Today, May 19, is the birthday of Malcolm X. He would have been 95 years of age. Though reviled in his lifetime, Malcolm changed America.
As @Malcolm X came to prominence, Martin Luther King, seen as less ominous, became more acceptable. Thus, more support for the Civil Rights Movement.
Malcolm assisted with this when he visited Selma in February 1965 while MLK was in jail. At Brown Chapel AME Church, Malcolm praised King’s dedication to non-violence but warned America that if it did not accept non-violent change, it would have to face the alternative, armed self-defense.
I have just finished teaching an undergraduate class in which students read the Autobiography of Malcolm X. In this class, students saw how Malcolm, a leading black nationalist, completed the foundation for the development of the Black Power Movement.
In the process, Malcolm sought to focus the plight of black Americans on human rights, an international issue, whereas civil rights was an internal issue. I remain convinced that Malcolm’s intent to take black rights to the United Nations as a matter of human rights was instrumental in his assassination.