Malcolm X at University of Ghana (May 13, 1964)

Malcolm X at University of Ghana (May 13, 1964)

I intend for my talk to be very informal, because our position in America is an informal position, and I find that it is very difficult to use formal terms to describe a very informal position. No condition of any people on earth is more deplorable than the condition, or plight, of the twenty-two million […]

Letter From Mecca (April 20, 1964)

Never have I witnessed such sincere hospitality and the overwhelming spirit of true brotherhood as practiced by people of all colors and races here in this Ancient Holy Land, the home of Abraham, Muhammad and all other prophets of the Holy Scriptures. For the past week, I have been utterly speechless and spellbound by the […]

Milton Henry interviews Malcolm X (April 12, 1964)

Milton Henry: Once again the GOAL Show microphones have with us our brother, Malcolm X. This time we are on the other side of the world. We’re at Cairo, Egypt, where the independent African states have met in serious confrontation for the last week. One of the significant additions to the confrontation here was the […]

The Ballot or the Bullet (April 12, 1964)

Mr. Moderator, Reverend Cleage, Brother Lomax, brothers and sisters, friends…and I see some enemies. In fact, I think we’d be fooling ourselves if we had an audience this large and didn’t realize that there were some enemies present. This afternoon we want to talk about the ballot or the bullet. The ballot or the bullet […]

The Black Revolution (April 8, 1964)

Mr. Moderator, ladies and gentlemen, friends and enemies. Tonight I hope that we can have a little fireside chat with as few sparks as possible being tossed around. Especially because of the very explosive condition that the world is in today. Sometimes, when a person’s house is on fire and someone comes in yelling fire, […]

The Ballot or the Bullet (April 3, 1964)

Mr. Moderator, Brother Lomax, brothers and sisters, friends…and enemies. I just can’t believe everyone in here is a friend, and I don’t want to leave anybody out. The question tonight, as I understand it, is “The Negro Revolt, and Where Do We Go From Here?” or “What Next?” In my little humble way of understanding […]

A. B. Spellman Interviews Malcolm X (March 19, 1964)

Spellman: Please answer these charges that are often raised against you: That you are as racist as Hitler and the Klan, etc. That you are anti-Semitic. That you advocate mob violence. Malcolm X: No, we’re not racists at all. Our brotherhood is based on the fact that we are all black, brown, red, or yellow. […]

Malcolm X at Harvard University (March 18, 1964)

Nineteen hundred sixty-four will probably be the most explosive year that America has yet witnessed on the racial front; primarily because the black people of this country during 1963 saw nothing but failure behind every effort they made to get what the country was supposedly on record for. Today the black people in this country […]

A Declaration of Independence (March 12, 1964)

Because 1964 threatens to be a very explosive year on the racial front, and because I myself intend to be very active in every phase of the American Negro struggle for human rights, I have called this press conference this morning in order to clarify my own position in the struggle—especially in regard to politics […]

A Visit From the FBI (February 4, 1964)

FBI Agent: Morning, how do you do. We are with the FBI. You have a couple minutes? We’d like to talk to you. Malcolm X: Come on in. 
FBI Agent: I am sorry, did we get you up? Malcolm X: I was on the telephone. Your name is? FBI Agent: Beckwith.
 Malcolm X: And your […]

God’s Judgement of White America (December 4, 1963)

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad teaches us that as it was the evil sin of slavery that caused the downfall and destruction of ancient Egypt and Babylon, and of ancient Greece, as well as ancient Rome, so it was the evil sin of colonialism (slavery, nineteenth-century European style) that caused the collapse of the white nations […]

Malcolm X at Columbia University (November 20, 1963)

Dr. Mencher and students. First I want to thank Dr. Mencher for the invitation to speak here this afternoon. And I should start out by pointing out that in the Columbia Law Review I think it was, in December of I think last year, there was an extensive article carried in it about the Muslims and pointing […]

