Essay About Minister Of Harlem And Betty Sanders

Malcolm X
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Malcolms life is a Horatio Alger story with a twist. His is not a “rags to
riches” tale, but a powerful narrative of self-transformation from petty
hustler to internationally known political leader. Born in Omaha,
Nebraska, the son of Louise and Earl Little, who was a Baptist preacher
active in Marcus Garveys Universal Negro Improvement Association,
Malcolm, along with his siblings, experienced dramatic confrontations
with racism from childhood. Hooded Klansmen burned their home in
Lansing, Michigan; Earl Little was killed under mysterious
circumstances; welfare agencies split up the children and eventually
committed Louise Little to a state mental institution; and Malcolm was
forced to live in a detention home run by a racist white couple. By the
eighth grade he left school, moved to Boston, Massachussetts, to live
with his half-sister Ella, and discovered the underground world of
African American hipsters.
Malcolms entry into the masculine culture of the zoot suit, the
“conked” (straightened) hair, and the lindy hop coincided with the
outbreak of World War II, rising black militancy (symbolized in part by
A. Philip Randolphs threatened March on Washington for racial and
economic justice), and outbreaks of race riots in Detroit, Michigan, and
other cities (see Detroit Riot of 1943). Malcolm and his partners did
not seem very “political” at the time, but they dodged the draft so as
not to lose their lives over a “white mans war,” and they avoided
wage work whenever possible. His search for leisure and pleasure took
him to Harlem, New York, where his primary source of income derived
from petty hustling, drug dealing, pimping, gambling, and viciously
exploiting women. In 1946 his luck ran out; he was arrested for
burglary and sentenced to ten years in prison
Malcolms downward descent took a U-turn in prison when he began
studying the teachings of the Lost-Found Nation of Islam (NOI), the
black Muslim group founded by Wallace D. Fard and led by Elijah
Muhammad (Elijah Poole). Submitting to the discipline and guidance of
the NOI, he became a voracious reader of the Quran (Koran) and the
Bible. He also immersed himself in works of literature and history at
the prison library. Behind prison walls he quickly emerged as a
powerful orator and brilliant rhetorician. He led the famous prison
debating team that beat the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
arguing against capital punishment by pointing out that English
pickpockets often did their best work at public hangings!
Upon his release in 1952 he renamed himself Malcolm X, symbolically
repudiating the “white mans name.”As a devoted follower of Elijah
Muhammad, Malcolm X rose quickly within the NOI ranks, serving as
minister of Harlems Temple No. 7 in 1954, and later ministering to
temples in Detroit and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Through national
speaking engagements, television appearances, and by establishing
Muhammad SpeaksЖthe NOIs first nationally distributed newspaperЖ
Malcolm X put the Nation of Islam on the map. His sharp criticisms of
civil rights leaders for advocating integration into white society instead
of building black institutions and defending themselves from racist
violence generated opposition from both conservatives and liberals. His
opponents called him “violent,” “fascist,” and “racist.” To those who
claimed that the NOI undermined their efforts toward integration by
preaching racial separatism, Malcolm responded, “It is not integration
that Negroes in America want, it is human dignity.”
Distinguishing Malcolms early political and intellectual views from the
teachings of Elijah Muhammad is not a simple matter. His role as
minister was to preach the gospel of Islam according to Muhammad.
He remained a staunch devotee of the Nations strict moral codes and
gender conventions. Although his own narrative suggests that he
never entirely discarded his hustlers distrust of women, he married
Betty Sanders (later Betty Shabazz) in 1958 and lived by NOI rules:
men must lead, women must follow; the mans domain is the world,
the womans is the home.
On other issues, however, Malcolm showed signs of independence from
the NOI line. During the mid-1950s, for example, he privately scoffed
at Muhammads interpretation of the genesis of the “white race”