Malcolm X Research

The time period from 1955-1968 was the boiling point of black civil rights activism. When people think of civil rights, they usually think of either Martin Luther King, Jr., or Rosa Parks. However, there were many other civil rights activists who were fairly popular at the time, but vaguely remembered. Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little on May 19th, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska, grew up to be one of the most radical Civil Rights activists of all time. Malcolm Little grew up in a home where his father was a preacher who supported black nationalism and the beliefs of Marcus Garvey, and his mother was a home-maker. While he was a small child living with his family in Omaha, his father was a target of the Ku Klux Klan, a white supremacist group. The family eventually moved to East Lansing, Michigan. While living in Michigan, the family’s house was torched by Ku Klux Klan members, which is far worse than the trouble caused in Omaha. Later on, Malcolm’s father’s body was found on train tracks, lifeless. While the family knew that white supremacists were the cause of this, the court deemed it as a suicide. This drove Malcolm’s mother insane, landing her in a mental institution. When Malcolm was in middle school, he was a great student, and excelled in his studies. However, in school, he was the only black child, and felt like a “class pet”. When one of his teachers asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up, he said that he wanted to be a lawyer. His teacher’s reaction was somewhat baffled, telling him that he should pursue something along the lines of construction or carpentry. Later on, Malcolm moved to Boston to live with his sister, giving up on education. When Malcolm became old enough to get out and off on his own, he started working for a train that ran from New York to Boston, which resulted in him going to many clubs in different places, and getting involved with drugs, crime, white women and robbery. After getting caught robbing a house, Malcolm and his