Malcolm X_ A Life Of Reinvention Part 5

The fire of this new activism burned brightest in the South, but it also had a profound effect on Northern black communities, where legal segregation may not have existed but patterns of exclusion were deep and long-standing. In September 1957, inspired by the struggle earlier that year to desegregate Little Rock, Arkansas's Central High School, New York activists picketed city hall in protest against racial discrimination in public schools.

Some activists concluded that they should run for office, perhaps figuring that creating legislation would be more effective than merely agitating for it. Their model was attorney Benjamin Davis, Jr., a communist who represented Harlem in the New York City Council from 1943 to 1949. Even after his political views got him convicted for violating the 1940 Alien Registration Act, known generally as the Smith Act, in a losing bid for Manhattan reelection in 1949, Davis won more Harlem votes than in his previous elections. On a similarly progressive agenda, Ella Baker ran unsuccessfully for the New York City Council in both 1951 and 1953. The attorney Pauli Murray, who would later defend Robert Williams before a national hearing of the NAACP, also ran for the council. But although Hulan Jack was elected Manhattan's first African-American borough president in 1953, New York blacks continued to be underrepresented. In 1954, for instance, more than one million of the state's fourteen million residents were African Americans, yet they had only one of New York's forty-three members of Congress; one of its fifty-eight state senators; just five of the 150 state a.s.sembly members; and ten of its 189 judges.

In Harlem, activism took a cultural turn. From 1951 to 1955, radicals there published a newspaper called Freedom Freedom. Some anticommunist black nationalists, such as the writer Harold Cruse, criticized the papers orientation as "nothing more than integration, couched in left-wing phraseology." The paper soon closed, but in early 1961 many of its old staff established a new quarterly, Freedomways Freedomways, as a link between black communists, independent radicals, and the left wing of the civil rights movement. For nationalists like Cruse, however, even the new magazine was compromised, due to its a.s.sociations with the Marxist left.

Despite such ideological misgivings, the majority of the new generation of radicals increasingly came under the influence of the black left, best ill.u.s.trated by the growing African-American fascination with Cuba. In January 1959, an unlikely band of guerrilla fighters led by Fidel Castro had wrested control of the country from dictator Fulgencio Batista. Though Castro traveled to Was.h.i.+ngton in April to rea.s.sure the Eisenhower administration of his good intentions, the U.S. government quickly concluded that the new regime was anti-American and set to work trying to destabilize it. American radicals who sympathized with the young revolution responded by establis.h.i.+ng the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, which attracted such notable intellectuals as Allen Ginsberg, C. Wright Mills, and I. F. Stone. A significant number of African-American artists and political activists joined the committee, or at least publicly endorsed Castro's revolution. These included journalists William Worthy and Richard Gibson, writers James Baldwin, John Oliver Killens, and Julian Mayfield-and, unsurprisingly, Robert Williams.

In June 1960, the committee sponsored Williams's first trip to Cuba, and the following month organized an African-American delegation, which he led. Its members included Mayfield, playwright/poet LeRoi Jones (later Amiri Baraka), historian John Henrik Clarke, and Harold Cruse. Even for bitter anticommunists like Cruse, the experience was inspirational. "The ideology of a new revolutionary wave in the world at large," he observed, "had lifted us out of anonymity of lonely struggle in the United States to the glorified rank of visiting dignitaries." But Cruse struggled to maintain his objectivity-much as Malcolm did under similar circ.u.mstances several years later when he visited Africa. To Cruse the fundamental questions to be answered were, "What did it all mean and how did it relate to the Negro in America?" A significant lesson, he wrote, reflecting the increasingly militant feelings among black activists, was "the relevance of force and violence to successful revolutions."

As the civil rights movement adopted an increasingly confrontational approach involving a mix of protest and politics, Malcolm and the NOI watched from a distance. Holding fast to its doctrine of strict separatism, the Nation had little to contribute to the dialogue over how best to change the existing order. Many of the Nation's leaders did not truly understand the growing civil rights struggle; they were still convinced that they should distance themselves from anything controversial or subversive. Yet when it came to competing for the minds of black Americans, the issue-based platforms and forceful personalities within the Black Freedom Movement presented a direct challenge to the NOI. The positive press coverage received by King and other civil rights leaders gave them a relevance to political realities that the NOI lacked.

In a letter written in April 1959 to James 3X Shabazz, the newly appointed minister of Temple No. 25 in Newark, Muhammad expressed concern about "the all too frequent clashes with Law Enforcement Agents that we, the Believers of Islam, are being involved in." He was troubled by the confrontation in Malcolm's home between the NYPD and the NOI members, as well as by the publicity surrounding the subsequent trial. "Whenever an officer comes to serve a notice or to arrest you, you should not resist whether you are innocent or guilty," he instructed. "We must remember remember that we are not in power in Was.h.i.+ngton, nor where we live, to dictate to the authorities. . . . Lawyers, bonds and fines are expensive, and being beat up and bruised is too painful to bear for nothing." Allah would ultimately punish those who had mistreated his followers. "But, that we are not in power in Was.h.i.+ngton, nor where we live, to dictate to the authorities. . . . Lawyers, bonds and fines are expensive, and being beat up and bruised is too painful to bear for nothing." Allah would ultimately punish those who had mistreated his followers. "But, remember remember that you should not be the that you should not be the cause cause for them to take the opportunity to mistreat you, since you now know that the devil has no Justice for you." for them to take the opportunity to mistreat you, since you now know that the devil has no Justice for you."

Privately, Malcolm disagreed. The extensive press coverage around the trial of the Molettes, Minnie Simmons, and Betty, he thought, generally presented the Nation of Islam in a favorable light. "If it had not been for the on-the-spot reporting of the Amsterdam News Amsterdam News from the very beginning of the case," he wrote in a public letter, "these innocent people would now be behind bars." He astutely linked the NOI's confrontation with the police to the larger struggle for civil rights and the need for a crusading African-American press. Some of "Malcolm's Ministers" inside the NOI surely felt the same way. from the very beginning of the case," he wrote in a public letter, "these innocent people would now be behind bars." He astutely linked the NOI's confrontation with the police to the larger struggle for civil rights and the need for a crusading African-American press. Some of "Malcolm's Ministers" inside the NOI surely felt the same way.

He was looking beyond the NOI, to non-Islamic black Americans, and making overtures to blacks outside the Nation-as indeed he had done for several years. It was during this time that he was contacted by a young African-American representative of the local television station WNTA Channel 13, Louis Lomax, who was preparing a series of television programs about the NOI. Lomax was working on the project with another journalist, Mike Wallace, who by the late 1950s had become a familiar presence on New York-area television.

