In the 1960s, a sublabel of Motown records released some speeches on vinyl.
After Spike Lee's movie came out in 1992, some smaller companies released
speeches of Malcolm on CD.
I also saw a CD single with a speech by Malcolm in a recordstore in Dublin
back in 1993.
The major online-cd-stores all stock audio-recordings of Malcolm's speeches,
although it might take it them a while to deliver the items. I ordered
a tape with "The Wisdom of Malcolm X" from MusicBoulevard which I received
after three weeks, since they had to backorder the item. The single-CD by
Keith LeBlanc "No Sell Out" (Tommy Boy Records) wasn't available at that
time. Perhaps I'll try and order it from another online-cd-store sometime.
Here is a list of the major online-cd-stores and databases which might help
you in your search:
Since 1996 I administrate the malcolmx@unix-ag.uni-kl.de Mailinglist. This
list was intended to serv as a means to exchange resources on Malcolm X, and
to inform people who are interested in Malcolm X of changes to my site.
The list has showed nearly no traffic so far, although several people are
subscribed to the list.
To subscribe, simply write an email to listserv@unix-ag.uni-kl.de and include
in the body of the mail: subscribe malcolmx your@email.address
(and don't forget to substitute your@email.address with your real emailaddress).
F. Leon Wilson is th administrator of the bigger Malcolm-X list located at
MALCOLM-X@maelstrom.stjohns.edu, a list dedicated to the "Discussions of the life, philosophy & influences of Malcolm X". Please contact Mr. F. Leon Wilson
(flwilson@INFINET.COM) for further details.
Since my web-site is online, many people from all over the world have written
to me and asked me all sorts of questions. Of course, all the people had a
special intention when they asked me. Quite a few of them were high school
students who were working on a school project about Malcolm X. Some were as
young as 12 years!
Here is a list of some of the more interesting questions and my particular
answers to those requests.
How did you become interested in Malcolm X?
Why You And Malcolm?
In the mid 80s, when I was about 13 years old, I started listening to
Public Enemy songs, we spoke about the US in our English class, and there
was a lot of talk about South Africa's apartheids system.
All this, and the lack of precise and neutral information made me start
to search the libraries in our area.
Quite difficult, since the 60s were long gone and there were no new books
available on these topics (the first Malcolm X book to be republished
in German came out after Spike Lee's film X in 1992 !!!).
In some encyclopaedias Malcolm wasn't even mentioned at all.
(Today that's my criteria for a good encyclopaedia - if they have a good
article on Malcolm - fine, if not, dump it.)
I read a lot during that time, started doing serious research with the
help of the University library in Mainz which has a very decent collection.
I only heard Malcolm's voice in samples in rap songs; here we can be lucky
if German TV aires a documentation on Martin Luther King on Jan. 15 or
April 4, but the only thing they ever showed on Malcolm was Spike's movie
and reports concerning that movie. And all this only since 1991.
Today, I have quite a collection on Malcolm and African-American history.
Just yesterday some books I ordered at www.books.com arrived after 8 weeks
of delivery.
So I'll read Clarence Clayborne's "Malcolm X - The FBI files" over the
weekend. (Besides, do you know what the K. in Malcolm K. Little means ?)
My parents probably won't be too happy about the books, since I've spent
so much money on books already. And listening to rap, soul, jazz and
gospel music and reading books on African-American history (like
Lerone Bennett's "Before the mayflower" which I read during the
late 80s and which I now finally have since yesterday) isn't very common
in Germany.
Today, I'm very thankful for the internet, which helps me to "talk" to other
people. During the 80s, I didn't have anyone to discuss all of this.
I was wondering if you were a Muslim and if you want to convert to islam?
1. What is your opinion of Malcolm X?
2. Do you think that his ideas about race relations were right? Why or why not?
3. Do you think he was a racist person?
1. I admire him and his possibility to change. My paper
"Two Roads To Freedom" is strongly influenced by my personal opinion,
although this might not be obvious to the reader at first sight.
