The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Malcolm X and Alex Haley (1965)
“The most radical act of self-invention in American literature — a man who remade himself four times and was killed before he could finish the fifth.”
Short Summary
Malcolm Little is born into a family targeted by white supremacists, loses his father to probable murder, watches his mother's mental breakdown, and lands in foster care. He moves to Boston and Harlem, becomes a hustler and drug dealer, and is sentenced to ten years in prison for burglary. In prison he discovers the Nation of Islam and reinvents himself as Malcolm X — the most electrifying Black voice in America. He rises to national prominence as the NOI's chief spokesman, then breaks with Elijah Muhammad after learning of his mentor's hypocrisy. A pilgrimage to Mecca transforms his understanding of race. He returns to found a new movement, and is assassinated before the autobiography is published.
Detailed Summary
Malcolm Little is born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1925 to Earl and Louise Little. His father, a Baptist preacher and Garveyite activist, is repeatedly threatened by the Ku Klux Klan and the Black Legion. The family moves to Lansing, Michigan, where their home is burned down. When Malcolm is six, Earl Lit...