The two men had different reasons for approaching the NOI. Wallace was in his late thirties and had extensive media experience, but was still looking for his big break. Given Malcolm's and the Nation's rising profile, he sensed the possibility of controversy in exposing the NOI's divisive racial ideas before a large audience. Lomax's interests were more complicated. Born in 1922 in Valdosta, Georgia, he had earned a bachelor's degree from Paine College, as well as masters degrees from American University and Yale (in 1944 and 1947 respectively). While studying at Yale, he had flourished, hosting a weekly radio program that "marked the first time a Negro had written and presented his own dramatic skits over the air in the District of Columbia." But by 1949 he had fallen on harder times. After moving to Chicago's South Side, he became involved in a scam leasing rental cars in Indiana and driving them to Chicago to be sold. The police easily tracked down the stolen cars and busted him; he was convicted of a series of larcenies and remained behind bars until paroled in November 1954, during which time his wife had divorced him.

In 1956, he had an unexpected reversal of fortune. That February, his parole officer gave him permission to work for the a.s.sociated Negro Press in Was.h.i.+ngton. The opportunity revitalized Lomax; during the next three years, he placed articles in such newspapers as the New York Daily News New York Daily News and the and the New York Daily Mirror New York Daily Mirror and a.n.a.lytical pieces in magazines such as and a.n.a.lytical pieces in magazines such as Pageant Pageant , , Coronet, Coronet, and and The Nation The Nation. Through these his name reached Wallace, who offered him the job of conducting preinterviews with guests prior to their appearance on his show. It was Lomax who came up with the idea of a series devoted to the NOI, having secured Elijah Muhammad's approval through Malcolm. Lomax may also have shared with Malcolm his history in prison, which would have strengthened their relations.h.i.+p.

Ideologically Lomax was an integrationist, yet he found much to admire in the self-sufficiency and racial pride exuded by Nation members. The NOI gave him permission to film Muhammad at a rally in Was.h.i.+ngton on May 31. After weeks compiling footage, Lomax delivered the reels to Wallace, who edited and narrated the series for maximum shock value. The confrontational t.i.tle, The Hate That Hate Produced The Hate That Hate Produced, was a covert appeal to white liberals, which reflected Wallace's politics. After all, white America had tolerated slavery and racial segregation for centuries. Was it really so surprising that a minority of Negroes had become as racist as many whites?

The Wallace/Lomax series appeared on New York City's WNTA-TV in five half-hour installments, from July 13 to July 17. One week later, the channel aired a one-hour doc.u.mentary hosted by Wallace on the black supremacy movement, comprising segments from the earlier broadcasts. It was probably fortunate that Malcolm was out of the country when the programs appeared, because they sparked a firestorm. Civil rights leaders, sensing a publicity disaster, could not move quickly enough to distance themselves. Arnold Forster, head of the Anti-Defamation League's civil rights division, charged that Wallace had exaggerated the size of the NOI and given it an "importance that was not warranted." Other critics took issue with the series itself. In the New York Times New York Times, Jack Gould declared: "The periodic tendency of Mike Wallace to pursue sensationalism as an end in itself backfired. . . . To transmit the wild statements of rabble-rousers without at least some pertinent facts in refutation is not conscientious or constructive reporting." Malcolm himself thought the show had demonized the Nation, and likened its impact to "what happened back in the 1930s when Orson Welles frightened America with a radio program describing, as though it was actually happening, an invasion by 'men from Mars.' " But part of Malcolm always believed that even negative publicity was better than none at all.

Outcry notwithstanding, the show had effectively brought the NOI to a much wider audience. There was an "instant avalanche of public reaction," recalled Malcolm. "Hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers, black and white, were exclaiming 'Did you hear it? Did you see it? Preaching hate hate of white people!' " The controversy spread quickly. After the negative response from the New York press, the national weeklies followed, characterizing the NOI as "black racists," "black fascists," and even "possibly Communist-inspired." Faced with heated criticism from the African-American community, Malcolm dismissed his black middle-cla.s.s opponents as Uncle Toms. of white people!' " The controversy spread quickly. After the negative response from the New York press, the national weeklies followed, characterizing the NOI as "black racists," "black fascists," and even "possibly Communist-inspired." Faced with heated criticism from the African-American community, Malcolm dismissed his black middle-cla.s.s opponents as Uncle Toms.

The intense publicity changed the lives of nearly everyone connected with the series. It gave Wallace the break he needed; the national exposure led to an offer from a group of Westinghouse-owned stations to cover the 1960 presidential campaign, and in three years he was hosting the national morning news for CBS. Later, he would turn down Republican presidential candidate Richard Nixon's offer to become his press secretary, instead accepting a new a.s.signment as a reporter on CBSs 60 Minutes 60 Minutes, which became the longest-running news feature program in television history. Lomax also achieved success, in 1960 publis.h.i.+ng his first book, The Reluctant African The Reluctant African, which won the Anisfield-Wolf award. His reports on civil rights issues were regularly featured on network television. Both Wallace and Lomax continued to exploit their connections with the NOI. On July 26, 1959, however, the NOI barred Wallace from a ma.s.sive rally at New York's St. Nicholas Arena, which featured Elijah Muhammad as keynote speaker. At this event Muhammad accused Wallace and other white journalists of attempting to divide the NOI into factions. "Does he cla.s.sify the truth as Hate?" he asked. "No enemy wants to see the so-called American Negro free and united."

Inside the Nation, Malcolm's critics blamed him for the negative publicity surrounding Hate Hate. NOI ministers who were against media interviews now felt justified in banning members from talking to the press. The view from Chicago headquarters, however, was much less severe. When a young doctoral student, C. Eric Lincoln, asked for help with his dissertation about the NOI, Muhammad, Malcolm, and other Muslims consented. Lincoln's study, published in 1961 under the t.i.tle The Black Muslims in America, The Black Muslims in America, became the standard work for decades. As the dust settled, even Lomax found his way back into the Nation's good graces. When he subsequently approached the NOI to write his own book about the sect, its leaders were generous with their time. Lomax's 1963 study became the standard work for decades. As the dust settled, even Lomax found his way back into the Nation's good graces. When he subsequently approached the NOI to write his own book about the sect, its leaders were generous with their time. Lomax's 1963 study When the Word Is Given When the Word Is Given is perhaps the single best resource about the NOIs inner workings prior to Malcolm's split from the sect. Despite his own commitment to racial integration, Lomax tried to present a balanced, objective critique of the NOIs strengths and weaknesses. He correctly identified the malaise among working-cla.s.s blacks that several years later would feed the anger beneath Black Power. Lomax quoted the ever-eloquent James Baldwin: "Deep down in their hearts the black ma.s.ses don't believe in white people anymore. They don't believe in Malcolm, either, except when he articulates their disbelief in white people. . . . The Negro ma.s.ses neither join nor denounce the Black Muslims. They just sit at home in the ghetto amid the heat, the roaches, the rats, the vice, the disgrace, and rue the fact that come daylight they must meet the man-the white man-and work at a job that leads only to a dead end." is perhaps the single best resource about the NOIs inner workings prior to Malcolm's split from the sect. Despite his own commitment to racial integration, Lomax tried to present a balanced, objective critique of the NOIs strengths and weaknesses. He correctly identified the malaise among working-cla.s.s blacks that several years later would feed the anger beneath Black Power. Lomax quoted the ever-eloquent James Baldwin: "Deep down in their hearts the black ma.s.ses don't believe in white people anymore. They don't believe in Malcolm, either, except when he articulates their disbelief in white people. . . . The Negro ma.s.ses neither join nor denounce the Black Muslims. They just sit at home in the ghetto amid the heat, the roaches, the rats, the vice, the disgrace, and rue the fact that come daylight they must meet the man-the white man-and work at a job that leads only to a dead end."

