The Ballot or the Bullet Analysis
Jasmine Grant
Jackson State University

By Any Means Necessary! (Malcolm X) Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska on May 19, 1925. His father, Earl Little, was an outspoken Baptist minister and avid supporter of Black Nationalist leader Marcus Garvey. Earl’s civil rights activism prompted death threats from the white supremacist organization Black Legion and the KKK, forcing the family to relocate twice before Malcolm’s fourth birthday. Regardless of the Little’s efforts to get away from the Legion, in 1929, their Michigan home was burned to the ground. Two years later, Earl’s body was found lying across the town’s trolley tracks. Police ruled both incidents as accidents. Malcolm’s mother, .Louise suffered emotional breakdown several years after the death of her husband and was committed to a mental institution, while her children were split up among various foster homes and orphanages. In Malcolm’s late teens he began to drift into the life of petty crime and was convicted on burglary charges. He was to serve 10 years of prison but was granted parole after seven. During his sentence he was converted to the Nation of Islam under the “Great” Elijah Muhammad. He became very active in the Nation and his great talents as a leader moved him to the number two spot in the Muslim organization. In 1964, he withdrew from the Nation upon the knowledge of Muhammad’s affairs and future children, and being silenced because of his comments towards Kennedy’s assassination. Malcolm X setup his own orthodox Muslim mosque and organized a black protest organization, the Association of Afro-American Unity. He continued to emphasize Pan-Africanism, black self-determination, and black self-defense. In February 1965 he was assassinated by three Nation of Islam members.