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Bernardo Bogado
Julia Ogawa
João Hawthorne
Matheus Chiba

Early Life

Born in 1925 in North Omaha, Nebraska, United States, Malcolm Little had an extremely harsh childhood: due to being black during that period, his family had to migrate to the state of Michigan when he was 6 to avoid Ku Klux Klan's persecution and threats. But in Michigan, his father was ran over in an event that was called an accident, although his family believed it was another white supremacist group that was responsible for his death, Black Legion.

Malcolm's mother was unable to provide for her seven children, and ended up in a mental health facility, so he had to enter the government's social assistance program. When he was in 8th grade, he moved to Boston to live with his older sister, where he became a shoeshine and train station employee.

The young boy was a good and dedicated student, and wished to become a lawyer, but was discouraged by one of his teachers, who said it was unrealistic to think he, as a black man, could achieve this. Malcolm Little dropped from school and started doing small robbery and selling drugs, while also involved with prostitution and gambling until he was arrested in 1946.

The role Nation of Islam played in Malcolm X’s life

In 1946, he received an eight-to 10 year sentence for grand larceny. During his time in jail he converted to Islamism due to his siblings, specially Reginald. Thefore joining the group Nation of Islam right after being released in 1952.

In this same period, Malcolm Little changed his surname to X because he believed it was just another tool to imprison him to his slavery ancestry. According to him, ‘Little’ was given to his family by a slave owner, to register them as his property and X represented his unknown African ancestry.

He rapidly became a major member of the NOI and was later rewarded with the position of minister of the second most important temple. Afterwards he even was named the second hand of the religious group’s leader, Eijah Muhammad. 

“If you’re not ready to die for it, put the word ‘freedom’ out of your vocabulary.”
— Malcolm X

Later Years

After visiting Mecca and the tension between him and Muhammad ensued, he left the Nation of Islam as he came to conclusion that race problems could be conquered without separatism and created the Organization of Afro-American Unity making his agenda more on human rights than civil rights. Henceforth, he was less aggressive and more lenient on his beliefs. 

"Before it was for and by the guidance of Elijah Muhammad. Now I think with my own mind, sir!”
— Malcolm X

On February 21st of 1965, he was assassinated at an OAAU rally in Harlem by 15 shots which were attributed to three members of the Nation of Islam.

Legacy

Malcom X’s image is frequently associated with human rights and racial equality, and is seen as a radical historical figure. His deeds were immensely important and still today Malcolm inspires young  people to fight for justice. 

In 2020, Who killed Malcolm X - a documentary by Netflix - about his death and investigating it furthermore was produced.