Malcolm X and Black Nationalism
Political activist, religious leader, speechwriter, speaker, and memoirist. Born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska, Malcolm X was one of the most influential leaders of his time. His writings, speeches, and thinking continue to exert a powerful influence on black politics today. He was one of eight children born to Baptist minister Earl Little and homemaker Louise Little. Because of his ardent support for black nationalist leader Marcus Garvey, Earl Little received death threats from white supremacist groups. These threats forced the Little family to relocate twice before Malcolm X's fourth birthday. In 1929, the Little home in Lansing, Michigan, burned to the ground. Two years later, the elder Little was found dead on the Lansing trolley tracks under suspicious circumstances. Although the police ruled both incidents as accidents, the Little family believed the white supremacist group the Black Legion was responsible. This was only the beginning of the Little family's tragedies, however. As a result of the many stresses placed upon her by the loss of her husband and being the sole caretaker of a large brood of children, Malcolm X's mother had a mental collapse. She subsequently went into a mental institution. The children were then parceled out to foster homes and orphanages, some of them ending up with white families.
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