![MALCOLM X [LITTLE] (1925-1965), Civil Rights leader. Typed letter signed ("Malcolm X"), to Alex Haley (1921-1992), Cairo, Egypt, 18 September 1964. 1 page, long 4to (carbon).](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2007/NYR/2007_NYR_01851_0276_000(021721).jpg?w=1)
THE PROPERTY OF A CALIFORNIA COLLECTOR
MALCOLM X [LITTLE] (1925-1965), Civil Rights leader. Typed letter signed ("Malcolm X"), to Alex Haley (1921-1992), Cairo, Egypt, 18 September 1964. 1 page, long 4to (carbon).
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MALCOLM X [LITTLE] (1925-1965), Civil Rights leader. Typed letter signed ("Malcolm X"), to Alex Haley (1921-1992), Cairo, Egypt, 18 September 1964. 1 page, long 4to (carbon).
"ALL THE NEGRO LEADERS NEED TO GO ABROAD AND FORGET THE STRUGGLE FOR TWO MONTHS"
A fascinating letter in which Malcolm X discusses his new, more internationalist approach to "the Negro struggle," mentions the new organization he created after breaking with the Nation of Islam (the Organization for African American Unity) and gives his reaction to the first appearance in print of his life story, as written by Haley in The Saturday Evening Post. "Just after I had mailed a letter to you yesterday giving you my very subjective (smile) reactions to the Post article and its editorial, your letter came last night and made me feel a bit relieved and perhaps less subjective (smile again)." The editorial in the September 12, 1964 issue of the Post began, "If Malcolm X were not a Negro, his autobiography would be little more than a journal of abnormal psychology, and the story of a burglar, dope-pusher, addict and jailbird...who acquires messianic delusions..."
"...We've been under the gun so much," Malcolm continues, "and for so long, we have become 'gun shy' perhaps without even realizing it. But this is actually the case with most American Negroes, especially those who are most active in the Negro Struggle, and particularly the Negro 'leaders.' I have been saying for five months that all the Negro leaders need to go abroad and forget the struggle for two months. They will come back with a new perspective and a much broader scope: involving new aims and new methods to achieve those aims...On the other hand, knowing the opposition very well by now, all I meant to say was that had I seen the exact wording of the article before it was published there were phrases I could change, clauses I could have added, that would have removed the ammunition from the enemy's gun...If you can get a letter to me before Sept. 30th, send it to the Ethiopia Hotel, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Perhaps before the book comes out I will have some much more valuable pictures that have been taken during my four months in Africa...Couldn't Doubleday get one of the pictures taken by the Post photographer for the book cover?..."
This was Malcolm's second trip to the Middle East. The first, the year before, had been a life-changing experience. Seeing so many Caucasian Muslims caused him to drop much of his anti-white rhetoric. He hoped organizations like his OAAU could internationalize the struggle for black equality, and transcend the separatist agenda of the Nation of Islam. Only five months after this letter, however, Malcolm X was murdered by gunman from the Nation of Islam. Haley's The Autobiography of Malcolm X, which grew out of the Saturday Evening Post article mentioned here, appeared in 1965 and became an immediate best-seller.
"ALL THE NEGRO LEADERS NEED TO GO ABROAD AND FORGET THE STRUGGLE FOR TWO MONTHS"
A fascinating letter in which Malcolm X discusses his new, more internationalist approach to "the Negro struggle," mentions the new organization he created after breaking with the Nation of Islam (the Organization for African American Unity) and gives his reaction to the first appearance in print of his life story, as written by Haley in The Saturday Evening Post. "Just after I had mailed a letter to you yesterday giving you my very subjective (smile) reactions to the Post article and its editorial, your letter came last night and made me feel a bit relieved and perhaps less subjective (smile again)." The editorial in the September 12, 1964 issue of the Post began, "If Malcolm X were not a Negro, his autobiography would be little more than a journal of abnormal psychology, and the story of a burglar, dope-pusher, addict and jailbird...who acquires messianic delusions..."
"...We've been under the gun so much," Malcolm continues, "and for so long, we have become 'gun shy' perhaps without even realizing it. But this is actually the case with most American Negroes, especially those who are most active in the Negro Struggle, and particularly the Negro 'leaders.' I have been saying for five months that all the Negro leaders need to go abroad and forget the struggle for two months. They will come back with a new perspective and a much broader scope: involving new aims and new methods to achieve those aims...On the other hand, knowing the opposition very well by now, all I meant to say was that had I seen the exact wording of the article before it was published there were phrases I could change, clauses I could have added, that would have removed the ammunition from the enemy's gun...If you can get a letter to me before Sept. 30th, send it to the Ethiopia Hotel, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Perhaps before the book comes out I will have some much more valuable pictures that have been taken during my four months in Africa...Couldn't Doubleday get one of the pictures taken by the Post photographer for the book cover?..."
This was Malcolm's second trip to the Middle East. The first, the year before, had been a life-changing experience. Seeing so many Caucasian Muslims caused him to drop much of his anti-white rhetoric. He hoped organizations like his OAAU could internationalize the struggle for black equality, and transcend the separatist agenda of the Nation of Islam. Only five months after this letter, however, Malcolm X was murdered by gunman from the Nation of Islam. Haley's The Autobiography of Malcolm X, which grew out of the Saturday Evening Post article mentioned here, appeared in 1965 and became an immediate best-seller.