Malcolm X Books In Order

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Malcolm X Speeches Books

Malcolm X
Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska on May 19, 1925, and was the fourth of seven kids.

His dad, Earl, was a Baptist minister and the chapter president of The Universal Negro Improvement Association. Earl’s civil rights activism prompted death threats from Black Legion, a white supremacist organization, which forced the family to relocate twice before Malcolm was four years old. His mom, Louise Helen Little, was the National recording secretary for the Marcus Garvey Movement which commanded millions of followers during the twenties and thirties.

Regardless of the Little family’s efforts to elude the Legion, in the year 1929, their home in Lansing, Michigan was burned to the ground. Two years after that, Earl’s body was found lying across the town’s trolley tracks.

The cops ruled both incidents to be accidents, however the Little’s were sure that members of the Black Legion were responsible. Louise suffered emotional breakdown several years after her husband’s death and was committed to a mental institution. Her kids got split up amongst different orphanages and foster homes.

He went to West Junior High School in Lansing and later Mason High School in Mason, Michigan, however he left high school in the year 1941, before he graduated. Malcolm excelled in junior high, but he dropped out of high school after a white teacher said something incredibly racist to him. He recalled later on feeling that the white world offered no place for a career oriented black man, regardless of his talent.

He lived with his half-sister (Ella Little-Collins) from the age of fourteen to 21 and held various jobs during this time. They lived in Roxbury, a predominantly African-American neighborhood of Boston.

Eventually he and his friend Malcolm “Shorty” Jarvis moved back to Boston. He served ten years in prison on burglary charges, serving seven years. He used his time to further his education. His brother Reginald would visit him and discuss his recent conversion to the Muslim religion, as he belonged to the Nation of Islam.

In the year 1948, Malcolm wrote to Muhammad, who advised him to renounce his past, promise to never engaged in destructive behavior again, and humbly bow in prayer to God.

This intrigued Malcolm, who started studying the teachings of Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the NOI. By the time he got paroled in 1952, he was a devoted follower, now with the new surname of “X”. He believed “Little” was a slave name and picked “X” to signify his lost tribal name.

Articulate and intelligent, Malcolm got appointed minister and national spokesman for the Nation of Islam. Muhammad also charged Malcolm with establishing new mosques in cities like Harlem, New York and Detroit, Michigan. He utilized radio and television as well as newspaper columns to spread the message of the NOI all over America. His drive, charisma, and conviction attracted an astounding amount of new members. He was largely credited with increasing the membership of the NOI from 500 in the year 1952 to 30,000 by the year 1963.

The controversy and crowds surrounding him made him a media target. He was featured in a weeklong television special with Mike Wallace in the year 1959, which was called “The Hate That Hate Produced”. It explored the NOI’s fundamentals, and tracked Malcolm’s emergence as one of its most important leaders. After this special aired, Malcolm was faced with the uncomfortable truth that his fame had eclipsed that of Elijah’s, his mentor.

His vivid personality also captured the attention of the government. They opened a file on him originally because of comments he made in a letter to President Truman denouncing the Korean War, and saying he was a communist. While membership of the NOI continued to increase, FBI agents infiltrated the organization, with one even acting as Malcolm’s bodyguard and secretly placing cameras, bugs, wiretaps, along with other surveillance equipment to monitor the activities of the group.

His faith was dealt a crushing blow during the height of the civil rights movement in the year 1963. He learned that Elijah, leader and his mentor, was secretly having relations with as many as six women within the NOI. As if this weren’t bad enough, he learned too that some of these affairs resulted in children.

Since he joined the NOI, Malcolm strictly adhered to Muhammad’s teaching, which included remaining celibate until he married Betty Shabazz in the year 1958. He refused Muhammad’s request to help cover up the affairs and resulting kids. He was incredibly hurt by Muhammad’s deception, as Muhammad was a man that Malcolm considered to be a living prophet. He also felt guilty about the masses that he had led to join the NOI, which he now believed to be a fraudulent organization built on far too many lies to just ignore.

In March of 1964, Malcolm terminated his relationship with the NOI. As he was unable to look past Muhammad’s deception any longer, he founded the Muslim Mosque, Inc., his own religious organization.

He went on pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, which proved to be a life altering trip. For the first time, he shared his beliefs and thoughts with different cultures, and found the response to be overwhelmingly positive. When he came back, he had met some blue-eyed, blonde-haired men that he could call his brothers. When he came back to the United States, he had a new outlook on integration and a new hope for the future. Now when he spoke, he had a message for all races, instead of only preaching to African-Americans.

Relations between he and Elijah became increasingly volatile after he resigned his position in the NOI and renounced Elijah. FBI informants that worked undercover in the NOI warned officials that Malcolm was marked for assassination, with one undercover officer getting order to aid in planting a bomb in Malcolm’s car.

After many attempts on his life, he rarely went anywhere without bodyguards. On Februrary 14, 1965 the home where Malcolm, Betty, and their four daughters lived in East Elmhurst, New York got firebombed. The family escaped any physical injury, luckily.

At a speaking engagement in the Manhattan’s Audubon Ballroom on February 21, 1965 three gunmen rushed Malcolm while he was onstage. They shot him fifteen times at close range. The 39 year old was pronounced dead on arrival at New York’s Columbia Presbyterian Hospital.