The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley

by Anita J. Aboulafia, Alex Haley, Research & Education Association

REA's MAXnotes for Alex Haley's The Autobiography of Malcolm X

MAXnotes offer a fresh look at masterpieces of literature, presented in a lively and interesting fashion. Written by literary experts who currently teach the subject, MAXnotes will enhance your understanding and enjoyment of the work. MAXnotes are designed to stimulate independent thought about the literary work by raising various issues and thought-provoking ideas and questions.

MAXnotes cover the essentials of what one should know about each work, including an overall summary, character lists, an explanation and discussion of the plot, the work's historical context, illustrations to convey the mood of the work, and a biography of the author. Each chapter is individually summarized and analyzed, and has study questions and answers.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Politics, Cultural, Autobiography, American, History

112 pages, Paperback

First published May 2, 1996

Reviews

[Sulaiman Algharbi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book she’d light into the life insides of this great person. A man who lived for a heat purpose. The book deserves reading.

[Not Here · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was unlike any other autobiography I had ever read. While being a truly compelling story of an equally controversial historical pillar, it shed new light on a person so besotted with stigma.

What I enjoyed most, apart from just reading this unbelievable narrative, was the way it was broken down:
The first 360ish pages are the actual autobiography as dictated to Alex Haley, author of Roots. The two had made an agreement that only the words Malcolm X himself spoke would be used in the autobiography. As he put it “a writer is what I want, not an interpreter.” Then Malcolm was given the manuscript to edit before it was published.

It was agreed that an epilogue would be written by Haley that ended up comprising the next 100ish pages that Malcolm would not see prior to publishing. By crafting this work as such, the reader gets a pure look into how the figure viewed himself as well as how the man he was in close contact with for years viewed him. I felt that after reading this book I had received a representation as complete and researched as possible.

I grew up being taught that Martin Luther King was the good guy and Malcolm X was the bad guy (probably because white people like to conveniently forget that MLK was also the voice behind quotes like “a riot is the language of the unheard”).

The sentiments spoken over and over again by Malcolm X are, unfortunately, still incredibly prevalent today.

This book is absolutely filled with poignant quotes topical for especially during our current Black Lives Matter movement, such as:

“How is the black man going to get “civil rights” before first he wins his human rights?” (p. 179).

“When the white man came into this country, he certainly wasn’t demonstrating non-violence.”
If you still have visions of your kindergarten hand turkey as representation of how this country initially celebrated Thanksgiving, please, I don’t know, just crack one cover of one actual history book. The spine may not be broken in yet because most people want to hang onto that theory. Be the one to put a crease in that spine.

Or, right after the March on Washington: “In a subsequent poll, not one congressman or senator with a previous record of opposition to civil rights said he had changed his views” (p. 281)
Yes, you read that correctly. After that largest peaceful demonstration which was positively massive, 100% peaceful, reported all over the news, not ONE member of congress changed their opinion on the matter of rights for black people. PLEASE keep this in mind the next time you find yourself thinking, or hear someone else saying, “If only they would just protest peacefully! THEN we would listen!”
The fact of the matter is no. We wouldn’t. We never have.

Or “well, sir, I see the same boycott reasoning for Negroes asked to join the Army, Navy, and Air Force. Why should we go off to die somewhere to preserve a so-called “democracy” that gives a white immigrant of one day more than it gives the black man with four hundred years of slaving and serving in this country?” (p. 270).

Or “The white Southerner, you can say one thing - he is honest. He bares his teeth to the black man; he tells the black man, to his face, that Southern whites will never accept his phony “integration.” The Southern white goes further, to tell the black man that he means to fight him every inch of the way…” (p. 271).
Yet another black person letting us know that our implicit biases are far more dangerous than explicit, overt racism by KKK members. Yes, if you are a white person you have bias. Just accept it as a fact. And then, once you’ve accepted it, you can begin to challenge your implicit biases. But I think it’s pretty obvious that you cannot solve a problem unless you have identified it.

None of these quotes tell you of the intricacies of the man’s life, however. Malcolm X completely changed his entire persona in an almost unfathomable paradigm shift. His is an incredible story of how truly just one man can make an enormous impact. Read it yourself to hear a life unlike any other. After reading it, you will have a crystal clear notion of why Malcolm X was always so “angry”. I can promise you, if you had experienced the things he had, you would have been livid yourself. And, likely would not have channeled it in the effective way he did.


A must-read.

[Jason Dias · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://anewdomain.net/2015/11/11/malc...

[Backstory Journal · Rating 5 out of 5]

February 21st 1965, New York City – Minister El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, more commonly known as Malcolm X, is assassinated by three members of The Nation of Islam during one of his meetings at the Audubon Ballroom. His devoted wife and mother of his children, Sister Betty Shabazz, witnesses the murder. He never gets the chance to see this book in its entirety – and yet it is one of the most influential and electrifying reads of the twentieth century.

