The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley

498 Pages·014.215 MB·English

by  Malcolm X, Alex Haley

The absorbing personal story of the most dynamic
leader of the Black Revolution. It is a testament of
great emotional power from which every American
can learn much. But, above all, this book shows the
Malcolm X that very few people knew, the man behind
the stereotyped image of the hate-preacher-a sensitive,
proud, highly intelligent man whose plan to move into
the mainstream of the Black Revolution was cut short
by a hail of assassins' bullets, a man who felt certain
"he would not live long enough to see this book appear.
"In the agony of [his] self-creation [is] the agony
of an entire.people in their search for identity. No
man has better expressed his people's trapped
anguish."
-The New York Review of Books
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THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY
OFMALCOLMX
With the assistance ofA lex Haley
Foreword by Attallah Shabazz
Introduction by M. S. Handler
Epilogue by Alex Haley
Afterword by Ossie Davis
BALLANTINE BOOKS• NEW YORK
Sale of this book without a front cover may be unauthorized. If this
book is coverless, it may have been reported to the publisher as
"unsold or destroyed" and neither the author nor the publisher may
have received payment for it.
A Ballantine Book
Published by The Ballantine Publishing Group
Copyright© 1964 by Alex Haley and Malcolm X
Copyright© 1965 by Alex Haley and Betty Shabazz
Introduction copyright© 1965 by M. S. Handler
Foreword copyright © 1999 by Attallah Shabazz
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright
Conventions. Published in the United States by The Ballantine Pub
lishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and
simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited,
Toronto.
Ballantine and colophon are registered trademarks of Random
House, Inc.
"On Malcolm X" by Ossie Davis previously appeared in Group
magazine, and is reprinted by permission.
www.randomhouse.com/BB/
ISBN: 0-345-35068-5
This edition published by arrangement with Grove Press, Inc.
Manufactured in the United States of America
First Ballantine Books Edition: June 1973
63 62 61 60 59
Cover illustrations by Charles Lilly
This book I dedicate to my beloved wife Betty and to our
children whose understanding and whose sacrifices made it
possible for me to do my work.

CONTENTS
ATTALLAH SHABAZZ: FOREWORD ix
M. s. HANDLER: INTRODUCTION xxv
CHAPTER ONE: NIGHTMARE I
CHAPTER TWO: MASCOT 24
CHAPTER THREE: "HOMEBOY" 41
CHAPTER FOUR: LAURA 59
CHAPTER f1VE: HARLEMITE 73
CHAPTER srx: DETROIT RED 87
CHAPTER SEVEN: HUSTLER 111
CHAPTER EIGHT: TRAPPED 129
CHAPTER NINE: CAUGHT 137
CHAPTER TEN: SATAN 154
CHAPTER ELEVEN: SAVED 172
CHAPTER TWELVE: SAVIOR 195
x
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: MINISTER MALCOLM 215
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: BLACK MUSLIMS 240
CHAPTER f1FTEEN: ICARUS 271
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: OUT 294
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: MECCA 325
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: EL-HAJJ MALIK EL-SHABAZZ 349
CHAPTER NINETEEN: 1965 371
ALEX HALEY: EPILOGUE 390
x
OSSIE DAVIS: ON MALCOM 464

ATTALLAH SHABAZZ
FOREWORD
Behold, America. Just when our country's cultural evolution ap
pears to have stagnated and we've grown insensitive to justice,
the U.S. Postal Service has issued a commemorative stamp to
honor one of our country's most outspoken revolutionaries-my
father, Malcolm X Shabazz. This national commemoration,
three decades after his lifetime, pays tribute to his immeasurable
contributions on behalf of one's innate right to self-preservation
and human dignity.
Although Malcolm X is no longer with us physically, tens of
millions have gotten to know him through this timeless volume
that you now hold in your hands. The Autobiography ofM alcolm
X has served as an everlasting testament to my father's life and
legacy. In light of the cultural and political climate of the 1960s,
when the book was first published, both my father and my god
father, Alex Haley, would feel great peace in knowing that
Time magazine's "Best of the Century" issue named The Auto
biography ofM alcolm X one of the top ten works of nonfiction of
this century. My father's life story stands alongside such monu
mental works as The Diary ofA nne Frank and others. A lover of
language, my father believed very much in the power of words to
influence and transform lives.
His own life stands as an affirmation of that power. Our litera
ture and our history are filled with stories of men and women
whose will and inner strength nourished their rise from impover
ishment to wealth, whether material, spiritual, or educational. My
father's life and its stages ofp ersonal metamorphosis and enlight
enment documented in this text stand as a confirmation of how
one can, through witness and transformation, ultimately claim
one's own divine path. At this point in my life, and significantly as