Within the Nation itself, the most lasting impact of the series was the recognition that the sect had to exert greater control over its image. This required, at a minimum, a regularly published magazine or newspaper. In the fall of 1959, Malcolm produced his first attempt, Messenger Magazine Messenger Magazine; he may have been drawing upon an older Harlem tradition, as a previous paper named the Messenger Messenger, edited by A. Philip Randolph and Chandler Owen, had been published from 1917 to 1928. The Amsterdam News Amsterdam News advertis.e.m.e.nt promoting the journal promised it would present "Mr. Muhammad's aims and accomplishments" and "the truth about the amazing success of the Moslems' economic, educational, and spiritual growth among the Negroes of America." The magazine failed to gain an audience, however, as did several other publis.h.i.+ng ventures, until in 1960 Malcolm started printing a monthly newspaper, advertis.e.m.e.nt promoting the journal promised it would present "Mr. Muhammad's aims and accomplishments" and "the truth about the amazing success of the Moslems' economic, educational, and spiritual growth among the Negroes of America." The magazine failed to gain an audience, however, as did several other publis.h.i.+ng ventures, until in 1960 Malcolm started printing a monthly newspaper, Muhammad Speaks Muhammad Speaks. Temples began receiving hundreds of copies, and the publication quickly attracted tens of thousands of regular readers, the vast majority of them non-Muslims. The keys to its success were twofold. First, the publication hired legitimate, well-qualified journalists, who were given some leeway to cover their interests. Over time, the newspaper developed a schizophrenic character, with some articles praising Muhammad and promoting the NOI and the rest of the paper providing detailed coverage of black American issues, Africa, and the Third World. But the second reason was that all temples were ordered to sell a certain number of copies per week; the papers were doled out to individual FOI laborers, who were expected to place Muhammad Speaks Muhammad Speaks everywhere. everywhere.

Malcolm used the shake-up from Hate Hate to recommend Temple No. 7's secretary, John X Simmons, for the position of national secretary. Within a year Simmons would move to Chicago and be given an original name, John Ali, by Elijah Muhammad. The promotion pleased Malcolm, who believed he would have another strong ally in Chicago. He did not imagine that Ali would become one of his sharpest critics in the national headquarters. to recommend Temple No. 7's secretary, John X Simmons, for the position of national secretary. Within a year Simmons would move to Chicago and be given an original name, John Ali, by Elijah Muhammad. The promotion pleased Malcolm, who believed he would have another strong ally in Chicago. He did not imagine that Ali would become one of his sharpest critics in the national headquarters.

After the ordeal of Betty's trial, Malcolm decided that she and Attallah needed to be sent temporarily to her parents' home in Detroit. Betty was opposed to the move, but she bent to Malcolm's will. Her feelings did not change upon settling in, however, and in late March 1959 she complained to her husband about the arrangement, though he had little sympathy. He encouraged her to think about her absence from New York as a vacation. Though Betty worried for him in her absence, he a.s.sured her that he would survive. He missed her cooking, writing her that he had been eating regularly at the Temple's restaurant. He found it difficult to express romantic love, or even to give Betty a compliment without qualifying it with a statement related to the NOI. For instance, he praised Betty's cooking, but then added, "What would we Brothers do without our wonderful MGT Sisters? (smile)."

Betty's involuntary "vacation" may have given Malcolm s.p.a.ce, but it further taxed his already strained finances. On April 1 he sent her a second letter, enclosing twenty dollars. Malcolm urged her to spend as little as possible, reminding her that he was experiencing a "great financial burden." He then reminded her that the airfare to Detroit had been expensive and that staying in Detroit would also be costly. Malcolm went on to offer a statement that seems almost comically paradoxical. He urged her again to "enjoy yourself but don't buy anything" except items that were absolutely essential. To save money he instructed her not to phone him, but instead write a letter. He even enclosed some stamps in the envelope he mailed to her. Feeling spurned and stranded, Betty once again fell into a depression and entertained thoughts about fleeing her marriage. By this time Malcolm viewed his wife largely as a nuisance-someone he was obliged to put up with-rather than as a loving life partner. The wounds from Betty's s.e.xual taunting were still too fresh. He focused his energies instead on the Nation and the major events it had planned for 1959.

The largest public occasion involving Malcolm that year was a major rally and speech by Elijah Muhammad in July, at New York City's St. Nicholas Arena. Muhammad declared that he and the Nation were "backed by 500 million people, who are lifting their voices to Allah five times a day." In effect, he was laying claim to full members.h.i.+p within Islam's global community, a notion that would have been vigorously rejected by the vast majority of orthodox Muslims in the United States. Within the small, mostly Sunni emigrant communities that traced their lineage to the Middle East, southern Asia, and northern Africa, Muslims understood the NOI to have little in common with their faith. "Let us fervently pray that the readers of The Courier The Courier will not confuse the sect of Mr. Muhammad with that of true Islam," wrote Yasuf Ibrahim, an Algerian, in a letter to the Pittsburgh paper. "Believers in Allah recognize no such thing as race." will not confuse the sect of Mr. Muhammad with that of true Islam," wrote Yasuf Ibrahim, an Algerian, in a letter to the Pittsburgh paper. "Believers in Allah recognize no such thing as race."

Perhaps to quell outside critics, the Nation took several measures to affirm its connections with the global Islamic community. Muhammad began his 1960 publication Message to the Blackman in America Message to the Blackman in America with a Quranic verse: "He it is who sent His Messenger with the guidance and the true religion, that He may make it overcome the religions, all of them, though the polytheists may be adverse." One regular feature in with a Quranic verse: "He it is who sent His Messenger with the guidance and the true religion, that He may make it overcome the religions, all of them, though the polytheists may be adverse." One regular feature in Muhammad Speaks Muhammad Speaks, Muslim Cookbook, provided recipes that adhered to halal halal criteria. Arabic-language instructors were hired in NOI schools, and ministers were encouraged to make references to the Qur'an during their sermons. The most prominent woman of Temple No. 7, Tynetta Deanar, started a column in criteria. Arabic-language instructors were hired in NOI schools, and ministers were encouraged to make references to the Qur'an during their sermons. The most prominent woman of Temple No. 7, Tynetta Deanar, started a column in Muhammad Speaks Muhammad Speaks on the global achievements of Islamic women. on the global achievements of Islamic women.

