A Massachusetts Prison Cell Gave Rise to Activist Malcolm X

One of the most prominent figures of the American Civil Rights movement, Malcolm X, was assassination in New York City on February 21, 1965 – nearly 60 years ago. Unlike Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who chose non-violent direct action protests, Malcolm X often favored a more violent approach.

Malcolm Little was born in Omaha, Nebraska on May 19, 1925. Little was one of seven children of Earl and Louise Helen Little. Earl was an outspoken Baptist lay speaker from Georgia. Louise Helen Earl emigrated from Grenada.

A teenaged Malcolm Little lived with a half-sister in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood. From there, he moved to Flint, Michigan and then to New York City.

Bruce Perry's 1991 book Malcolm: The Life of a Man Who Changed Black America says it was there that Little became engaged in drug dealing, racketeering and other crimes.

In 1945, Little returned to Boston. Kofi Natambu's 2002 book The Life and Work of Malcolm X claims Little and four accomplices committed a series of burglaries targeting wealthy white families in the Boston area.

Little was convicted of burglary and grand larceny and was imprisoned from 1946 to 1952 at Charlestown State Prison, Concord Reformatory and Norfolk Prison Colony before being paroled in August 1952.

Malcolm Little became Malcolm X while serving his sentence in Massachusetts, writing to President Harry Truman in 1950 in opposition to the Korean War and proclaiming himself a Communist.

While in jail, Malcolm X educated himself in the prison library. It was then that he converted to the Nation of Islam.

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The University of Chicago Press Journals says Malcolm X is "arguably responsible for giving birth to the movements for Black Pride and Black Power." The University's Jed B Tucker wrote that it was Malcolm X's literary style in the fight against racism – both in speech and writing – that made him an entirely unique figure among contemporary or subsequent civil rights leaders."

Malcolm X used several names, including Malik el-Shabazz. He and his wife Betty Shabazz married in 1958 and had six children.