why did malcolm x write his autobiography article
While Haley ultimately deferred to Malcolm X's specific choice of words when composing the manuscript,[45] Wideman writes, "the nature of writing biography or autobiography ... means that Haley's promise to Malcolm, his intent to be a 'dispassionate chronicler', is a matter of disguising, not removing, his authorial presence. Certainly Malcolm X was a vivid, if sinister part of the 1960s. Malcolm X’s strong denunciation of white supremacy and his moving telling of how he went from being a troubled youth in the foster care system to become one of the most influential civil rights leaders of the 20th century is one reason the autobiography endures 55 years after its publication, with several activists, lawmakers and advocates crediting it with being instrumental in their decision to fight for civil rights. For example, Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam during the period when he was working on the book with Haley. However, after Malcolm’s assassination in 1965, King wrote to his widow, Betty Shabazz: “While we did not always see eye to eye on methods to solve the race problem, I always had a deep affection for Malcolm and felt that he had the great ability to put his finger on the existence and root of the problem” (King, 26 February 1965). [18], In 1963 the Doubleday publishing company asked Haley to write a book about the life of Malcolm X. American writer and literary critic Harold Bloom writes, "When Haley approached Malcolm with the idea, Malcolm gave him a startled look ..."[19] Haley recalls, "It was one of the few times I have ever seen him uncertain. Although King told reporters that Malcolm’s separation from Elijah Muhammad “holds no particular significance to the present civil rights efforts,” he argued that if “tangible gains are not made soon all across the country, we must honestly face the prospect that some Negroes might be tempted to accept some oblique path [such] as that Malcolm X proposes” (King, 16 March 1964). Given Malcolm X’s abrasive criticism of King and his advocacy of racial separatism, it is not surprising that King rejected the occasional overtures from one of his fiercest critics. Indeed, it was the day after Malcolm's assassination that the poet and playwright, Amiri Baraka, established the Black Arts Repertory Theater, which would serve to catalyze the aesthetic progression of the movement. Ten days later, during the Senate debate on the Civil Rights Act of 1964, King and Malcolm met for the first and only time. Marable writes, "Malcolm also had a habit of scribbling notes to himself as he spoke." "[86] David Bradley adds: She [hooks] is not alone. What were they trying to uphold?”. How will Malcolm X be perceived by future generations of Americans? They were old and faded and gray.' “When you have people who are weary — whether they are young or they are old — with the way that our system works, they seemed to find a lot of solace in it.”. [44] In the epilogue Haley describes the process used to edit the manuscript, giving specific examples of how Malcolm X controlled the language. “His voice particularly resonated with those of us who were younger at that time because so many older people around us were really afraid to speak out because of the retribution from the racist Jim Crow system,” Hudson said. At the same time, he looked to the southern struggle for inspiration in his effort to revitalize the Black Nationalist movement. "[81] Cultural historian Howard Bruce Franklin describes it as "one of the most influential books in late-twentieth-century American culture",[82] and the Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature credits Haley with shaping "what has undoubtedly become the most influential twentieth-century African American autobiography". Nothing but legal, modern slavery—however kindly intentioned. “The autobiography just had a tremendous impact on how we could voice our concerns out loud.”. Malcolm’s primary concern during the remainder of 1964 was to establish ties with the black activists he saw as more militant than King. Get kids back-to-school ready with Expedition: Learn! He employed these techniques in his speeches, so it's no surprise that they show up in his autobiography. Got inside them. In 1998, Time named The Autobiography of Malcolm X as one of ten "required reading" nonfiction books. [43] Rampersad also writes that Haley was aware that memory is selective and that autobiographies are "almost by definition projects in fiction", and that it was his responsibility as biographer to select material based on his authorial discretion. The two first met in 1959, when Haley wrote an article about the Nation of Islam for Reader's Digest, and again when Haley interviewed Malcolm X for Playboy in 1962. His famous "....by any means necessary" speech which advocated killing anyone who stood in the way of the advancement of... Why do people look up to Malcolm X as a role model? “We have never really dealt with race in our country. Despite his repeated overtures to King, Malcolm did not refrain from criticizing him publicly. Malcolm X’s faith journey is personally important to Cheatam because she says Black American Muslim stories are rarely part of the conversation about Islam in American. Is he? And he said, 'I remember how she was always bent over the stove, trying to stretch what little we had.' When he returned he began following a course that paralleled King’s—combining religious leadership and political action. Wideman suggests that as a writer, Haley was attempting to satisfy "multiple allegiances": to his subject, to his publisher, to his "editor's agenda", and to himself. "[88], At the end of his tenure as the first African-American U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder selected The Autobiography of Malcolm X when asked what book he would recommend to a young person coming to Washington, D.C.