Witness to the Assassination of Malcolm X
John W. Brown
HIS/145
December 3, 2012
Tim Hayburn

Witness to the assassination of Malcolm X Malcolm Little was born in Omaha Nebraska on May 19, 1925. He later had a name change which then became Malcolm X. He graduated from junior high where he was top in the class. Malcolm and an old friend were arrested and convicted on burglary charges and served 10 years in prison, he only served 7 of the 10 years. According to Http://www.malcomx.com/about/bio2.html” (Malcolm began to study the teachings of NOI leader Elijah Muhammad. Muhammad taught that white society actively worked to keep African-Americans from empowering themselves and achieving political, economic and social success. Among other goals, the NOI fought for a state of their own, separate from one inhabited by white people. By the time he was paroled in 1952, Malcolm was a devoted follower with the new surname "X." (He considered "Little" a slave name and chose the "X" to signify his lost tribal name.)) Malcolm was intelligent as well as articulate which led to him being appointed as the minister and national spokesman for Islam. Malcolm was known around the United States on the radio, television as well as newspapers for spreading the word about the NOI’s message. He with his charisma, drive, as well as conviction had an unidentified number of members. Malcolm was made a magnet for media; he later was able to be on live television with Mike Wallace for a week in 1959 the program was about “The Hate That Hate Produced. In the year of 1964 Malcolm went on a trip to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, where he shared his thoughts with others as well as what his beliefs were and within that he found that others responses were positive. Upon returning to the United States after his trip he had a new and promising future as well as outlook on integration. He became unable to make trips without the assistance of body guards so he had to stop traveling as much as he would have liked. In February of 1965 the home in Elmhurst, New York were him and his family had a residence was firebombed, the family did however get away with no physical injury. A week after the firebombing of Malcolm’s family home he was killed as he was giving a speech at the Manhattan’s Audubon Ballroom. Shots toward Malcolm at this time had occupants of the building going to the floor for shelter from bullets. Later on that evening police had told others that the argument had started between men associated with Malcolm and members associated with the extremist which was a group that he had left the year prior which were known as the Black Muslims. Thomas Hagan a 22- year old Negro was charged with the death of Malcolm, which he was taken away from the ballroom after being beaten and shot himself. Hagan suffered a gunshot wound to the left thigh and his left leg was broken in the attack. Hagan was not the only one that was a suspect in the shooting later they were told of two other Negroes that may have