Malcolm X - Legacy

Legacy

Malcolm X has been described as one of the greatest and most influential African Americans in history. He is credited with raising the self-esteem of black Americans and reconnecting them with their African heritage. He is largely responsible for the spread of Islam in the black community in the United States. Many African Americans, especially those who lived in cities in the Northern and Western United States, felt that Malcolm X articulated their complaints concerning inequality better than the mainstream civil rights movement did. One biographer says that by giving expression to their frustration, Malcolm X "made clear the price that white America would have to pay if it did not accede to black America's legitimate demands."

In the late 1960s, as black activists became more radical, Malcolm X and his teachings were part of the foundation on which they built their movements. The Black Power movement, the Black Arts Movement, and the widespread adoption of the slogan "Black is beautiful" can all trace their roots to Malcolm X.

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, there was a resurgence of interest in Malcolm X among young people, fueled in part by use of him as an icon by hip-hop groups such as Public Enemy. His image was on display in hundreds of thousands of homes, offices, and schools, as well as on T-shirts and jackets.

This wave peaked in 1992 with the release of the film Malcolm X, an adaptation of the The Autobiography of Malcolm X which Malcolm X began in 1963 in collaboration with Alex Haley. (Malcolm X had told Haley, "If I'm alive when this book comes out, it will be a miracle"; indeed Haley completed and published it some months after the assassination.) In 1998 Time named The Autobiography of Malcolm X one of the ten most influential nonfiction books of the 20th century.