X AMPLE - 2019

X AMPLE is a portrait of the iconic Malcolm X. The title is a contrast to his birth name, Malcolm Little, which he refused to use due to its affiliation with slavery. It is also intended to signify the bold and unapologetic example Malcolm X made during the Civil Rights Movement which consequently cost him his life after he was assassinated.

“My father didn't know his real name. My father got his name from his grandfather and he got his name from his grandfather and he got it from the slave master.”

- Malcolm X

 Malcolm X

Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little in Omaha Nebraska 19th May 1925. He spent many years in foster homes as a teenager as his father passed away and his mother was hospitalised. His Father was killed in what police termed a streetcar accident, but Malcolm X believed that the Ku Klux Klan was behind it.

Although he was kicked out of school in the seventh grade and sent to a juvenile home in a nearly all-white community of Mason, Michigan, he did well at school there, earning straight A's and being elected president of his 8th-grade class.               

Malcolm moved to Harlem, New York in 1943 and in 1946, at the age of 20, he engaged in illicit activities and was sentenced to 10 years in prison for larceny and breaking and entering. Whilst in prison Malcolm joined The Nation of Islam. He was introduced to the Nation of Islam's leader, Elijah Muhammad, who is himself was in prison for sedition and violation of the draft laws.

Once out of prison Malcolm campaigned and attracted many new members to The Nation of Islam. Malcolm eventually changed his surname “Little” to “X”. He refused to use his surname and described it as a slave name given to his family by white oppressors.

Malcolm X made a tremendous contribution to the Civil Rights Movement however he was also critical of the movement. While the Civil Rights Movement fought against racial segregation, Malcolm X advocated the complete separation of African Americans from whites proposing that African Americans should return to Africa and that a separate country for black people in America should be created. His speeches had a powerful effect on his audiences though controversial to some.

In 1963, Malcolm began to work on his autobiography with Alex Haley, a writer he had met for from previous interviews. Haley expressed they got off to a very poor start but eventually Malcolm warmed to the project and began to share the details of his life.

During 1960’s Malcolm X became more sceptical of the Nation of Islam, especially with the leader Elijah Muhammad. He later confirmed that Elijah Muhammad had engaged in repeated adultery and had children with at least three of his young secretaries.

On the 21st February 1965, Malcolm X was assassinated while speaking at an OAAU rally in Harlem. Three members of the Nation of Islam were later convicted.

On the 27th February 1965 Actor Ossie Davis lead the funeral service for Malcolm X in which approximately 1500 people attended. Later that year The Autobiography of Malcolm X was published and his wife, who was pregnant with twins at the time of Malcolm's murder, gave birth to his last two daughters.