Malcolm Little

More enthralling though were snatches of the life and death stories of Martin Luther King and Malcolm Little aka Malcolm X.

Archive 2007-02-04 2007

Malcolm X (1992) -- Ambitious film chronicles the remarkable life of murdered civil-rights leader Malcolm X (Denzel Washington), born Malcolm Little, from his early years in a Harlem gang to his religious conversion during a stint in prison, marriage to Betty Shabazz (Angela Bassett), and eventual rise to fame as a controversial orator and spokesman for the Nation of Islam, led by Elijah Muhammad (Al Freeman Jr.)

John Farr: For Black History Month, Ten Key Films on the African-American Experience John Farr 2012

For a gangsta hip-hop generation Malcolm Little -- before his conversation to the Nation of Islam and name change -- represents for them a lauded hypermasculinity.

Irene Monroe: Malcolm X Was "Gay-for-Pay," New Book Says Irene Monroe 2011

Malcolm X (1992) -- Ambitious film chronicles the remarkable life of murdered civil-rights leader Malcolm X (Denzel Washington), born Malcolm Little, from his early years in a Harlem gang to his religious conversion during a stint in prison, marriage to Betty Shabazz (Angela Bassett), and eventual rise to fame as a controversial orator and spokesman for the Nation of Islam, led by Elijah Muhammad (Al Freeman Jr.)

John Farr: For Black History Month, Ten Key Films on the African-American Experience John Farr 2012

For a gangsta hip-hop generation Malcolm Little -- before his conversation to the Nation of Islam and name change -- represents for them a lauded hypermasculinity.

Irene Monroe: Malcolm X Was "Gay-for-Pay," New Book Says Irene Monroe 2011

Malcolm X (1992) -- Ambitious film chronicles the remarkable life of murdered civil-rights leader Malcolm X (Denzel Washington), born Malcolm Little, from his early years in a Harlem gang to his religious conversion during a stint in prison, marriage to Betty Shabazz (Angela Bassett), and eventual rise to fame as a controversial orator and spokesman for the Nation of Islam, led by Elijah Muhammad (Al Freeman Jr.)

John Farr: For Black History Month, Ten Key Films on the African-American Experience John Farr 2012

But what of Malcolm Little, the zoot suiter who would become Malcolm X?

Hep Cats, Street Fights Eric Felten 2011

Malcolm X (1992) -- Ambitious film chronicles the remarkable life of murdered civil-rights leader Malcolm X (Denzel Washington), born Malcolm Little, from his early years in a Harlem gang to his religious conversion during a stint in prison, marriage to Betty Shabazz (Angela Bassett), and eventual rise to fame as a controversial orator and spokesman for the Nation of Islam, led by Elijah Muhammad (Al Freeman Jr.)

John Farr: For Black History Month, Ten Key Films on the African-American Experience John Farr 2012

Yet Malcolm Little, as he was born, was a petty thief and a pimp who found salvation in the Nation of Islam NOI, a bizarre cult led by a mountebank and sexual predator named Elijah Muhammad.

Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable – review 2011

He was born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1925.

Teacher 2009