The life of Malcolm X is one of the most compelling in American history. From street hustler to religious spokesman, his legacy still reverberates throughout the Black community more than 40 years after his death. After his split with the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X made numerous speeches in Harlem, specifically at the Audubon Ballroom, where he discussed many topics relevant to his followers. In a series of speeches he addressed the international history of the Black man and eventually focused on the sensitive topic of American slavery. Malcolm X believed African Americans were brainwashed and conditioned from their previous civilized state to one of ignorance and servility.
Malcolm X was adamant that the word “Negro” was a racist term invented in America to enslave the mind and body of captive Africans. As such, he argued that the history of the so-called Negro began when the first captives reached America. However, he argued, the history of Black civilizations extends back more than five thousand years to the Sumerians, the Babylonians, the Moors, and the Egyptians. Malcolm X gave particular attention to the Egyptian civilization where the construction of the pyramids was proof that its builders, Black men, understood geography, architecture, astronomy, science, and religion.
In discussing the Founding Fathers, Malcolm X asserted that these men are undeserving of the loyalty generally bestowed upon them, particularly from the descendents of slaves. He argued that men like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were plantation owners who viewed their slaves as little more than “a sack of potatoes.” As property, their slaves had few rights which the new country’s laws were obliged to respect. Therefore, Malcolm X asserted that these revered men were mere con men who wrote eloquent words (such as the immortal: “all men are created equal”) while knowingly maintaining an institution that not only denied Black men their rights, but also deprived them of their culture and civilization.
Malcolm X traced the development of slave making and argued that violence was the essential element in transforming a civilized man into a being that is ignorant of his original language and culture. He also argued that slavers purposefully destroyed the captives’ family unit as a way of destroying any vestiges of Black history. The result, as Malcolm X saw it, was the creation of a Negro history where Blacks were naturally dumb and dependent.
As he ended these series of speeches, Malcolm X acknowledged that this country has tried to correct the ills perpetrated against the descendents of African captives, like the Emancipation Proclamation, the Thirteenth Amendment, and the Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. However, he argued that these actions are “deceptive” and “deceitful” in that they fall far short in restoring the Black man to his former levels of civilization that were horrifically ripped from his consciousness more than three hundred years ago.
Sources:
Shabazz, Betty, Malcolm X on American History, New York: Merit Publishers, 1967.
