Malcolm X (58 page)

This memorandum presents a review of captioned book published in 1965 by Merit Publishers, which is being placed in the Bureau Library.

The author is [BUREAU DELETION] former editor of
The Militant
a publication of that organization [BUREAU DELETION].

The author describes the life of Malcolm X from his childhood to his assassination in February of 1965. After the death of his parents, he lived at state institutions and boarding homes until the age of fifteen when he went to live with his sister in Boston, Massachusetts, and drifted into a life of crime including gambling, drugs, hustling, and burglary. In 1946 at the age of twenty, he was convicted of burglary and sentenced to ten years in prison.

During his incarceration, which continued for six years, he was introduced to the Nation of Islam headed by Elijah Muhammad. During this period he educated himself and learned to speak and debate. The author described him as the most respected debater in the country. After parole, he traveled to Chicago, Illinois; met Elijah Muhammad; was accepted into the Nation of Islam; and in a few short years his work, through his plain direct speaking style, helped transform the Black Muslims from a virtually unnoticed to a well-known organization.

While in the Black Muslims, Malcolm X traveled throughout the country as Muhammad's troubleshooter and came to know the ghetto areas nationally. According to the author, Malcolm X became attuned to the needs and wants of a growing multitude of black people looking for a new road. In 1964 he decided his place was with the Negro masses rather than with Muhammad's organization.

He split with Muhammed's organization and undertook the difficult task of building a new movement based on the black unity of all Negroes regardless of their religion and philosophies as long as they were ready to fight for freedom. His new organization was known as Muslim Mosque, Incorporated. He traveled to Africa and the Middle East to mobilize African support behind a project to put the United States government on trial in the United Nations for continued oppression of the American Negroes. He favored Negroes organizing politically, electing their own candidates, and driving “black stooges” from office in the major political parties. Malcolm X was revolutionary and became increasingly more anticapitalist and prosocialist. He read
the Socialist Workers Party publication, “The Militant,” and urged other Negroes to do likewise.

No mention is made of the FBI in the book.

This is a review of captioned book published in 1969 by Apollo Editions. The book is being placed in the Bureau Library.

[BUREAU DELETION] Epps is Assistant Dean of Harvard College. He is described as founder and advisor of “The Harvard Journal of Negro Affairs.”

Book, 191 pages, divided into two parts, latter part being verbatim texts of speeches by Malcolm X on 3/24/61, 3/18/64 and 12/16/64. First 112 pages are analysis by Epps of the speeches in effort to determine personal motivations and goals of Malcolm X (true name Malcolm Little). Epps noted first speech given at time when Malcolm X was deeply involved in Nation of Islam (NOI) and was dedicated follower of NOI head Elijah Muhammad. His remarks showed Black Muslim view of the white man as a lowly animal but freedom of the black man from yoke of white man was placed in terms of redemption by God. Shortly before second speech, Malcolm X resigned from the NOI because of disillusionment. In the second speech, he appeared no longer to believe to rely upon God to save the black man from the white man but presented the Negro people as both judge and executioner of the whites. The final speech was made shortly after he had returned
from an extensive trip to Africa and just two months before his assassination. The author concludes that Malcolm X saw himself and the Negroes as exiles in a society which was a jungle for them, threatened by daily violence. He was a mixture of prophet, escapist and revolutionary.

No mention of the FBI is made in the book.

For information.

This is a review of captioned booklet published in 1969 by Merit Publishers, which is being placed in the Bureau Library.

Breitman is [BUREAU DELETION] a former editor of
The Militant
, a publication of the SWP. Porter is [BUREAU DELETION] a writer for
The Militant
. [BUREAU DELETION]

This booklet consists of twelve articles which appeared in
The Militant
between July, 1965, and March, 1966. Of the three subjects arrested, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for
the murder of Malcolm X the authors claim that one was undoubtedly guilty but he was not proved to be a member of the Black Muslims. The other two subjects who were Black Muslims were not a part of the assassination and were framed by the police in order to show Malcolm's death was caused by the rival organization. Breitman writes in an introductory note, “Readers should also understand that if the New York police were involved in the assassination (and nothing said or done at the trial, or in the four years since the crime, has absolved them of this charge), that involvement could not have been on their own initiative, but must have resulted from the decision and direction of the Government in Washington, that is, the CIA.”

The FBI is mentioned on pages 5, 6, 9, 11, 22, and 29. On the first three listed pages, mention is made of the Bureau in connection with its investigations and development of informants in extremist groups. On the last three mentioned pages the FBI is referred to as to testimony given during the trial and evidence obtained.

For information.

This is a review of captioned book, published in 1971 by Merlin House, Inc. The book is being placed in the Bureau Library.

Malcolm X (true name Malcolm Little) was Harlem hoodlum and ex-convict who became Muslim while imprisoned. He rapidly rose to become Nation of Islam (NOI) minister and major spokesman until split with NOI in March, 1964, and formed Muslim Mosque, Inc. (a quasi-religious, politically oriented black nationalist group), and Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU), (a militant civil rights action group aligned with all African descendants). He was assassinated, at age 39, by three Muslims 2/21/65 while addressing four hundred OAAU followers in New York City (NYC). He has since been considered hero and martyr by many revolutionaries.

Editor Benjamin Goodman (true name Augustus Benjamin Goodman) is Negro, aged 40, former NOI Assistant Minister, who defected from NOI with Malcolm X and was his primary assistant.

This book is collection of four speeches by Malcolm X introduced by Goodman, who relates background of this “impassioned and inspired” black nationalist and describes setting for each speech.

These speeches were delivered during period 12/62-12/63, the final year of Malcolm X's NOI affiliation, and all except one were presented in NYC.

The first and longest speech entitled “Black Man's History” was presented at Malcolm X's NOI Mosque No. 7 in Harlem 12/23/62. It includes rambling, grossly distorted anti-white view of history emphasizing blacks' oppression by “white devils.”

“The Black Revolution,” the second speech, was delivered at Adam Clayton Powell's Abyssinian Baptist Church, NYC. Text
relates view only lasting solution to race problem is complete racial separation. Malcolm X proposed that U. S. should give blacks land in proportion to population ratio or send blacks back to Africa and provide their subsistence there for twenty-five years.

“The Old Negro and the New Negro,” the third speech, is actually Malcolm X's comments during appearance on Philadelphia radio station, Fall 1963, following address at University of Pennsylvania. Comments include his views on decline of European colonialism, awakening of “dark” world, and development of black pride and self-reliance.

The last speech, “God's Judgement [
sic
] of White America,” (subtitled “The Chickens are Coming Home to Roost”), was delivered at Manhattan Center, NYC, on 12/3/63. He declares that decline of U. S. as world power is God's punishment for enslavement of 22 million blacks and, unless whites “repent,” further retribution will occur.

FBI is not mentioned in book.

For information.