It was in this spirit of confraternity that the NOI had cabled its congratulations to the Afro-Asian Solidarity Conference, held from December 26, 1957, to January 1, 1958, in Cairo, under the auspices of Egypt's president, Gamal Abdel Na.s.ser. The sect had much to gain from recognition or even acknowledgment by major Muslim states, and Egypt. Na.s.ser reciprocated the gesture the following year by sending greetings to Elijah Muhammad at the Saviour's Day convention. This was followed by an invitation from Na.s.sers government to Muhammad to visit Egypt and to make the hajj to Mecca. Muhammad planned to visit the Middle East, but he encountered some difficulties from the U.S. government regarding overseas travel. The decision was made to send Malcolm first, as Muhammad's emissary. Malcolm would establish the necessary contacts for Muhammad and members of his family to follow.

Malcolm was undoubtedly thrilled to receive the a.s.signment, but in proper NOI tradition he could not display excessive enthusiasm. He duly applied for a pa.s.sport. His stated itinerary was to visit the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Greece, Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan, intending to depart on June 5 in order to attend "the annual sacred Moslem Pilgrimage Rites at the Holy City of Mecca," scheduled from June 9 to June 16. For various reasons, however, his journey was delayed, so he continued carrying out his duties throughout June.

When he finally arrived in Cairo on July 4, it marked the beginning of a transformative experience. Malcolm was now an international traveler, the welcome guest of heads of state, and a pilgrim in the lands of the faith that had pulled him up from despair. In Egypt, deputy premier Anwar el-Sadat met with him several times, and he was well received by religious leaders at Al-Azhar University. Na.s.ser offered to meet him personally, but Malcolm politely demurred, explaining that "he was just the forerunner and humble servant of Elijah Muhammad." He planned to stay briefly in Egypt before visiting Mecca and touring Saudi Arabia at length, but shortly after his arrival he fell ill with dysentery and ended up spending eleven days there. During his stay, a series of prominent Egyptians extended overnight accommodations in their homes to him. Having long practiced the NOIs peculiar version of Islam, Malcolm found himself embarra.s.sed at times by his lack of formal knowledge of the Muslim religion. While in Egypt he was expected to partic.i.p.ate in prayers with others five times daily, but confessed to an acquaintance that he didn't understand the Arabic language, and had "only a sketchy notion of the [prayer] ritual."

When his dysentery finally abated, he traveled to Saudi Arabia, where enslavement of people of African descent had existed for more than fifteen hundred years. From the perspective of most black Americans, Saudi Arabia would have appeared to be a nonwhite society, with blacks relegated to the bottom. Writing from the Kandara Palace hotel in Jeddah, he described the physical appearance of the Saudi population as ranging "from regal black to rich brown, but none are white." Most Arabs, he noted, "would be right at home in Harlem. And all of them refer warmly to our people in America as their 'brothers of color.' " His own race, so long the prism of his self-definition, receded in importance. "Many Egyptians didn't identify him as negroid because of his color until they saw him closer," noted one of his fellow travelers. The episode taught Malcolm that racial ident.i.ties were not fixed: what was "black" in one country could be white or mulatto in another. The absence of a rigid color line apparently suggested to Malcolm that "there is no color prejudice among Moslems, for Islam teaches that all mortals are equal and brothers."

Three weeks of mixing with commoners and statesmen in the Middle East also reinforced Malcolm's commitment to Pan-Africanism. "Africa is the land of the future," he wrote in a letter home that was eventually published by the Pittsburgh Courier Pittsburgh Courier.

Only yesterday, America was the New World, a world with a future-but now, we suddenly realize Africa is the New World-the world with the brightest future-a future in which the so-called American Negroes are destined to play a key role.

Throughout his trip, he kept listeners rapt with talk of the importance of the NOI, and of the cruel suppression American blacks faced at the hands of whites. Writing of their outraged reaction, he explained that "the increasing hordes of intelligent Africans find it difficult to understand" why black Americans continued to be oppressed, "without real freedom, without public school rights, and above all, relegated to slums. . . . The chief instrument by which East and West are being divided, day and night, is resentment in Africa and Asia for administrative jim-crow in the United States." This insight underlined the need to broaden the international perspective within the Black Freedom Movement. By cultivating alliances with Third World nations, black Americans could gain leverage to achieve racial empowerment.

There were several reasons to believe that such a strategy could produce results. First, a significant number of African leaders, like Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah, either had attended U.S. universities or had visited the United States and were familiar with its system of racial oppression. Black churches, colleges, and civic a.s.sociations since the mid-nineteenth century had contacts or exchanges with African inst.i.tutions. This was especially the case in South Africa, where the parallels between apartheid and legal Jim Crow were obvious. Finally, a good number of revolutionary anticolonial movements, such as Algeria's National Liberation Front, were noncommunist. Black Americans could work with representatives of such movements without being red-baited at home.

Malcolm's letter, filled with new ideas about Islam and Afro-Asian solidarity, found him at a philosophical crossroads. The att.i.tudes toward race expressed by Muslims he encountered on his trip had revealed to him fundamental contradictions within NOI theology. Islam was in theory color-blind; members of the ummah ummah could be any nationality or race, so long as they practiced the five pillars and other essential traditions. Whites could not be categorically demonized. Malcolm came to realize during this trip that if the NOI were to continue growing, its sectarian concepts and practices, such as Yacub's History, might have to be abandoned, and the a.s.similation of orthodox Islam would need to be accelerated. Pan-Africanism presented a different problem. Using Third World solidarity to leverage change in America came to seem increasingly viable, yet this premise contradicted the NOIs dogma that reforms were impossible to achieve under white rule and that peace required a separate black state. Most troublingly, there was the question of leaders.h.i.+p. The could be any nationality or race, so long as they practiced the five pillars and other essential traditions. Whites could not be categorically demonized. Malcolm came to realize during this trip that if the NOI were to continue growing, its sectarian concepts and practices, such as Yacub's History, might have to be abandoned, and the a.s.similation of orthodox Islam would need to be accelerated. Pan-Africanism presented a different problem. Using Third World solidarity to leverage change in America came to seem increasingly viable, yet this premise contradicted the NOIs dogma that reforms were impossible to achieve under white rule and that peace required a separate black state. Most troublingly, there was the question of leaders.h.i.+p. The shahada shahada confirms that only Muhammad is the final prophet of G.o.d; to move closer to true Islam meant that Elijah's claim to be "Allah's Messenger" would inevitably have to be questioned. confirms that only Muhammad is the final prophet of G.o.d; to move closer to true Islam meant that Elijah's claim to be "Allah's Messenger" would inevitably have to be questioned.

