The Autobiography of Malcolm X (As Told to Alex Haley) Paperback – January 15, 1992

The Autobiography of Malcolm XAlex Haley (as told to)©1965 (466 pages)A short Book Report by Ron Housley (5.20.2022)BIOGRAPHY OR AUTOBIOGRAPHY?I guess Malcolm X wasn’t actually a writer; he was more of a talker. Alex Haley, of Roots fame, was more of a writer — apparently able to bring together both the forces of the publishing industry (Doubleday) and the confidence of the venerable Malcolm X to produce what was intended to look like the words of Malcolm, himself.Today, this “autobiography” is widely touted as a “classic;” most of the reviews I’ve read call it “inspirational.” Because of the scandal around allegations that parts of Alex Haley’s “Roots” were fabricated out of thin air but presented as biographical truth, I was a bit on alert for something similar here in the telling of Malcolm X’s story. (The critics did claim that Haley edited out all of the references that could have pointed to Malcolm the anti-Semite, which is apparently one of the criticisms leveled against Malcolm.) I see that Time Magazine, in 1998, called this book “one of the ten most influential nonfiction books of the 20th century.”We get to see Malcolm the drug hustler; Malcolm the pimp; Malcolm the professional criminal; Malcolm the convicted felon serving time; Malcolm the disciple of Elijah Muhammad; Malcolm the Minister for the Nation of Islam; and Malcolm the Civil Rights activist.All the critics seem to agree that Alex Haley “captured the voice” of Malcolm. So there. It’s an autobiography after all.THE SEARCHI have always viewed “the Malcolm X thing” as a bit of a cultural oddity — mysterious figure with a large following, mostly black but not exclusively; with a large opposition, also mostly black; with a heavy dose of the anti-white rhetoric that we would later hear amplified by Louis Farrakhan; somehow a powerful force; a basic mystical religiosity but with a certain streak of rationality thrown in for good measure.Early in the autobiography Malcolm says: “I was a true hustler — uneducated, unskilled at anything honorable…..” (p. 111) Malcolm X is presenting himself here as one of those people with the ability to talk their way into or out of situation — a “skill” unrelated to formal education level attained. I have known many smart people who are able to deftly navigate through life at a higher level than their education level would suggest. Contrarywise, there are tons of Ph.D.’s out there who are dumber than dirt, who embrace superstitions and who are animated by clearly irrational premises.Sometimes I am accused of reading only books that align with my already-held beliefs and world view. That’s exactly what Malcolm X tells us he did — he tells us of his prison experience: going from functional illiteracy to voracious reader. He read only books reinforcing the view that blacks are the oppressed and that whites are the oppressors; he devoured those accountings by the dozens upon dozens.Malcolm then admits: “I would bet that my working vocabulary wasn’t two-hundred words.” (p. 137) Does he tell us that so that we conclude he heroically educated himself into thousands of words? Does he tell us that by way of claiming that he was just not yet awoken to the practice of actually thinking about things? Or does he tell us that to make it seem that his rise to famous orator was a magical development, that it could have happened only by way of supernatural assistance? Or what? It’s statements like this that always stop me in my (reading) tracks to wonder; that make these kinds of books take longer to get through.What was the explanation, I kept asking myself page after page, that could account for the transition from Malcolm the drug-using criminal to Malcolm the revered orator and civil rights activist? It had to be more than embracing belief in some supernatural deity.Early in my schooling, I learned about the “scientific method;” the method to identify when a statement could qualify as actual knowledge, and not be in the same category as the imaginary. We see Malcolm X struggling with “the true knowledge” as he is lured into The Nation of Islam during his prison years.Here was a “lost soul,” having been separated from his former ties to the real world, resident in state prison, searching for something to “believe in.” What he didn’t realize, apparently, was that a legitimate search (following the “scientific method”) would never allow the luxury of evading reality itself; Malcolm’s search was mostly a matter of evasion, and a matter of adopting positions independent of reason. He ultimately decided to believe in a supernatural deity: Allah; and to believe that Elijah Muhammad, like the Pope, was in direct communication with the