The Life and Work of Malcolm X

1925
Malcolm Little is born on May 19 in Omaha, Nebraska. His father Earl Little—from Reynolds, Georgia—and mother Louise Little—from Grenada in the British West Indies—are both organizers for Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA).

1929
The Little family relocates to Lansing, Michigan, after previously living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and East Chicago, Indiana. Their new home is firebombed by an unidentified group of men with suspected connections to the Black Legion, a white supremacist terrorist organization active in the Midwest.

1931
Earl Little is run over by a streetcar and killed. Though his death is officially ruled an accident, members of the Little family believe Earl was pushed onto the tracks by white supremacists.

1938
Louise Little suffers nervous breakdown and is committed to Kalamazoo State Hospital, where she would remain until 1963.

1941
After being remanded to foster care, Malcolm is taken in by his half-sister Ella Little-Collins in Boston.

1946
Malcolm is convicted of larceny and breaking and entering and begins serving an eight-to-ten-year sentence at Charlestown State Prison, where he eventually dedicates himself to a program of reform and education.

1947
Malcolm is transferred to Massachusetts Reformatory at Concord, where his brother Reginald visits him and urges him to convert to Islam.

1948
Now held at Norfolk Prison Colony, where he participates in the debating society, Malcolm begins corresponding with Nation of Islam (NOI) leader Elijah Muhammad, also in prison for violating draft laws.

1950
Malcolm begins signing his name “Malcolm X,” as other NOI followers, to signify his lost African origins.

1952
Malcolm is released from prison on parole and moves to Detroit, where he lives with his brother Wilfred.

1953
Malcolm is appointed assistant minister of NOI’s temple in Detroit (Temple No. 1). Later that year, he is sent by Elijah Muhammad to serve as first minister of the NOI’s Temple No. 11 in Boston.

1954
Malcolm is promoted to chief minister of the NOI’s temple in Harlem (Temple No. 7).

1958
Malcolm marries Betty Sanders in Lansing, Michigan. The couple meets in Harlem, and Betty converts to the Nation of Islam in 1956. They go on to have six daughters, five of whom are stillliving.

1960
Malcolm starts Muhammad Speaks, the monthly newsletter of the NOI.

1961
Elijah Muhammad appoints Malcolm the NOI’s national representative.

1963
Malcolm is censured by the NOI for his statements about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy; Muhammad forbids him from speaking publicly for 90 days.

1964
Malcolm is suspended by the NOI and is removed as national representative and minister of Temple No. 7 in Harlem. He subsequently leaves the NOI and begins a new organization, Muslim Mosque, Inc., whose membership largely comprises former NOI followers. Later that year he makes the pilgrimage, or Hajj, to Mecca and founds the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU), a secular political organization.

1965
On February 14, Malcolm’s home in Queens, New York, is firebombed. A week later, he is assassinated while speaking at the Audubon Ballroom in New York. Three NOI members are convicted in his murder.