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Y319: Civil Rights in the USA 1865–1992

Depth study: Malcolm X and Black Power — Malcolm X as a civil rights leader

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Recall questions on Malcolm X as a civil rights leader.

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What methods did Malcolm X use as a Nation of Islam leader?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    How did Malcolm Little become Malcolm X?

    Model answer

    Born in 1925, he grew up after his Garveyite father's violent death and his mother's committal, drifted into crime in Boston and Harlem, and was sentenced to prison in 1946, where he educated himself and converted to the Nation of Islam, replacing the surname he called a slave name with an X standing for the lost African name.

  2. 2

    Outline the teachings of the Nation of Islam and Malcolm X's aims during his years in it.

    Model answer

    It preached that Black people were the original human beings, that whites were a devil race, and that salvation lay in separation, self-discipline and Black-owned business; Malcolm accordingly rejected integration and the vote as goals, demanded a separate territory or a return to Africa, and called for Black pride, self-defence and economic independence.

  3. 3

    What methods did Malcolm X use as a Nation of Islam leader?

    Model answer

    He worked as an organiser and orator rather than a legislator, founding temples across the northern cities, recruiting from prisons and the streets, launching the newspaper Muhammad Speaks, and using television and campus debates so effectively that he raised the Nation's membership from a few hundred to tens of thousands and made himself the best-known Black radical in America.

  4. 4

    Explain Malcolm X's position on non-violence.

    Model answer

    He argued that a people under daily attack had the right and duty of self-defence, insisted that freedom should be sought by any means necessary, mocked the March on Washington as a stage-managed farce, and condemned non-violent direct action for teaching Black people to be defenceless against violent opponents.

  5. 5

    Why did Malcolm X break with the Nation of Islam in 1964?

    Model answer

    Resentment of his fame within the leadership, his suspension after he described Kennedy's assassination as the chickens coming home to roost, his frustration at the Nation's refusal to join the civil rights struggle, and his discovery that Elijah Muhammad had fathered children by his secretaries destroyed his faith in the movement.

  6. 6

    How did Malcolm X's outlook change in the last year of his life?

    Model answer

    After making the pilgrimage to Mecca and taking the name El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz he said that seeing Muslims of every colour worshipping together had changed his view that all whites were enemies; he founded Muslim Mosque Inc and the Organization of Afro-American Unity, framed the struggle as one of human rights that could be taken to the United Nations, sought allies in Africa, and became willing to work with civil rights organisations.

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