deity itself.Ultimately, Malcolm X claims “…I totally and absolutely rejected my own intelligence,” (p. 301) when he was discussing Elijah Muhammad’s earthly fall from grace; but for me it also describes the essence of his embrace of the supernatural realm in the first place.I saw Malcolm X as a nomadic street criminal, someone in search of a purpose. He finally stumbled upon a purpose, but it turned out to be a religious-supernatural one; he didn’t have the mental resources to ferret out a central purpose that was also rational. He was animated by the racial injustice which surrounded and inhabited all aspects of his own life. I could never figure out why he would attach himself to an authority figure (Elijah Muhammad) as his source of motivation. The racial injustice component of his motivation is the only component that ever made any real sense to me.MALCOLM V. MARTINThe Malcolm X story has two elements that run in parallel here: (1)Malcolm X the devotee of both a supernatural deity and of the deity’s designated human messenger; and (2)Malcolm X the Civil Rights activist, antagonistic to Martin Luther King’s non-violent approach. Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam preached that black people were superior to white people; that “white people were devils.” Malcolm wanted the world to know that the white man was evil and that the two races could never peacefully co-exist; and he embraced a “get in your face” demeanor to give his approach greater impact.The whole phenomenon of the Nation of Islam seemed to me more of a religious cult with direct appeal to Blacks that they militantly fight back against the oppression imposed on them by Whites. The movement appeared to be entirely dependent upon a single cult figure, Elijah Muhammad; and was push-back against Martin Luther King, Jr’s attempt to impose non-violence on the Civil Rights Movement.At the height of the Civil Rights Movement, the two couldn’t have been more opposite in terms of their orientation: Malcolm X vs. MLK took on the tone of violence vs. non-violence; each side had a role in the Movement; Malcolm X’s black-supremacy called for “the spilling of blood” and made its own mark on the history of race relations.I was struck by the suddenness and the intensity of Malcolm’s journey into the supernatural realm of Islam, followed by an equally sudden interest in reading, followed by new-found speaking and persuading skills. He went from uneducated hoodlum from the hood to eloquent orator, as naturally as the sun coming out after a rain storm.Malcolm, painfully aware of the culture’s racial oppression, had developed such a keen gift for crafting a message that he could have been the one to shame millions of whites into actually reconsidering their prejudice — which would have saved us all from the agony of having to endure Robin DiAngelo decades later. But alas, what could have been a powerful message to strike down white bigotry was spoiled by bitterness and by a mystical religious orientation which prevented him from focusing more productively on the racial injustice that inserted itself into every corner of his life.In the end I did not see Malcolm X’s autobiography as the “classic” which so many critics claimed it to be; but I did see a vivid portrait of America’s black culture of the time — and I did see the sad portrait of a lost soul caught up in the pursuit of religious mysticism.

This 1965 book begins with an account of KKK riders threatening Malcolm’s father, who “was a Baptist minister, a dedicated organizer for Marcus Aurelius Garvey’s U.N.I.A. … my mother, who was born in … the British West Indies, looked like a white woman. Her father was white. She had straight black hair, and her accent did not sound like a Negro’s. Of this white father of hers, I know nothing except her shame about it… It was, of course, because of him that I got my reddish-brown ‘mariny’ color of skin, and my hair of the same color. I was the lightest child in our family… later, I learned to hate every drop of that white rapist’s blood that is in me.” (Pg. 1-3) His father was violently murdered (pg. 10), but the life insurance company refused to pay, claiming that he had committed suicide (pg. 11). Ultimately, the family was separated, and he observes, “I truly believe that if ever a state social service agency destroyed a family, it destroyed out. We wanted and tried to stay together. Our home didn’t have to be destroyed.” (Pg. 22) [NOTE: page numbers refer to a 463-page paperback edition, which includes Alex Haley’s Epilogue.]He attended a nearly all-white school, and “I was in fact extremely popular---I suppose partly because I was kind of a novelty. I was in demand…” (Pg. 29) In seventh grade, he was elected class president. (Pg. 32) But in eighth grade, “something happened which was to become the first major turning point of my life… my English teacher… told me, ‘Malcolm, you ought to be thinking about a career…” He replied that he wanted to be a lawyer, and the teacher told him, ‘you’ve got to be realistic about being a n_____. A lawyer---that’s no realistic goal… you need to think about something you CAN be… Why don’t you plan on carpentry?...’ What made it really begin to disturb me was [the teacher’s] advice to others in my class…. I realized that … I WAS smarter than nearly all of those white kids. But apparently I was still not intelligent enough, in their eyes, to become whatever I wanted to be.” (Pg. 38) After 8th grade, he moved to Boston: “All praise is due to Allah that I went to Boston when I did. If I hadn’t. I’d probably still be a brainwashed Christian.” (Pg. 40)He was impressed by “the sharp-dressed young ‘cats’ who hung on the corners and in the poolrooms, bars, and restaurants, and who obviously didn’t work anywhere.” (Pg. 45) Before long, he made friends and began shoeshining and towel-hustling, but also “selling liquor and reefers, and putting white ‘Johns’ in touch with Negro [prostitutes].” (Pg. 51) He had his hair ‘conked’ (Pg. 56-57). From his conversations with prostitutes, he suggested, “All women, by their nature, are fragile and weak: they are attracted to the male in whom they see strength.” (Pg. 96) He began to be called ‘Detroit Red.’ (Pg. 99)He summarizes, “I was a true hustler---uneducated, unskilled at anything honorable, and I considered myself nervy and cunning enough to live by my wits, exploiting any prey that presented itself. I would risk just about everything.” (Pg. 111) He stated, “The hypocritical white man will talk about the Negro’s ‘low morals.’ But who has the world’s lowest morals if not whites? And not only that, but the ‘upper class’ whites!” (Pg. 124-125) He used drugs habitually, and was involved in robbery. Famously, in front of his associates, he pointed a gun loaded with one bullet at his head, and repeatedly pulled the trigger, announcing, “Never cross a man not afraid to die.” (Pg. 146) But he admits later in the book that “I palmed the bullet.” (Pg. 423) He was sent to prison. But he concludes, “I had sunk to the very bottom of the American white man’s society when… in prison… I found Allah and the religion of Islam and it completely transformed my life.” (Pg. 153) His brothers and sisters encouraged him to learn “‘the true knowledge of the black man’ that was possessed by the followers of The Honorable Elijah Muhammad.” (Pg.165)He outlines the teachings of the Nation of Islam, such as: “Original Man was black, in the continent called Africa… the black man… built great empires and civilizations and cultures while the white man was still living on all fours in caves. ‘The devil white man’ … had pillaged, murdered, raped, and exploited every race of man not white… [and] cut these black people off from all knowledge of their own kind… the slavemaster injected his Christian religion into this ‘Negro’… [who] was taught to worship an alien God having the same blond hair, pale skin, and blue eyes as the slavemaster.” (Pg. 165-166) He continues, “Elijah Muhammad teaches that the greatest and mightiest God who appeared on the earth was Master W.D. Fard… [who] was half black and half white… to enable him to be accepted by the black people in America, and to lead them, while at the same time … [able] to move undiscovered among the white people, so that he could understand and judge the enemy of the blacks.” (Pg. 170) “Negroes in America were directly descended from Muslims… No heaven was in the sky, Mr. Fard taught, and no hell was in the ground.” (Pg. 211) He adds, “I was to learn later that Elijah Muhammad’s tales… infuriated the Muslims of the East. While at Mecca, I reminded them that .. they themselves hadn’t done enough to make real Islam known in the West. Their silence left a vacuum into which any religious faker could step…” (Pg. 171)While in prison, he began corresponding with Elijah Muhammed, who encouraged him, and even sent him a $5 bill. (Pg. 172) He joined the Nation of Islam after his release from prison. He explains, “a black man caged behind bars… put there by the white man… let this caged-up black man start realizing… black men in America have been like sheep in a den of wolves. That’s why black prisoners become Muslims so fast when Elijah Muhammad’s teachings filter into their cages by way of other Muslim convicts.” (Pg. 186-187) He notes, “even when events produced a crisis between Elijah Muhammad and me, I told him… that I still believed in him more strongly than he believed in himself. Mr. Muhammad and I are not together today only because of envy and