The mind of Malcolm.

Abstract

Typically history has remembered Malcolm X as the militant minister to the Nation of Islam. Through various media such as music and film, popular culture has memorialized Malcolm X as the American icon willing to achieve civil rights, “by any means necessary.” Each of these descriptions warrants elements of truth yet not the whole truth because they fail to delve deeper into the inner workings of Malcolm’s mind to discover how, what, when, and why he thought he could change the world. The mind of Malcolm, much like the man, was a complex creature of contradiction and intrigue. In order to understand and appreciate the worldwide ramifications and universal legacy of Malcolm’s mind, this work aims to explore and examine the ideological genesis, development, and legacy to one of America’s most misunderstood figures of the twentieth century.