Perhaps because the trip marked the beginning of Malcolm's private concerns with the NOIs organization, he was virtually silent about it in the Autobiography Autobiography. He could obviously see the discrepancies between what he had been taught by Elijah Muhammad compared to the richly diverse cultures that he had observed. All Muslims clearly were not "black." Malcolm's letter to the Pittsburgh Courier Pittsburgh Courier, however, as well as stories he recalled of his experiences, conveyed how vividly the trip impressed itself on his mind. Its lessons continued to be heard in the developing philosophy that he expressed through his public speeches.

Malcolm's 1959 tour was widely publicized both within the NOI and by African-American newspapers. Yet after he returned on July 22, he spoke only briefly about his trip, focusing instead on the controversy created by The Hate That Hate Produced The Hate That Hate Produced. He tried to convey what he had learned about the Islamic world to Temple No. 7 members, and even then he spoke carefully, perhaps trying to avoid presenting ideas that might seem at odds with the NOIs basic tenets. "Muslims in the Far East," he said, "were intensely curious to learn how it was that he professed to be Muslim, yet spoke no Arabic." He had explained to them that he had been "kidnapped 400 years ago, robbed of his language, of religion and robbed of his name and wisdom."

Plans moved forward for Elijah Muhammad to make his own trip. Sometime during the first half of November 1959, Muhammad set out with two of his sons, Herbert and Akbar. He later claimed to have accomplished a hajj, but because his journey to Mecca took place outside of the officially sanctioned hajj season, technically he had made umrah umrah, a spiritually motivated visit, even though the umrah umrah is widely accepted throughout the Muslim world as a legitimate pilgrimage. More important was the official acceptance of Muhammad and his small delegation by Saudi authorities, who controlled access to the city for wors.h.i.+ppers. is widely accepted throughout the Muslim world as a legitimate pilgrimage. More important was the official acceptance of Muhammad and his small delegation by Saudi authorities, who controlled access to the city for wors.h.i.+ppers.

Muhammad arrived back home on January 6, 1960. Like Malcolm, he had been profoundly affected, and set about implementing changes to give the NOI a stronger Islamic character. At the next month's Saviours Day convention, he ordered that the NOIs temples would henceforth be called mosques, in keeping with orthodox Islam. More significantly, the pace of Islamization was accelerated. Arabic-language instruction increased, and he sent his son Akbar to study at Al-Azhar University in Cairo; yet he must have seen, as Malcolm had, that his own position presented special challenges when it came to reconciling the NOI with orthodox Islam. His authority, and indeed much of the wealth and property he had accrued, derived from his special (if fictive) status as Allah's Messenger-a status he had no intention of relinquis.h.i.+ng. To maintain his supremacy while remaking the face of the NOI would prove a difficult balancing act.

"1960 may well prove to be a year of decision for the American Negro." Thus spoke radical attorney William Kunstler, opening a debate between Malcolm and the Reverend William M. James on New York City's WMCA radio early that year. Across the South sit-ins and protests had been multiplying, with Negro students refusing to vacate their seats at lunch counters that would not serve them and standing firm in stores that asked them to leave. The mixed experience Malcolm had had with The Hate That Hate Produced The Hate That Hate Produced reinforced the value of presenting the NOIs views in a favorable light, so when early in 1960 New York local radio station WMCA proposed a debate between him and James, the liberal pastor of Metropolitan Community United Methodist Church in Harlem, he accepted the invitation. reinforced the value of presenting the NOIs views in a favorable light, so when early in 1960 New York local radio station WMCA proposed a debate between him and James, the liberal pastor of Metropolitan Community United Methodist Church in Harlem, he accepted the invitation.

Kunstler pressed Malcolm right away. "Roy Wilkins, the executive director of the NAACP, has described your Temple of Islam as being no better than the Ku Klux Klan. You think this is an adequate comment?" Malcolm at once characterized Wilkins's comment as ignorant: "I very much doubt, if Mr. Wilkins was familiar with Mr. Muhammad and his program, that he would make such charges." When Kunstler grew agitated and cited press accounts of NOI members calling whites "inhuman devils," Malcolm defended the cause of "racial extremism" by framing it as a form of exceptionalism common to religious groups. Catholics and Baptists, he pointed out, both claimed the only way to get to heaven was through members.h.i.+p in their respective churches. "And Jews themselves for thousands of years have been taught that they alone are G.o.d's chosen people . . . I find it difficult for Catholics and Christians to accuse us of teaching or advancing any kind of racial supremacy or racial hatred, because their history and their own teachings are filled with it."

Whether or not 1960 proved to be the year of the American Negro, it saw Malcolm finding an audience beyond the black community, and his fame growing. He tried hard to maintain a regular presence at Mosque No. 7, but his speaking engagements continued at a rapid clip. In March, he lectured to students from Harvard, Boston, and MIT at a seminar hosted at Boston University. His formal remarks lasted barely ten minutes; the question and answer exchange went on for more than two hours. He also delivered a lecture at an NAACP-sponsored event at Queens College in May, significant because it marked the first time that the civil rights organization had provided a platform to a black leader who so sharply opposed its policies.

However, the most important address he gave that year was on May 28 at the Harlem Freedom Rally, which the NOI organized with more than a dozen other local black groups. The rally was held at the intersection of Harlem's West 125th Street and Seventh Avenue, where an estimated four thousand people attending the five-hour-long program were packed in shoulder to shoulder in the streets and along the sidewalks. Before the rally started, loudspeakers blared out Louis Xs calypso song "A White Man's Heaven Is a Black Man's h.e.l.l." When Malcolm took to the stage, he delivered a speech that departed from his typical remarks of the time. He made a consciously broad appeal, focusing not on the NOI but on "the black people of Harlem, the black people of America, and the black people all over this earth." At times, he even sounded King-like: "We are not here at this rally because we have already gained freedom. No! We are gathered here rallying for the freedom which we have long been promised, but have as yet not received." Throughout his remarks, he used the racially inclusive language of the civil rights cause-"freedom," "equality," and "justice"-as the framework for building an all-black militant coalition based in the Harlem ghetto. Negroes aligned with the NAACP and National Urban League would find it difficult to argue against such rhetoric, which had neatly appropriated their own.