jealousy.” (Pg. 202) Later, he adds, “It made other Muslim officials jealous because my picture was often in the daily press. They wouldn’t remember that my picture was there because of my fervor in championing Mr. Muhammad.” (Pg. 299)But eventually, “my faith had been shaken in a way that I can never fully describe. For I had discovered Muslims had been betrayed by Elijah Muhammad himself… Adultery! Why, any Muslim guilty of adultery was summarily ousted in disgrace. One of the Nation’s most closely kept scandals was that a succession of the personal secretaries of Mr. Muhammad had become pregnant… I don’t think I could say anything which better testifies to my depth of faith in Mr. Muhammad than that … I simply refused to believe.” (Pg. 301)Malcolm was suspended/‘silenced’ after his ‘chickens come home to roost’ comment after Kennedy’s assassination; but he himself was targeted for murder: “The first direct order for my death was issued through a Mosque Seven official who previously had been a close assistant… But this brother … had seen too much of my total loyalty to the Nation to carry out this order. Instead, he came to me… This brother was close to others in the Mosque Seven circle who might subsequently be called upon to eliminate me… This first direct death-order was how, finally, I began to arrive at my psychological divorce from the Nation of Islam.” (Pg. 315-316)He made a Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca): “Packed in the plane were white, black, brown, red, and yellow people, blue eyes and blond hair… all together, brothers! All honoring the same God Allah, all in turn giving equal honor to each other.” (Pg. 330) Upon his return, he wrote, “For the past week, I have been utterly speechless and spellbound by the graciousness I see displayed all around me by people of ALL COLORS… There were tens of thousands of pilgrims, from all over the world. They were of all colors, from blue-eyed blonds to black-skinned Africans. But we were all … displaying a spirit of unity and brotherhood that my experiences in America had led me to believe never could exist between the white and the non-white… I have never before seen SINCERE and TRUE brotherhood practiced by all colors together…” (Pg. 346-347)Nevertheless, “I believe it’s a crime for anyone who is being brutalized to continue to accept that brutality without doing something to defend himself. If that’s how ‘Christian’ philosophy is interpreted, if that’s what Gandhian philosophy teaches, well, then, I will call them criminal philosophies.” (Pg. 374)He had a discussion with “An American white ambassador in one African country… That discussion… gave me a new insight---one which I like: that the white man is NOT inherently evil, but America’s racist society influences him to act evilly. The society has produced and nourishes a psychology which brings out the lowest, most base part of human beings.” (Pg. 378) He laments. “it makes me think about that little [white] co-ed… [who] came up to me in the Nation of Islam’s restaurant in Harlem, and I told her that there was ‘nothing’ she could do. I regret I told her that. I wish that now … [I could tell her and others] they can’t JOIN us… Where the really sincere white people have got to do their ‘proving’ of themselves … [is] in their own home communities; America’s racism is among their own fellow whites. That’s where the sincere whites … have got to work.” (Pg. 383-384)This book is one of the most important written in the 20th century, and should be considered “absolute MUST READING” for virtually everyone!

I recently bought a copy of this book for my 19-year-old grandson who has become interested in the BLM movement. I read it at his age 55 years ago and was moved by Malcolm X's candour, humility and passion to change himself and thus society. I was having a gap year abroad in Israel when I saw the news of his assassination on the front page of an English-speaking newspaper in Tel Aviv. I felt instantly stricken by a sadness I could not have anticipated; it was as if I had lost a personal friend.

I would say don't read the introduction first, because the funeral is in it, you need to get to know what a truly wonderful man malcolm X turned out to be, before you read about the funeral, where you will no doubt shed a tear. I am now checking Malcolm on you tube, What a brilliant and calm man talks nothing but sense. He could have been mayor of New York and President, unfortunately America is so warped and the populace so controlled. I wish he could have left NY and stepped back for a while. They say the truth shall set you free, the truth got Malcolm X free from the hypocrisy of the nation of Islam, SPEAKING that truth is what got him killed.This book is brilliant, a must read.

