but mainstream and the passage of a half century should not soften attitudes toward him.

Who Killed Malcolm X? And Why?

by Fatima Begum

“I’m for truth, no matter who tells it. I’m for justice, no matter who it is for or against. I’m a human being first and foremost, and as such, I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.”