Malcolm X's Legacy from the Ghetto to Activist

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Malcolm X, also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz’s legacy is about one’s personal transformation of a self-made man. A man who once associated himself with hustling and crime as a ghetto pup; then to a staunch radical activist, to a political figure, and to becoming one of the most influential African Americans in history. To some he was admired as a courageous human rights activist for blacks, and in some others eyes, he was a man who preached racism and violence towards the whites. Before his last two years of adapting to a peaceful outlook as an activist; before, on one hand, he was undeniably repulsed by the racial discrimination and violence against black Americans, and on the other he originally believed that America offered nothing good for anybody. His personal journey of his achievements, beliefs, flaws and struggles was a true reflection of his transitional life. Before Malcolm X dropped his “slave name”, he was properly named as Malcolm Little and was born in Omaha, Nebraska, on May 19, 1925. Malcolm was the seventh of the 8 children of the family. His mother was a housewife trying to maintain everything as his father, Earl Little was a Baptist minister and an organizer for Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association. The family was under continuous threat from the white supremacist organization Black Legion, forcing the family to relocate twice. Regardless of the family’s efforts to evade The Black Legion, the Little’s lastly soon moved to Lansing, Michigan, which where their house was burned down to the ground in 1929, then tragedy struck when Earl Little’s was found dead on the trolley tracks in 1931, leaving the rest of the family mangled. Later that year, Malcolm’s mother suffered from severe nervous ...

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...es of the Civil Rights era. In the end, Malcolm‘s journey to overcome his past, to move on and renew himself into a radical model citizen who fought for his race in what he believed in. Malcolm’s new and ever changing beginnings with the NOI, and the tragedy with it. The uproar he caused with his words and speeches impacted America, making people fear and admire him. Regardless of how his viewpoint changed in the last two years of his life, he was able to take those conflicts and grow as a person. His legacy continues; unlike many other people during the Civil Rights movements, some have tried to reduce Malcolm into an ambiguous and non-threatening model. And for those who view the world being transformed by a struggle for social justice, and that part of Malcolm’s legacy can found in his own transformation, and it can be a reminder of bleak times of society.

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