A central purpose of the rally, Malcolm told his audience, was to listen to a variety of African-American leaders, including some "who have been acting as our spokesmen, and representing us to the white man downtown." He offered no criticism of moderates, instead emphasizing the necessity for Harlem's blacks to overcome the divisions in their community. His emphasis on the need for a united front projected an image of pragmatism and moderation, a remarkable turn for a man who only months earlier had attacked integrationist leaders as Uncle Toms. The speech met with tremendous success and was largely responsible for transforming Malcolm into a respected political leader in Harlem's civic life. Whether the NYPDs BOSS division knew ahead of time about his intentions, it a.s.signed six detectives to attend the rally. One, a black officer named Ernest B. Latty, was apparently so disturbed by the song "A White Man's Heaven" that he purchased the record and attached it to his report. Reactions among the detectives in general raised enough concern to result in a significant increase in BOSSs surveillance.

As Malcolm's schedule of media appearances, college lectures, and speeches grew throughout 1960, so did criticism of him within the NOI. To demonstrate his loyalty, he attended many of Muhammad's public talks, while keeping track of local mosques and devoting himself to Mosque No. 7 at all hours. He also promoted a cult around Muhammad, suggesting that the "apostle" could commit no sins or errors of judgment. "If you look at the development of the Nation of Islam," Louis Farrakhan explained, "it was Brother Malcolm who started referring to Elijah as 'the Honorable' Elijah, and who started making us say-over and over again-'Messenger Elijah Muhammad taught me' or 'Messenger Elijah Muhammad teaches us.' He was driving the point home that Elijah Muhammad was a messenger of G.o.d."

Malcolm's high profile continued to generate speaking invitations at major universities, which introduced him to a significantly larger-and whiter-audience than any of his coworkers inside the Nation. FBI informants even reported that Malcolm might run for public office. On October 20, at Yale Law School auditorium, he was matched with Herbert Wright, the NAACPs national youth secretary. Before a standing-room-only crowd, Wright predictably promoted the cause of racial integration, calling for the use of "litigation, education, and legislation" to achieve reforms. Malcolm rejected this in favor of the total separation of the races. At the end of the debate, NOI members circulated among the throng of white students, selling records featuring "A White Man's Heaven Is a Black Man's h.e.l.l." The debate with Wright represented, on balance, a retreat from the positions favoring civil rights that Malcolm had expressed at the Harlem rally only months before. The emphasis on strict racial separation probably was prompted by Malcolm's desire to make a clear distinction with the NAACP in front of a mostly white audience.

The brutal pace of travel continued throughout the second half of 1960. Although NOI-related business consumed most of his energies, Malcolm continued to look for ways to reach a wider public. The radio interviews and debates reached a largely intellectual and middle-cla.s.s audience. What he was looking for was a way to establish himself on a par with other national and international leaders.

As fate would have it, an opportunity to crash international headlines came gift wrapped from the Cuban Revolution. In September 1960, Cuban prime minister Fidel Castro traveled to New York City to attend the United Nations General a.s.sembly. Across Harlem, news of his impending trip set off great excitement among leaders of the local black left. They quickly arranged a welcoming committee, which Malcolm joined. When the Cuban delegation arrived, it checked in to the well-appointed Shelburne Hotel on Lexington Avenue at 37th Street. Tensions soon ran high: the Cubans already felt insulted by the State Department, which had confined the eighty-five-member delegation's freedom of travel to Manhattan Island. Then a dispute arose over the bill at the Shelburne, with an outraged Castro accusing the hotel of making "unacceptable cash demands." At first, he threatened to move his entourage to Central Park. "We are mountain people," he explained proudly. "We are used to sleeping in the open air." United Nations secretary-general Dag Hammarskjold scrambled to secure lodgings for them at the midtown Commodore Hotel, but he was too late: Malcolm and the Harlem welcoming committee had swooped in and invited the Cubans to stay at the Hotel Theresa, at Seventh Avenue and 125th Street. The eleven-story hotel had three hundred guest rooms; the new guests reserved forty of them, in addition to two suites, one of which was for Fidel.

A Was.h.i.+ngton Post Was.h.i.+ngton Post writer speculated that "Castro, who has made overtures to U.S. Negro leaders to support his left-leaning revolution, apparently was trying to get as much propaganda as possible out of his move." The Soviet premier, Nikita Khrushchev, who was attending the same UN session, immediately sensed an opportunity, and within hours drove uptown and met with Castro for the first time. Meanwhile, thousands of Harlemites thronged the hotel to witness the comings and goings of the delegation and the various visits by international dignitaries. It wasn't long before a mix of political groups entered the crowd, pus.h.i.+ng their own agendas: black nationalists who promoted the cause of deposed Congolese premier Patrice Lumumba, civil rights activists favoring desegregation, pro-Castro demonstrators, and even some beatniks from Greenwich Village. One placard read: "Man, like us cats dig Fidel the most. He knows what's hip and bugs the squares." writer speculated that "Castro, who has made overtures to U.S. Negro leaders to support his left-leaning revolution, apparently was trying to get as much propaganda as possible out of his move." The Soviet premier, Nikita Khrushchev, who was attending the same UN session, immediately sensed an opportunity, and within hours drove uptown and met with Castro for the first time. Meanwhile, thousands of Harlemites thronged the hotel to witness the comings and goings of the delegation and the various visits by international dignitaries. It wasn't long before a mix of political groups entered the crowd, pus.h.i.+ng their own agendas: black nationalists who promoted the cause of deposed Congolese premier Patrice Lumumba, civil rights activists favoring desegregation, pro-Castro demonstrators, and even some beatniks from Greenwich Village. One placard read: "Man, like us cats dig Fidel the most. He knows what's hip and bugs the squares."

Malcolm's members.h.i.+p on the welcoming committee put him in a prime position to turn the visit into an opportunity. Late in the evening of September 19, he and a few NOI lieutenants were granted an hour with Castro. Details of their conversation are at best sketchy; Benjamin 2X Goodman later claimed that Malcolm attempted to "fish" Castro, inviting him to join the NOI. Yet Malcolm surely sensed that any official relations.h.i.+p, while useful, would create great difficulties for him with the authorities. One report suggests that, after the meeting, Malcolm was repeatedly invited to visit Cuba, but made no commitments. Whatever transpired, he was clearly impressed by Castro personally and viewed this new connection as a diplomatic resource that the NOI could exploit. On September 21, speaking at Mosque No. 7, Malcolm instructed all FOI members to stand on "twenty-four-hour alert" so long as Castro remained in Harlem. He added that Castro was "friendly" to the Muslims. An FBI informant reported that "the FOI was being alerted to a.s.sist Castro in the event of any anti-Castro demonstrations."

