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Earl Little dies
Earl was Malcolm's father; he was an outspoken Baptist lay speaker, admirer of activist Marcus Garvey, and local leader of the Universal Negro Improvement Association. On September 27, 1931, Earl little was killed in what was officially ruled as a streetcar accident however, the family suggested that the Black Legion (A white racist group) had murdered him as the group harassed the family since they moved to Milwaukee. Malcolm was only six at the time and was concived the Black Legion did this. -
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Malcolm X 's events
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Louise Helen Little is committed to a state hopstial
Shortly after his father’s death, Malcolm’s mother suffered a nervous breakdown because she wasn't able to support her children and collapsed under the stress. She was then committed to Kalamazoo Regional Psychiatric Hospital and Malcolm was sent to a foster home. He decided to move to Boston with his sister after he dropped out of school. A few years later, Malcolm wanted to support himself and moved to New York City’s Harlem Neighborhood. -
Malcolm's move to Harlem
While in Harlem, Malcolm engaged in drug dealing, gambling, racketeering, robbery, and pimping. He was called "Detroit Red" because of the reddish hair he inherited from his Scots maternal grandfather. He relocated to Boston again where he organized a robbery ring that was uncovered by the police in 1946, and he was sentenced to eight to 10 years in prison. -
Malcom is arrested in Boston
In late 1945, Little returned to Boston, where he and four accomplices committed a series of burglaries targeting wealthy white families. In 1946, he was arrested while picking up a stolen watch he had left at a shop for repairs, and in February began serving an eight-to-ten-year sentence at Charlestown State Prison for larceny and breaking and entering. -
Malcolm joins the Nation of Islam
While in prison, some of his siblings told him about Islam and a fellow prison inmate, John Bembry, helped gain an interset in leraning basic grammar skills. Under Bembry's influence, Little developed a voracious appetite for reading. Once Malocm was released from prison he meets with Elijah Muhammad in Chicago and by June of 1953 he was named assistant minister of the Nation's Temple Number One. -
Expanding temples across America
During 1955, Malcolm X continued his successful recruitment of members on behalf of the Nation of Islam. He established temples in Springfield, Massachusetts (Number 13); Hartford, Connecticut (Number 14); and Atlanta, Georgia (Number 15). Hundreds of African Americans were joining the Nation of Islam every month. -
The John Hinton Incidnet
On April 26, Hinton and two other passersby—also Nation of Islam members—saw the officers beating an African-American man with nightsticks. When they attempted to intervene, shouting, "You're not in Alabama...this is New York!" one of the officers turned on Hinton, beating him so severely that he suffered brain contusions and subdural hemorrhaging. All four African-American men were arrested. Malcolm X tried to bail Hinton out but was unsuccesful and made the crowd leave the station. -
Malcolm leaves the Nation of Islam
On March 8, 1964, Malcolm X publicly announced his break from the Nation of Islam. He was still a Muslim, he said, but felt that the Nation had "gone as far as it can" because of its rigid teachings. He said he was planning to organize a black nationalist organization to "heighten the political consciousness" of African Americans. -
The Pilgramage to Mecca
In April 1964, with financial help from his half sister, Malcolm X went to Saudi Arabia, as the start of his Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca. He was delayed in Jeddah when his U.S. citizenship and inability to speak Arabic caused his status as a Muslim to be questioned. Malcolm X learned that Prince Faisal had designated him as a state guest and was able to comeplete his Hajj. -
Malcolm X forms the OAAU
In New York on June 28,1964, Malcolm X annocunced that he founded the Organization of Afro American Unity. The OAAU was modeled on the Organisation of African Unity, which had impressed Malcolm X during his visit to Africa in April and May 1964. The purpose of the OAAU was to fight for the human rights of African Americans and promote cooperation among Africans and people of African descent in the Americas.
