Malcolm X
Malcolm X (1925-1965) is one of the great prisms of American history and society. A number of national and cultural topics, broken through the refraction of his life and actions and thought, yield a spectrum of perspectives, histories, and controversies. To approach what is called race in America (its political and cultural significations), you must study Malcolm X. To approach the complex history of civil rights in modern America, you must study Malcolm X. To approach the fascinating history of Islam in America, you must study Malcolm X. The topics proliferate the more you follow the threads. Physical intimidation of African-Americans, the behavioral shipwreck of broken families, the prison experience, rural vs. urban African-American experience, gun control, militancy and the larger society, media involvement in celebrity culture, violence and national identity, transnational connections of religion and skin color, the issue of iconic commemoration and biography — all of these subjects are enriched by the life and words of Malcolm X. He is essential to know.
Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska. His emotional life was scarred by a violent and alienated childhood, his intellectual life was begun in prison, and his spiritual life was ignited by the discovery of an American form of Islam. He had a extraordinary mind, nimble and creative and always alert to new information and perspectives. He had a charismatic ability to move individuals and crowds with his articulation and his skill in making clear and urgent arguments. His autobiography, as told to Alex Haley, is the best place to begin to know him. It is one of the great American autobiographies, easily on par with those by Benjamin Franklin, Henry Adams, Lincoln Steffens, and Emma Goldman, to name a good mix of classics. I also carry his speeches (still no definitive and scholarly collection of those, alas), biographies of him, the landmark portrayal of him by Denzel Washington in Spike Lee’s great film, and some more recent books by a daughter.
Again, to know America, you must know Malcolm X. Be provoked. It would please him.
Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation
Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation
Much has been written about Berdis Baldwin's son James, about Alberta King's son Martin Luther, and Louise Little's son Malcolm. But virtually nothing has been said about the extraordinary women who raised them.
In her groundbreaking and essential debut The Three Mothers, scholar Anna Malaika Tubbs celebrates Black motherhood by telling the story of the three women who raised and shaped some of America's most pivotal heroes.
One of Fortune Magazine's 21 Books to Look Foward to in 2021
Badass Women's Bookclub pick for "Badass Books We Can’t Wait to Read in 2021!"
Berdis Baldwin, Alberta King, and Louise Little were all born at the beginning of the 20th century and forced to contend with the prejudices of Jim Crow as Black women. These three extraordinary women passed their knowledge to their children with the hope of helping them to survive in a society that would deny their humanity from the very beginning—from Louise teaching her children about their activist roots, to Berdis encouraging James to express himself through writing, to Alberta basing all of her lessons in faith and social justice. These women used their strength and motherhood to push their children toward greatness, all with a conviction that every human being deserves dignity and respect despite the rampant discrimination they faced.
These three mothers taught resistance and a fundamental belief in the worth of Black people to their sons, even when these beliefs flew in the face of America’s racist practices and led to ramifications for all three families’ safety. The fight for equal justice and dignity came above all else for the three mothers.
These women, their similarities and differences, as individuals and as mothers, represent a piece of history left untold and a celebration of Black motherhood long overdue.