Why did Malcolm X become involved in the campaign for equal rights in the 1950s and 1960s?

When he was released from prison in 1952 he rose quickly within the Nation of Islam and went on a number of speaking tours around the country. The Nation of Islam gave him the belief that white people were inferior and were created by an evil scientist. It also taught that equality could never work so there should be a total separation of the races in all areas of life and an all black country should be set up because black development needed to be separate or failing that they should ‘return’ to Africa. A key policy of the Nation of Islam was that, “Only with complete racial separation will the perfect harmony of the universe be restored.” He was a prominent speaker and put forward his new ideas about black power and black pride. Although the Nation of Islam did not want Malcolm X to make political statements, he felt so strongly about the nature of white American society and the status of black people within the country that he had to speak up about it. He thought that there was little point trying to integrate into white society that was corrupt and racist. He once said, “Who wants to sit on the next toilet seat to a white man?” Malcolm had lived among working-class black people and had assessed the attitude of northern whites towards black people. He was aware that in the north racism was disguised but still very much present. However in the winter of 1963-64 Malcolm broke away from the Nation of Islam.  One reason was that after his pilgrimage to Mecca in 1964 which, he felt showed him the real Muslim religion. He also discovered a powerful Muslim philosophy of racial harmony and brotherhood. Another reason for doing so was that he was keen to participate in the civil rights campaign in order to help black people in general. He also felt guilty that while black people faced violence in Birmingham, the Nation of Islam negotiated with the Ku Klux Klan. He set up his own organisation that reflected his new values of racial toleration, the Organisation of Afro-American Unity, which aimed to unite all people of African descendent and to promote political, social and economic independence for blacks.

Malcolm did not believe that the civil rights movement that was lead by Martin Luther King was helping black people. Instead of seeing King’s American ‘dream’ he saw only an American ‘nightmare’. Malcolm X believed that the demand for civil rights was based on he false assumption that it was desirable for black people to integrate with white people. Unlike King, Malcolm had lived in desperate poverty in the black ghettos and knew how hard life was for them. He rejected American democratic values as he saw them as a sham as white people would never apply the same values to the black community. In his opinion black people needed to work out their own salvation and did not need the help of friendly white people to do it. He believed that King was wasting his time talking to presidents, as it was unlikely that they would do anything to help the average black American. Malcolm did not agree with the non-violent message of the mainstream civil rights movement. He saw self-defence against white aggression and oppression as a legitimate weapon. Malcolm saw his role as highlighting the problems of the civil rights movement and gave a more radical opinion to that of Martin Luther King. In 1964 he said, “I’m here to remind the white man of the alternative to Dr. King.” Malcolm X expressed his views in a forthright style and called the march on Washington ‘the farce on Washington’. This is because he believed that by including white people on the march you were including the enemy. However after his visit to Mecca which showed him the values of mainstream Islam, he began to share similar views to Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights movement. In on of his famous speeches ‘The ballot or the bullet?’ he talked about the need to ‘submerge our differences’ and talked about King as a civil rights leader without criticising him. He urged black people to join voter registration campaigns.

I conclude that Malcolm X aimed to improve the lives of black Americans. Malcolm had lived in poverty and had experienced first hand how racist white people could be. He wanted to encourage critical thinking of race problems and in 1964 he said, “I’m here to remind the white man of the alternative to Dr. King.” He had lived in the black ghettos and drew attention to the dreadful conditions in which many black people were living in. Malcolm’s upbringing showed him the harshness of the American system and how it can fail its own people and this made him very bitter. His fathers support of Marcus Garvey was very significant because it influenced the way he perceived white people and how equality could be brought about and this could have given him the radical ideas that he later had and could have pushed him towards the Nation of Islam. His upbringing was a major factor that contributed to his involvement in campaign for equal rights in the 1950s and 1960s. He experienced many cases of racism and this made him hate white people because all his experiences of white people were negative. For example the racist attacks on his family and the murder of his father. His teacher also told him that a black person could not be a lawyer, which was his ambition. The authorities separating his siblings and his white foster parents showed him how it was not just a few people that were racist but that it was the whole American system that was not willing to listen to black people. Another example was that he received a long prison sentence just because he was involved with white girls. All these negative experiences with white people led him to the Nation of Islam’s belief that white people were evil and separation was the only way that black people could improve their situation. The Nation of Islam then allowed him to put forward his ideas about black power and pride. Whilst living in the ghettos he knew how hard life was and so when King and the civil rights movement were not doing enough to help working-class black people he spoke about it in speeches and interviews. His views were so strong because of the racism he had encountered over the years that he had to speak up about the inequalities even though the Nation of Islam barred him from talking about political issues. When he went to Mecca he experienced main stream Islam and this then gave him the ideas of brotherhood and mellowed him to have similar ideas to that of King. As a result Malcolm encouraged voter registration and took part in a rent strike rally and school boycotts.