Malcolm X

Racism is a problem that the American people have grappled with since colonial times. All who were not of white ancestry were thought to be inferior and were treated in an inhumane manner. This type of division amongst human beings can still be seen in some parts of the world today. The Civil Rights movement was therefore created to fight for the rights of black Americans and speak for those who had no voice. The 1960's saw the rise of Malcolm X, who not only influenced the civil rights movement but attempted to solve the problem of racism in this country.

Malcolm Little was born on May 19, 1925, in Omaha, Nebraska, the son of Louise and Earl Little. Louise Little was a mulatto born in Grenada in the British West Indies and Earl Little was a six-foot, very dark skinned man from Reynolds, Georgia. He was a Baptist minister and organizer for Marcus Garvey, who wanted all Afro-Americans to go back to the land of their ancestors, Africa. Louise, his second wife, bore six children: Wilfred, Hilda, Philbert, Malcolm, Yvonne, and Reginald. Earl Little also had three children by a first wife: Ella, Earl, and Mary. Because of the father's advocacy for Garvey's movement, the whole family was terrorized by the Ku Klux Klan in Omaha and Milwaukee. They had such incidents as death threats made to Malcolm's father