Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska on May 19. 1925. Growing up in Omaha was very tough for young Malcolm. He was constantly harassed by the white's living in his area. At age six, his father was found dead, possible murdered. The police report claimed it was an accident, but Malcolm believed that his father was beaten unconscientious the thrown into the railroad tracks only to be run over by a train later that night. After his father's death, his mother suffered a severe nervous breakdown which caused his family to be separated by welfare agencies. With his father dead and family gone, Malcolm's hatred towards white people continued to escalate.
As a teenager, Malcolm made his way into New York City and became a hustler and a criminal. He was eventually caught and in 1946 was sentenced to jail for burglary for ten years. He only served six years in jail, but his time there was important.
Malcolm X
Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X meet before ...
Malcolm X at Queens CourtHe began to self educate himself by copying every word from an abridged dictionary from cover to back. He joined the Black Muslims while in jail, an important organization which would later be the downfall of his life. In 1952, while on parole, he took the name of Malcolm X, which he claimed the X symbolized his true African name and renounced his white-slave master's name.
The 60's would be an important decade for Malcolm X, it would be his last. During this time, civil rights movements gave a lot of publicity to blacks struggling for equal rights. The Nation of Islam, formally the Black Muslims, was a much more militant organization then of Martin Luther King Jr.'s organizations. They thought that King's ideals were too weak and power must be used one way or another to get the...