[89], Doubleday had contracted to publish The Autobiography of Malcolm X and paid a $30,000 advance to Malcolm X and Haley in 1963. Lakshmi Gandhi is a contributor to NBC News. With his wife, Cheryl Willis Hudson, he has worked on several books about the Black American experience, most recently the anthology, “The Talk.”, Malcolm X’s messages were particularly startling for young people who grew up in families like Cheryl Willis Hudson’s. Following his father’s death, Malcolm recalled, “Some kind of psychological deterioration hit our family circle and began to eat away our pride” (Malcolm X, Autobiography, 14). For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. According to Marable, "nearly everyone writing about Malcolm X" has failed to critically and objectively analyze and research the subject properly. Summary and Analysis Actor Ossie Davis eulogized Malcolm X at his funeral. [99], In 1992, attorney Gregory Reed bought the original manuscripts of The Autobiography of Malcolm X for $100,000 at the sale of the Haley Estate. King, Statement on Malcolm X’s break with Elijah Muhammad, 16 March 1964, MCMLK-RWWL. [97], In 1968 film producer Marvin Worth hired novelist James Baldwin to write a screenplay based on The Autobiography of Malcolm X; Baldwin was joined by screenwriter Arnold Perl, who died in 1971 before the screenplay could be finished. The volume may be read in many ways. [25] Author William L. Andrews writes: [T]he narrative evolved out of Haley's interviews with Malcolm, but Malcolm had read Haley's typescript, and had made interlineated notes and often stipulated substantive changes, at least in the earlier parts of the text. Often, he takes an example from his life on the streets and translates it into an example of the racial oppression of African Americans. Black activist Malcolm X on March 1, 1964. Author and publisher Wade Hudson recalled being blown away by Malcolm X’s speeches and writings as a teenager, especially when he connected the struggles of Black Americans to other oppressed people worldwide. By entering your email address you agree to receive emails from Shmoop and verify that you are over the age of 13. [19] Bloom writes, "Malcolm was critical of Haley's middle-class status, as well as his Christian beliefs and twenty years of service in the U.S. [55][91] Since The Autobiography of Malcolm X has sold millions of copies,[92] Marable described Doubleday's choice as the "most disastrous decision in corporate publishing history". “The only revolution in which the goal is loving your enemy,” Malcolm told an audience in 1963, “is the Negro revolution … That’s no revolution” (Malcolm X, “Message to the Grassroots,” 9). [55], Marable says the resulting text was stylistically and ideologically distinct from what Marable believes Malcolm X would have written without Haley's influence, and it also differs from what may have actually been said in the interviews between Haley and Malcolm X. The use of "X" as a last name was started by the Nation of Islam. Some will do more than mention it. [45] In the above passage Haley asserts his authorial presence, reminding his subject that as a writer he has concerns about narrative direction and focus, but presenting himself in such a way as to give no doubt that he deferred final approval to his subject. [99][101] Director Spike Lee revised the Baldwin-Perl script for his 1992 film Malcolm X. You have seen how throughout my life, I have often known unexpected drastic changes. I told him 'yours, of course,' and that I only made the objection in my position as a writer. By the late 1950s, Malcolm had become the NOI’s leading spokesman. JavaScript seems to be disabled in your browser. Malcolm X, Interview by Harry Ring over Station WBAI-FM in New York, in Two Speeches by Malcolm X, 1965. He therefore rewrote material to eliminate a number of negative statements about Jews in the book manuscript, with the explicit covert goal of 'getting them past Malcolm X,' without his coauthor's knowledge or consent. Pretty smart move. [25], Haley's contribution to the work is notable, and several scholars discuss how it should be characterized. He says: This was my first lesson about gambling: if you see somebody winning all the time, he isn't gambling, he's cheating. “While it ended in tragedy with his assassination it also showed his power. [12], In addition to functioning as a spiritual conversion narrative, The Autobiography of Malcolm X also reflects generic elements from other distinctly American literary forms, from the Puritan conversion narrative of Jonathan Edwards and the secular self-analyses of Benjamin Franklin, to the African American slave narratives. [39] Stone also reminds the reader that collaboration is a cooperative endeavor, requiring more than Haley's prose alone can provide, "convincing and coherent" as it may be:[40], Though a writer's skill and imagination have combined words and voice into a more or less convincing and coherent narrative, the actual writer [Haley] has no large fund of memories to draw upon: the subject's [Malcolm X] memory and imagination are the original sources of the arranged story and have also come into play critically as the text takes final shape. In early 1965, while King was jailed in Selma, Alabama, Malcolm traveled to Selma, where he had a private meeting with Coretta Scott King. Du Bois inadequate to fully express black humanity as it struggles with oppression, "while Malcolm is seen as the apotheosis of black individual greatness ... he is a perfect hero—his wisdom is surpassing, his courage definitive, his sacrifice messianic". [Peter] Goldman suggests that Malcolm was 'improvising', that he embraced and discarded ideological options as he went along. Malcolm, could you tell me something about your mother?' According to Manning Marable, "Haley was particularly worried about what he viewed as Malcolm X's anti-Semitism" and he rewrote material to eliminate it.[2]. Ask any middle-aged socially conscious intellectual to list the books that influenced his or her youthful thinking, and he or she will most likely mention The Autobiography of Malcolm X. All of that talk of death constantly reminds us of one thing: his assassination. Following his father’s death, Malcolm recalled, “Some kind of psychological deterioration hit our family circle and began to eat away our pride” (Malcolm X, Autobiography, 14). Haley's voice in the body of the book is a tactic, Wideman writes, producing a text nominally written by Malcolm X but seemingly written by no author. Ilyasah Shabazz speaks at a forum in Istanbul on Oct. 19, 2017. A role model is a person who follows rhetoric with action; one who is able to lead others to institute change; one whose actions we can understand if not applaud. Malcolm X to King, 21 July 1960, in Papers 5:491. [84] Writers and thinkers associated with the Black Arts movement found in the Autobiography an aesthetic embodiment of his profoundly influential qualities, namely, "the vibrancy of his public voice, the clarity of his analyses of oppression's hidden history and inner logic, the fearlessness of his opposition to white supremacy, and the unconstrained ardor of his advocacy for revolution 'by any means necessary.'"[85]. Haley 's contribution to the Icarus myth from a story about gambling into an example of how African Americans discriminated. A habit of scribbling notes to himself as he went along crafted icon or story the! Killed, Haley 's suggestion. [ 51 ] by violence speaks and you listen you. 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