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Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little, grew up in a family where the parents were both active in the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), the largest 20th-Century mass-based Black nationalis organization, which was created in 1914. Malcolm's father, Earl Little, a Baptist minister, headed UNIA chapters in midwestern cities like Omaha, Milwaukee, and Lansing. His mother was a corresponding secretary for these chapters.
When he was four, his family's house was burned down by Ku Klux Klanners, and when his father died a violent death when Malcolm was only 6, the family always believed he had been lynched. As a child, Malcolm lived in boarding houses. When he was 15, he dropped out of school despite very high grades, and began to work various jobs that were available to young blacks at the time. From here he descended into criminality performing burglary, gambling, and dealing drugs. He was convicted and sentenced to ten years in prison.
In prison, Malcolm X began learnng about the Nation of Islam, and through educating himself began to learn how to speak and express himself. After six years in prison, he won parole by getting a job with his oldest brother, Wilfred, as a furniture salesman in Detroit. He later went to hear Elijah Muhammad, leader of the Nation of Islam (also referred to as the Black Muslims), and met him. He was accepted into the movement and changed his name to Malcolm X.
In 1953, he went to Chicago to live with Muhammad and be trained by him for some months. Muhammad sent him to Philadelphia to form a new mosque, and Malcolm had it accomplished in less than three months. This showed his energy and devotion early on for the black power movement. Malcolm eventually headed the movement in New York City, and he went back to Harlem in 1954, before he was 30 years old. Malcolm made the Black Muslims into a very well-known organization, and was a well-respected orator -- the object of much admiration.
During his time as a Black Muslims leader, Malcolm X realized that his duty was more with the Negro masses than with Muhaammad's organization. He began to dislike the ways of Muhammad and other organization leaders because of their lack of living in accord with the strict puritanical code they advocated. He remained a believer in the Islamic religion, especially after his trip to Mecca, all the while hoping there would be no friction developing with Muhammad and others affiliated with the Black Muslims. After the split with the Black Muslims, he still advocated black unity -- a unity of all Negroes, whatever their religions and philosophies. He announced the creation of the Muslim Mosque, Inc. and informed the press that he was now "prepared to cooperate in local civil rights action in the South and elsewhere and shall do so because every campaign for specific objectives can only heighten the political consciousness of the Negroes and intensify the identification against white society."
Soon after Malcolm's trip to Mecca and his split with the Nation of Islam, he was assassinated by gunmen as he rose to address a black Harlem audience on February 21, 1965. His ideas were even more speculated on after his death that ever before. The activist carried an even greater effect on the public after his assassination, and his autobiography and other writings were widely read.
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