| |
N0KFQ > TODAY 21.02.15 18:00l 72 Lines 3314 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 48005_N0KFQ
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Feb 21
Path: IZ3LSV<IW8PGT<I3XTY<I0OJJ<N6RME<N0KFQ
Sent: 150221/1559Z 48005@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.63
Feb 21, 1965:
Malcolm X assassinated
In New York City, Malcolm X, an African American nationalist and
religious leader, is assassinated by rival Black Muslims while
addressing his Organization of Afro-American Unity at the Audubon
Ballroom in Washington Heights.
Born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1925, Malcolm was the
son of James Earl Little, a Baptist preacher who advocated the
black nationalist ideals of Marcus Garvey. Threats from the Ku
Klux Klan forced the family to move to Lansing, Michigan, where
his father continued to preach his controversial sermons despite
continuing threats. In 1931, Malcolm's father was brutally
murdered by the white supremacist Black Legion, and Michigan
authorities refused to prosecute those responsible. In 1937,
Malcolm was taken from his family by welfare caseworkers. By the
time he reached high school age, he had dropped out of school and
moved to Boston, where he became increasingly involved in
criminal activities.
In 1946, at the age of 21, Malcolm was sent to prison on a
burglary conviction. It was there he encountered the teachings of
Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam, whose members
are popularly known as Black Muslims. The Nation of Islam
advocated black nationalism and racial separatism and condemned
Americans of European descent as immoral "devils." Muhammad's
teachings had a strong effect on Malcolm, who entered into an
intense program of self-education and took the last name "X" to
symbolize his stolen African identity.
After six years, Malcolm was released from prison and became a
loyal and effective minister of the Nation of Islam in Harlem,
New York. In contrast with civil rights leaders such as Martin
Luther King Jr., Malcolm X advocated self-defense and the
liberation of African Americans "by any means necessary." A fiery
orator, Malcolm was admired by the African American community in
New York and around the country.
In the early 1960s, he began to develop a more outspoken
philosophy than that of Elijah Muhammad, whom he felt did not
sufficiently support the civil rights movement. In late 1963,
Malcolm's suggestion that President John F. Kennedy's
assassination was a matter of the "chickens coming home to roost"
provided Elijah Muhammad, who believed that Malcolm had become
too powerful, with a convenient opportunity to suspend him from
the Nation of Islam.
A few months later, Malcolm formally left the organization and
made a Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, where he was profoundly
affected by the lack of racial discord among orthodox Muslims. He
returned to America as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz and in June 1964
founded the Organization of Afro-American Unity, which advocated
black identity and held that racism, not the white race, was the
greatest foe of the African American. Malcolm's new movement
steadily gained followers, and his more moderate philosophy
became increasingly influential in the civil rights movement,
especially among the leaders of the Student Non-Violent
Coordinating Committee.
On February 21, 1965, one week after his home was firebombed,
Malcolm X was shot to death by Nation of Islam members while
speaking at a rally of his organization in New York City.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
Using Outpost Ver 2.8.0 c42
Read previous mail | Read next mail
| |