A fascinating story and a valuable account of an important 20th century figure. It shows us a driven, disturbed, dynamic young man of tremendous intelligence and resilience which left me wondering what might have been if he had not been murdered before he reached the peak of his powers.His journey from a (relatively) happy childhood through turbulent adolescence into a man of history is compelling. We learn of the terrible traumas that shaped his life including the break-up of his family following the racist murder of his father and the subsequent (state induced) breakdown of his mother and the belittling career advice he received at school. We follow him through his teen years as a fast living zoot suited novice gangster with his hair suitably “conked” that leads inevitability to jail where he encounters Elijah Muhammad and converts to Islam.His journey in Islam is fascinating; first he is obsessed with Elijah Mohammed’s teachings which he sees as capturing the struggle of the black man in white supremacist 1950s America then, as his relationship with Elijah deteriorates, he has a further development in his thinking while on the Hajj to Mecca where he experiences people sharing a common cause (Islam) regardless of the colour of the skin.It’s a shame the book is not particularly well written. I think Haley let down Malcolm X by not using his skills as an author (evident, of course, in Roots) to provide better focus to what Malcolm X is looking to say. What we get instead, particularly in the polemic sections of the book that dominate the second part of the autobiography, is writing that comes across as streams of consciousness. As such it is, at times, repetitive, lacking in clarity and somewhat stodgy to read. You can imagine Malcolm X, in his interviews with Hayley that form the basis of this book, letting rip. That, of itself, is interesting. But it doesn’t make the best reading!Overall though, I’d put this in the a list of “must read” books for its insight into an important (and fascinating) person at a pivotal time in 20th century American history.

This guy was one of a kind! In my honest opinion, every being who has an African heritage (take note of the use of words, I didn't say black, because as far as I know, I haven't seen a black person before neither have I set eyes on any white folk in my entire existence. According to Majek Fashek, a popular Nigerian reggae musician: '...only the angels of God are white') in them should endeavour to read this book. It is as simple as that.I knew little or nothing about this great and exceptional being before I read his autobiography. The little I knew about him was that he was very “controversial”. Then again, an Irish colleague of mine once told me a couple of years ago that I looked like Malcom X in my glasses. In order not to appear naive, I just laughed, and then made it a point of duty to research on the man - Malcom X. I tell you what, I’m glad I did and now know the “TRUTH”.The word “controversial” has always been used to describe individuals who do not conform to certain “standards”. But I always say this, so long what anyone does is within the ambits of the law, who cares? For me he wasn’t controversial, but just honest about his opinion. He voiced out what most people at the time and even now couldn’t and wouldn’t dare to say just to appear as being politically correct. I say this with every sense of responsibility: one of the greatest crime any individual could commit against themselves is self-deceit.As a Christian first and foremost and a practicing Catholic, I kind of slightly differ on one particular issue he harped on in this book, which has to do with Christianity. Then again, you could argue that his views were influenced by the actions and deeds of those who practised the Christian faith.Who knows what this guy could have achieved if only those threatened by his popularity and wisdom didn't cut short his life? But, I guess even though they get to spend a million years on planet earth, they will never and can never be as great as Malcom X. For you can only kill a person but not the words of his mouth nor his deeds. Which then leads me to ask the pertinent question, why don’t great men last? You talk about the likes of Robert Nesta Marley, Martin Luther King, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, and the list goes on and on.Just like many other great men who did suffer similar fate as him, his deeds, actions and words continue to loom larger and appear more relevant even to this day! He was indeed an embodiment of wisdom, tenacity, determination and conviction! Malcom X has left an indelible mark in the hearts and conscience of so many people – living and dead, his foes and friends, and people of all racial inclinations.

The BEST book I have EVER read. Contrary to other reviewers, I wholeheartedly LOVED this book. It’s a fantastic read - an amazing eye opener to the experiences of black people in general during Malcolm X’s lifetime. It’s incredibly interesting to read the differences and also prevalent similarities regarding how black people were treated by society. Malcom X is a huge inspiration who is especially underrated in terms of black history. He was a legendary and humble man who really turned his life around. If you’re reading this review- PLEASE BUY THE BOOK!!