Alex Haley had served in the US Coast Guard for 20 years when he first got a start on his writing career in New York City in 1959. He had proposed an article on the ‘cult’ of The Nation of Islam to Reader’s Digest, and was looking to interview the organisation’s chief of staff, Minister Malcolm X. Haley tells of his first meeting with the outspoken leader in the Muslim restaurant which he frequented. When he asked someone how he could meet with Malcolm, a man pointed out the Minister in a phone booth, who soon approached. After finding out Haley’s intentions, Malcolm X said, ‘You’re just another one of the white man’s tools sent to spy!’

Born Malcolm Little in 1925 Omaha, Nebraska, his story begins with his childhood, recounting the breakdown of his family after his father’s murder, and by the authorities after his mother’s mental collapse. Following his exodus of the Midwest, Malcolm made his way to Boston before heading to Harlem, where he was introduced to a hedonistic life of crime, women and drugs. He was sentenced to ten years imprisonment in 1946, and it was here in prison where he first became aware of The Nation of Islam. From that moment on, the man the world would forever affiliate with civil rights activism, Black Muslims and militancy was on his way to making history, however not without forging some dangerous enemies.

At times it is hard to remember that this autobiography was written ‘as told to Alex Haley’, and that often Haley would collect the handwritten thoughts Malcolm would scribble as he spoke, to aid Haley in his writing approach. Haley’s skill in disguising his own voice in the book and allowing Malcolm’s voice to override, as if he is speaking directly to the reader, shows Alex Haley’s brilliance. The foreword, also written by Haley after Malcolm X’s assassination, sheds light on that air of mysticism surrounding the captivating civil rights leader. Although an extremely polarising public figure who was once labelled ‘the angriest Negro in America’, Malcolm X was much more than just the fear inducing, Black Muslim militant the media portrayed him as. His articulation and insights into the psyche and worlds of the black man and white man are what makes him so magnetic to audiences. An extraordinary and essential read about one of recent history’s most fascinating people.

This review by Teuila Krause has featured in the Swinburne Journal 'Backstory', Issue 1.

[Andrew Sean · Rating 5 out of 5]

I took longer to read this book than I usually do, but I think that anyone who reads this in the future should do the same to fully appreciate every word of Malcolm X's life. Every page of this book, every word written, captures a hauntingly true reality that in many ways has not changed for the black man in America since the 50s and 60s. This book changed the way that I will think about race–especially in terms of its history and how I was taught this history in school–religion, nationalism, and many other things. For me, though, the scariest part of it all is the way that Malcolm X and Alex Haley end the final chapter. He knew exactly what would happen to his legacy after he died, prophesying his name being made synonymous by the American media and white people in power with hatred and violence, when, in reality, this could not have been farther from the truth. As someone who learned in middle school history class almost this exact lesson, being taught more or less that (in a nutshell) "Malcolm X tried to end racism but was too mean and violent so Martin Luther King came along and did it peacefully and now racism is dead," the last page of this book was eerie.

[Derrion Arrington · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most influential books of all time. Recorded and amplified by The Autobiography, Malcolm X’s voice spoke to black men languishing in prisons in language they could comprehend, inspiring some to their own tough, uncompromising eloquence: Eldridge Cleaver’s Soul on Ice, Etheridge Knight’s Poems from Prison, Bobby Seale’s Seize the Time, George Jackson’s Soledad Brother.

[Neal Marcus · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think I read this book in 2015 and enjoyed it very much.The story is hard to put down!!!

[Zyad Almossa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great character but the book is too heavy especially for beginners

[Gregg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will write a nice review in a little while!

[Natashaseymour1990 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mind-exercise for the ignorant. And for those who believe they are not ignorant, you probably are.

A colourful re-cap of a brilliant life, a tear-jerker as well. El Hajj Malik El Shabazz is by far the most inspiring man I have ever read about. He communicates very effectively a painful truth to the ears and eyes.

If you haven't read the book and have only watched Spike Lee's cinematic version, 'X', do not be mistaken into thinking you know the full story. And even after you have read Hayley's version, there is still Marable's version to further clarify and erase any cloudy patches you may have harboured.

Mind - exercise.

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book blew my mind when I read it years ago. Despite the fact that I don't like the writing style, its content earns four stars.

[Ruhana36 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helpful summary of all the chapters. I recommend reading the actual book, it's worth it.

[Ashwin Khurana · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was very long and interesting, but it became dull in some moments. It could have been better but I mainly enjoyed it.

[Selim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written life story of Malcolm X. It is a kind of a harmony of biography and autobiography. Because Alex Haley is talking with Malcolm X till end of the book before his killing.

[Akmal Anvarov · Rating 5 out of 5]

An awesome book, it gives me strength to struggle, to be confident, and always be with faith.