ABSTRACT
Malcolm X (1925-65) A prominent spokesman for black nationalism in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s, Malcolm Little (as he was christened) has become arguably more influential intellectually since his assassination in 1965 at the age of 40. His radical arguments for black separatism and endorsement of violence make him, in many ways, Martin Luther King’s alter ego. At a time when King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference was using nonviolent disobedience as its main strategy in securing civil rights reform, with integration its ultimate goal, Malcolm X urged blacks to disavow themselves of Christianity, reject the very concept of integration and abandon any thoughts that the material conditions of blacks would be improved through white patronage.
