Remembering The Intrepid Malcolm X
Malcolm X was assassinated on this day, 21 February 1965. Malcolm X, who was born on 19 May 1925, as Malcolm Little, and later became known as el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz, was an Anti-Imperialist African American revolutionary leader who rose from a background of poverty, family disruption, and criminal activity to a prominent figure during the civil rights movement until his assassination in 1965.
Malcolm X was a vocal advocate for Black empowerment and the promotion of revolutionary Islam within the African American community. He was regarded by the United States’ authorities as a controversial figure, who was accused of preaching violence, while he was also a celebrated figure by Black people and Muslims worldwide for his pursuit of racial justice.
On 19 February 1965, Malcolm X told an American photographer, composer, author, poet, and filmmaker, Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks, who became prominent in United States documentary, “Photojournalism” in the 1940s through 1970s, that the Nation of Islam was actively trying to kill him.
On 21 February 1965, when he was preparing to address the Organisation of Afro-American Unity (OAAU) at the Audobon Ballroom, in Manhattan, someone in the audience yelled, “Nigger! Get your hand outta my pocket!” As Malcolm X and his bodyguards tried to quell the disturbance, a man rushed forward and shot him once in the chest with a sawed-off shotgun, while two other men charged the st
