The future
belongs to
those who prepare
for it today

1948
1952
1963
1965
My alma mater was books, a good library… I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity.
Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little on May 19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. His mother, Louise Norton Little, was a homemaker occupied with the family’s eight children. His father, Earl Little, was an outspoken Baptist minister and avid supporter of Black Nationalist leader Marcus Garvey.
Regardless of the Little’s efforts to elude the Legion, in 1929 their Lansing, Michigan home was burned to the ground.
A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything.
Upon leaving prison in 1952, Malcolm moved to his brother’s house near Detroit, where he attended the local Nation of Islam mosque and actively sought out new converts. Dropping his surname Little, which he considered a “slave” name, in favor of the letter X.
giving speeches at dozens of universities around the country, participating in debates with mainstream civil-rights leaders and occasionally meeting with foreign heads of state Everywhere, he railed against white racism, saying such things as, “We didn’t land on Plymouth Rock, my brothers and sisters—Plymouth Rock landed on us!”
1963

Malcolm begins work on his autobiography with Haley, making two-or-three hour visits to the writer's studio in Greenwich Village. Although, in Haley's words, "We got off to a very poor start," eventually Malcolm warms to the project and begins to share the details of his life.

After befriending and ministering to boxer Cassius Clay...
...the boxer decides to convert to the Muslim religion and join the Nation of Islam
...In February 1964, Clay announces he has changed his name to Muhammad Ali.

Malcom X

February 21, 1965 Malcolm X is assassinated as he begins speaking at the Audubon Ballroom, New York.

After repeated attempts on his life, Malcolm rarely traveled anywhere without bodyguards. On February 14, 1965 the home where Malcolm, Betty and their four daughters lived in East Elmhurst, New York was firebombed. Luckily, the family escaped physical injury.


One week later, however, Malcolm’s enemies were successful in their ruthless attempt. At a speaking engagement in the Manhattan’s Audubon Ballroom on February 21, 1965 three gunmen rushed Malcolm onstage. They shot him 15 times at close range. The 39-year-old was pronounced dead on arrival at New York’s Columbia Presbyterian Hospital.