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MALCOLM X Born Malcolm Little on 19 May 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska, the self-educated Black Muslim minister became famous as Malcolm X. H e was assassinated in New York on 21 February 1965. The visits of Malcolm X came at important turning points in his intellectual development. H e came to Harvard to give speeches on thre e separat e and significan t occasions : onc e i n 1961, when he was deeply in his Black Muslim period; in March 1964 , when he had just resigned from the Black Muslims; and in December 1964, soon after he ha d returne d fro m a n extensive tri p t o Africa , tw o months befor e hi s assassination, and i n th e mids t o f th e perio d o f hi s partia l acceptanc e of racial integration . On e o f th e mos t compellin g theme s i n Malcol m X' s literature i s the explici t sens e of exil e fel t b y Black American s which h e articulated so well. Thi s theme lay at the surface of nearly all his Harvard speeches. H e often seemed so surprised by the rough treatment that blacks had receive d a t th e hands of whites. An d i n these moments hi s rhetori c stands with the great rhetoric of all literature that comes from the everlasting struggle of men and women to be free. It ha s becom e clea r sinc e hi s deat h tha t Malcol m X wa s th e mos t effective exponen t o f th e blac k nationalis t strateg y an d a man , strangel y enough, whose very being may be more integral to the American experience of his generation than any other man's, white or black. Becaus e Malcolm X was so completely a man of words, it is in his speeches that h e must be found, and in no other single group of speeches can his development as man and thinker be so clearly seen than in those he delivered at Harvard. —Archie Epps 344 Malcolm X The Leverett Hous e Forum of March 18 , 19641 Archie Epps, Moderator Academicians and laymen have often though t of Negro radicalism or nationalism in terms of pathology. In other words, Negro personalities in radica l movement s ar e though t t o b e abnormal , o r shysters , o r freaks of some sort. Accordingly , Negro radicalism is conceived of as the fervent product of systematic and protracted frustration; its ideology , a pathological response to economic, social, and cultural discrimination . Th e Negro radical movement is never credited with meaning what it says. It s pronouncements ar e interpreted rathe r than heard . None o f it s argument s i s accorde d th e courtes y on e give s reality . They are tolerated a s the angry response of Negroes to white rejection . I t i s perhaps mor e nearl y correct tha t wha t i s often though t absurd about Negro radicalism turns out to be logical conclusions to a line of reasoning and experience which are unknown and beyond the imagination of most observers who are not themselves Negro. Negr o radicalism is, rather, the spontaneous and articulated answer of some Negroes t o rea l problem s littl e appreciate d b y timi d an d peacefu l souls. It i s nearer th e truth, no doubt, tha t some of you have come to see and hear Malcolm X only to observe what you think is his curious pathology. Surel y some have come for th e reason one would attend a circus—to watch the dancing bear. T o be sure, revolutions, and this one, are full of the inadequacies of men and of their pathologies; but, on the other hand, revolutions give rise to profound meditation on the problem o f evi l an d o n th e plac e o f ma n i n society . Specifically , revolutions demonstrate in the clamor of men the economic forces of the age; their molding of society and politics, of men in the mass and individual man; and the powerful reactio n of all these forces on th e social environment a t one of those rare moments when society is at a boiling...

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