Though Muhammad Speaks Muhammad Speaks eventually became a staunch defender of the Cuban Revolution, at the time Elijah Muhammad was extremely unhappy about the meeting between Malcolm and Castro. Since his return from the Middle East, his chronic pulmonary illness had worsened, and for all Malcolm's efforts to venerate Muhammad, speculation remained rife throughout the Nation over whether Malcolm or Wallace Muhammad might soon a.s.sume the role of national leader. Since speaking together at the Feast of the Followers in 1957, Malcolm and Wallace had grown closer, despite Wallace's increasing rejection of his fathers theology and his disgust with what he saw as graft on the part of advisers like Raymond and Ethel Sharrieff. Malcolm's militant att.i.tude rubbed off on Wallace to the point that some NOI leaders worried about the potency of a potential alliance. Mosque No. 4 minister Lucius X Brown complained that the duo might "talk Elijah Muhammad into marching on the White House." Even if Muhammad did not want to, Lucius suggested, "Malcolm and Wallace were after Muhammad's job and Muhammad might do it to save face." eventually became a staunch defender of the Cuban Revolution, at the time Elijah Muhammad was extremely unhappy about the meeting between Malcolm and Castro. Since his return from the Middle East, his chronic pulmonary illness had worsened, and for all Malcolm's efforts to venerate Muhammad, speculation remained rife throughout the Nation over whether Malcolm or Wallace Muhammad might soon a.s.sume the role of national leader. Since speaking together at the Feast of the Followers in 1957, Malcolm and Wallace had grown closer, despite Wallace's increasing rejection of his fathers theology and his disgust with what he saw as graft on the part of advisers like Raymond and Ethel Sharrieff. Malcolm's militant att.i.tude rubbed off on Wallace to the point that some NOI leaders worried about the potency of a potential alliance. Mosque No. 4 minister Lucius X Brown complained that the duo might "talk Elijah Muhammad into marching on the White House." Even if Muhammad did not want to, Lucius suggested, "Malcolm and Wallace were after Muhammad's job and Muhammad might do it to save face."

The possibility of this power pairing appeared to be dashed on March 23, 1960, when Wallace Muhammad was convicted in federal court for refusing to be drafted into the military. In June of that same year, he was sentenced to three years' incarceration. Wallace's attorney appealed the decision, claiming him as a conscientious objector. While the appeal crawled through the system, Wallace continued his activities building the Philadelphia mosque, and he was a frequent visitor to Harlem Mosque No. 7. For example, on January 29, 1961, when Malcolm was away on an extended lecture tour, Wallace was advertised as the featured speaker at Mosque No. 7 in the Amsterdam News Amsterdam News. At an October 1961 hearing, Wallace's appeal was finally denied, and he was ordered to turn himself in for incarceration in a federal prison. On October 30, Wallace began serving a three-year term at the Federal Correctional Inst.i.tution in Sandstone, Minnesota. Wallace Muhammad was paroled on January 10, 1963, and he immediately returned to resume his ministers appointment at Mosque No. 12 in Philadelphia.

Wallace's absence from NOI organizational life tended to increase paranoid rumors and fears about Malcolm, especially among Elijah Muhammad's other children. Some of the hostility directed at Malcolm grew from his organizational function. As a national overseer, his responsibilities included resolving local feuds between members of various mosques. The role of troubleshooter was an unenviable one, because Malcolm was frequently forced to impose the authority of Chicago headquarters over local leaders who sought the semiautonomy and flexibility that he himself enjoyed.

Facing growing strife, Malcolm was concerned about protecting his allies within the NOI. No one was more important to him than Louis X Walcott. Louis had worked directly under Malcolm in New York City from October 1955 to July 1956, enough time for him to incorporate Malcolm's oratorical style into his own. But when he had become Boston's minister in 1957, he had considerable difficulty handling the job. He feared that he was unqualified, with the mosque having attracted a number of professionals far more experienced in business and civic affairs than he was. Farrakhan recalled: "[Malcolm] would come and look after his little brother and give me pointers. And Malcolm would go out in the street, man, and listen to the people, go in barbershops-'What do you think about the mosque?' And he would get the outside view of me and us. And he would come back and tell me what the people were saying and correct me."

Malcolm was determined that his protege become a national figure in his own right, and encouraged him to write two plays, Orgena Orgena and and The Trial The Trial, both of which became wildly popular when performed before Muslim audiences. But before long Louis needed a different kind of help. Ella Collins, newly converted to the NOI, had quickly become leader of those who wanted Louis deposed. Years later he would describe her as a "genius woman," then adding, "But in my weakness in administrative skill, she saw that weakness and raised a group in opposition to me." With the same boundless energy with which she had established educational programs within the temple, she threw herself into battle. As tensions mounted, a fire broke out in Louis's home; no one was injured, but most NOI members believed that Collins was responsible.

Both sides appealed to Elijah Muhammad. Louis argued that Ella continued to undermine his authority and should be disciplined, if not expelled. Ella urged Muhammad to name her captain of Mosque No. 11 and to fire Louis. Muhammad first offered a compromise: Louis would remain the minister, but none of the programs Ella had initiated at the mosque would be canceled. Ella tried to adhere to this plan, but her dislike for Louis was too strong, and she soon stopped attending the mosque. But the matter did not end there. Malcolm was invited to Boston as a mediator, where he explained to Louis that Ella was an extremely dangerous person. "Ella is the type of woman that-brother, she'll kill you." Malcolm had little choice but to back Louis's decision to expel her, making her the second of his siblings, after Reginald, that Malcolm would sacrifice to his loyalty to the Nation.

By 1960, the black activist Bayard Rustin was almost fifty years old. Though his tireless civil rights work brought him into a.s.sociation with younger men like King, his agitation on behalf of African Americans had begun decades earlier. Rustin had briefly joined the Communist Party in the late 1930s, then in 1941 worked with A. Philip Randolph's Negro March on Was.h.i.+ngton Movement, which forced President Roosevelt to outlaw racial discrimination in the defense industry. Like Malcolm, he had opposed black involvement in World War II, and his refusal to join the military landed him a three-year prison sentence. After his release, he partic.i.p.ated in nonviolent demonstrations, challenging Jim Crow laws on public buses in the upper South; by the mid-1950s he had become an invaluable adviser and fund-raiser to King.

However, as the decade turned and the bitter taste of McCarthyism lingered in the mouths of the left, Rustin found himself suddenly marginalized. It was not only on account of his brief communist members.h.i.+p, but also his s.e.xuality: Rustin was gay, and in 1953 had been jailed in California for public s.e.xual activity. In April 1960, he had become involved with a new organization initiated by Ella Baker, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which would become the radical wing of the desegregationist struggle. Throughout that summer, he had a.s.sisted SNCCs new president, Marion Barry, in planning what was to be a major conference on nonviolence in October. Rustin's name was even listed on the conference program. But when the AFL-CIOs executive council, which was funding the conference, expressed opposition to his partic.i.p.ation based on his s.e.xual orientation and brief communist past, Barry and other student coordinators caved in and "disinvited" him. Rustin's public banning was not unusual for African-American leftists, however. In academic year 1961-62, communist Benjamin Davis, Jr., was banned from speaking on many college campuses, sparking student protests at City University of New York.