A Message to the Grassroots (November 10, 1963)

During the few moments that we have, we want to have just an off-the-cuff chat between you and me—us. We want to talk right down to earth in a language that everybody here can easily understand. We all agree tonight, all of the speakers have agreed, that America has a very serious problem. Not only […]

Malcolm X at UC Berkeley (October 11, 1963)

Mr. Moderator, students and faculty here at the University of California, brothers and sisters, friends and enemies. The bell up there took so long to stop ringing, I began to suspect that it was probably being manipulated by an integrationist! Recently the state of California, the Supreme Court here, denied Negro inmates who had become […]

The Old Negro and the New Negro (September, 1963)

Malcolm X: With regard to The Saturday Evening Post article, it’s just about what you would expect from a nationally circulated magazine that is writing about a group of black people not under the influence or control of the white man. To me the magazine article was, by and large, a great deal of propaganda. The very […]

The Black Revolution (June, 1963)

Dr. Powell, distinguished guests, brothers and sisters, friends, and even our enemies. As a follower and minister of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, who is the Messenger of Allah to the American so-called Negro, I am very happy to accept Dr. Powell’s invitation to be here this evening at the Abyssinian Baptist Church and to express […]

Alex Haley Interviews Malcolm X (May, 1963)

Haley: What is the ambition of the Black Muslims? Malcolm X: Freedom, justice and equality are our principal ambitions. And to faithfully serve and follow the Honorable Elijah Muhammad is the guiding goal of every Muslim. Mr. Muhammad teaches us the knowledge of our own selves, and of our own people. He cleans us up—morally, […]

Malcolm X at Yale Law School (October 20, 1962)

On behalf of my beloved leader and teacher, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, and the many young Muslims who follow him, we wish to thank you for this opportunity to explain our position today in what we feel to be the only solution to the serious race problems confronting America and the entire troubled Western World. […]

Bayard Rustin Debate (October 30, 1961)

Malcolm X: In the past two years, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad has become the most talked about black man in America because he is having such miraculous success in getting his program over among the so-called Negro masses.  Time magazine last year wrote that he has eliminated from among his followers alcohol, dope addiction, profanity—all of […]

Open Mind Roundtable (October 15, 1961)

Moderator: Eric P. Goldman, Guests: Mr. Monroe Berger, Mr. Kenneth B. Clark, Mr. Richard Haley, Mrs. Constance B. Motley, Mr. Malcolm X Mr. Goldman: In the years since World War II, unquestionably the most dramatic and most important development in internal American affairs has been the upward lunge of the Negro. In no uncertain terms […]

Malcolm X at Harvard Law School Forum (March 24, 1961)

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen. We thank you for inviting us here to the Harvard Law School Forum this evening to present our views on this timely topic: The American Negro, Problems and Solutions. But to understand our views, the views of the Black Muslims, you must first realize that we are a religious group, […]

Eleanor Fischer interviews Malcolm X (1961)

Eleanor Fischer: Malcolm X, the minister of the Black Muslim community in New York City and national representative of Elijah Muhammad, the spiritual leader of the Black Muslim movement. Mr. Malcolm, may I ask you to tell us something about the Black Muslim movement in America? What is it? What does it stand for? Malcolm […]

Harlem Freedom Rally (1960)

As-Salaam-Alaikum beloved brothers and sisters, welcome to our Harlem Freedom Rally. When we say “our” we do not mean Muslim nor Christian, Catholic nor Protestant, Baptist nor Methodist, Democrat nor Republican, Mason nor Elk. By “our” Harlem Freedom, we mean the black people of Harlem, the black people of America, and the black people all […]

Malcolm X at Queens College (May 5, 1960)

We thank you for inviting us here today to present our views on this topic: “The Negro’s Position in the Recent American Society.” But, to understand our views you must first know something about our religion, Islam. The Creator of the Universe, whom many of you call God or Jehovah, is known to the Muslims […]