Rustin's isolation from the Black Freedom Movement and his desire to use the publicity surrounding Malcolm to reestablish his own credentials may help to explain his growing interest in the Nation of Islam. On November 7, 1960, the two men debated each other on New York City's WBAI radio, the beginning of a friends.h.i.+p that would endure despite their divergent agendas. Malcolm, speaking first, began by distinguis.h.i.+ng the NOIs approach from that of black nationalism. A nationalist, Malcolm explained, shared the same aim of a Muslim. "But the difference is in method. We say the only solution is the religious approach; this is why we stress the importance of a moral reformation." He denied any commitment to practical politics, a.s.serting Elijah Muhammad was "not a politician."

Malcolm had by this time garnered much experience as a debater, but Rustin had more, and he worked over his younger opponent; it didn't help that the holes in Malcolm's argument were easy to spot. Rustin attacked Malcolm's separatist position as conservative, even pa.s.sive. The vast majority of blacks, he said, were "seeking to become full-fledged citizens," and the purpose of civil rights protests was to further this cause. Malcolm denied the possibility that "full-fledged" citizens.h.i.+p was attainable. "We feel that if a hundred years after the so-called Emanc.i.p.ation Proclamation the black man is still not free, then we don't feel that what Lincoln did set them free in the first place." Rustin quickly pointed out that Malcolm was avoiding the question.

The older man's superior debating skills kept his opponent on the defensive. At one point, Malcolm denied that integration was ever going to happen, but admitted that "if the white man were to accept us, without laws being pa.s.sed, then we would go for it." This alone was a significant concession, except Rustin wanted to force Malcolm to the logical end point of this argument: that if change was impossible to achieve in America, blacks would have to set up a separate state elsewhere. When Malcolm finally admitted as much, Rustin closed the trap. It was relatively easy for him to recount the major reforms that had taken place, and the practical impossibility of a black state. "The great majority of Negroes [are] feeling that things can improve here. Until you have some place to go, they're going to want to stay."

In a matter of minutes, the essential weakness of the Nation of Islam had been exposed. It presented itself as a religious movement, with no direct interest in politics. Yet, as King had shown, when it came to driving change, religion and politics did not need to be mutually exclusive. Hundreds of black Christian ministers were already using their churches as centers for mobilizing civil disobedience and voter registration efforts. The Nation saw the white government as the enemy; Elijah Muhammad often claimed in speeches that the government had failed black Americans. But with John F. Kennedy's election in November 1960, largely on the wings of significant support by blacks, reforms seemed to be on the horizon. And even if those reforms were limited, the Garveyite notion of one or more separate black states was never a realizable alternative.

Most devastating for Malcolm was that he knew Rustin was right. For all the strides the Nation had made in promoting self-improvement in the lives of its members, its political isolation had left it powerless to change the external conditions that bounded their freedoms. Malcolm himself had already embraced the necessity of direct political action when he marched down Harlem's busiest thoroughfares and blockaded a police station to secure the safety of Johnson X Hinton. And the Third World movements he embraced-from the postcolonial struggles inspired by Pan-Africanism to his identification with Castro-were driven fundamentally by a commitment to politics. Rustin showed that Malcolm was defending a conservative, apolitical program that, by his own actions, he did not endorse.

Had Malcolm been quicker to grasp the practical implications of Rustin's logic, he might have avoided one of the great disasters of his career. Soon after the debate, he was charged with leading the NOIs mobilization in Dixie. By the late 1950s, most civil rights organizations were devoting their resources to support campaigns across the South, and the NOI did not want to be caught out. In 1960 in Jackson, Mississippi, thousands of blacks had partic.i.p.ated in an economic boycott of segregationist white merchants that proved to be 90 to 95 percent effective. That August NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers investigated and publicized police brutality cases in the state. CORE was also poised for growth, when in December 1960 the Supreme Court ruled in Boynton v. Virginia Boynton v. Virginia that racial segregation was outlawed in all interstate transportation terminals, much as the earlier that racial segregation was outlawed in all interstate transportation terminals, much as the earlier Morgan v. Virginia Morgan v. Virginia had done for interstate bus travel itself. In early 1961, under new director James Farmer, CORE would initiate "Freedom Rides" of desegregationist protesters into the Deep South. had done for interstate bus travel itself. In early 1961, under new director James Farmer, CORE would initiate "Freedom Rides" of desegregationist protesters into the Deep South.

Unlike these civil rights groups, however, the Nation's Southern strategy would be anch.o.r.ed to its program of black separatism. Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm had together constructed an anti-integrationist strategy that they hoped would find a receptive audience among Southern blacks. A key element of their approach was to brand African-American Christian clergy, especially those involved in nonviolent protests, as "Toms"-even though such an ugly attack directly contradicted Malcolm's public commitment to the building of a black united front. The plan also called for the construction of new NOI mosques across the region.

In December, Malcolm traveled to Atlanta, announcing his presence there in an interview on that city's WERD radio. He attended meetings and gave lectures at Atlanta's Mosque No. 15 on at least five occasions, before moving on to an interdenominational ministers' conference in Alabama and other meetings in Tampa, Miami, and Jacksonville.

Malcolm returned home for the Christmas Day birth of his second daughter, Qubilah, named in honor of Mongol emperor Kublai Khan, but by late January he was back in Atlanta, ostensibly to partic.i.p.ate in local NOI meetings. The main purpose of this trip, however, was to establish an understanding with the Ku Klux Klan.

No single incident in Malcolm's entire career has generated more controversy than his private caucus with the Klan in January 1961. Most of the details about the planning and logistics of this meeting are still sketchy. What is established is that, despite a previous exchange of hostile letters between KKK leader J. B. Stoner and Elijah Muhammad, both the Klan and the NOI saw advantages to crafting a secret alliance. On January 28, Malcolm and Atlanta NOI leader Jeremiah X met in Atlanta with KKK representatives. Apparently, the Nation was interested in purchasing tracts of farmland and other properties in the South and, as Malcolm explained, wanted to solicit "the aid of the Klan to obtain the land." According to FBI surveillance, Malcolm a.s.sured the white racists that "his people wanted complete segregation from the white race." If sufficient territory were obtainable, blacks could establish their own racially separate businesses and even government. Explaining that the Nation exercised strict discipline over its members, he urged white racists in Georgia to do likewise: to eliminate those white "traitors who a.s.sisted integration leaders."

Malcolm himself seems to have viewed the entire affair with distaste, as he complained about it afterward to Elijah Muhammad and did not publicly admit his role until years later. Even then, he worked to distance himself, claiming that he had no knowledge about NOI-Klan contacts after January 1961,