But every author who writes something on Malcolm (or any book in general) takes only the facts etc. that he/she finds interesting and important.
2. Difficult question...
It always depends on what ideas you mean and in what context. I don't agree
with a lot of things he said, but in some there was some truth. The things
Malcolm said have influenced many people but one can't forget that in the 60s
many ideas where circulated by a lot of people.
I have always found King's opinion to be too positve and Malcolm's opinion has
often been influenced by other people (like Westindian Archie, the Honorable
Elijah Muhammad etc.).
A complete answer to this question
would have to be very complex, since not all things Malcolm said were
his own ideas but those of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.
It depends on what comments about race relations you mean, since Malcolm's
view changed after his split with the Nation of Islam.
I could only tell you my own opinion on this topic, but I don't think one
can judge if Malcolm's ideas were right.
Most of the ideas which developed during the civil-rights movement or the end
of the 1960s haven't been put into practise exactly as they were planned,
and Malcolm's ideas in particular have been widely critisized by the majority
of (white) people although most have never heard what Malcolm said.
It's difficult for me to judge the situation in America and especially the
situation of the 1960s, since I'm living in Germany and was born in 1974, so
I haven't lived during the 60s. I'm always very caucious on talking about
things I don't know nothing about. It's difficult to get information on
Malcolm here in Germany, I have been collecting everything I could get
since 1988. But since I haven't
studied any social sciences or history, I don't feel that I'm
able to say that Malcolm's ideas were right or wrong. There was some
truth behind it, and in combination with other ideas they could work out.
3.) I don't see Malcolm as a racist. I see him mostly as a human-being who
was easily influenced by men who treated him like a son (with this I mean
the person(s) who influenced him while in prison and the Honorable
Elijah Muhammad in particular).
After his break with the NOI his views changed a lot. But his personal change
didn't change the public opinion on him.
He will always be remembered as the "radical Black Muslim leader" by the
white media.
When I wrote to the American embassy asking for information on Malcolm and
Martin Luther King, jr. I only got infos on MLK, nothing on Malcolm.
Some encyclopaedias don't even mention Malcolm, and nearly every library here
in Germany has a book on MLK, but only a few have one on Malcolm.
So most people might think that Malcolm was a racist, but I don't. I think
I've read too much and been into this topic for too long to have such a
wrong and narrow-minded opinion on him.
In fact, as you might have guessed while reading this comment, I have some
problems putting all this in words. (Especially since English is a foreign
language and I haven't spoken real English for several years now...)
Do you think Malcolm X is a true American Hero?
I don't think he is a hero (what heroic deeds did he do?) and he is not a
true American.
So the answer should be no.
BUT...
I think Malcolm is a very important but unfortunately often forgotten figure
in American history. He was deeply influenced by the American history and
society and he influenced America. Just take a look at African-American
poetry of the late sixties and early seventies or at the Black Power movement.
I also think that he is an important role-model for young (and all other) people
.
One thing I admire most in him was his ability to change and to admit his mistak
es. And one important thing I learned while researching the topic was
that primary sources like autobiographies etc. might leave important facts out
but might also be more exact like any secondary sources (that is books
on Malcolm, not by Malcolm; Newspaper articles and articles in other books,
like history books, encyclopaedias etc.).
Something other people write about a person/ a period of time etc. always
is different to what the people themselve say.
Since I didn't know which sources to trust, I collect everything I could get
and read many books and articles. I learned how to work with libraries etc.
which helped me a lot here in university.
That's a nice side-effect, I think !
Ich fand Malcolm immer zu komplex, um immer nur seine Zeit in der Nation of Islam zu betrachten, wie es die Mehrheit der Bevölkerung gerne macht. Man muss bei ihm vor allen Dingen auch immer den familiären Hintergrund
und seine Umgebung berücksichtigen. Die Entwicklung der NOI spielt dabei ebenso eine Rolle, wie die Situation der
Familie Little, die Situation in den Großstädten ansprechen, die mit Martins Philosophie nichts anfangen konnten. (siehe dazu auch die
Autobiographie und den Abschnitt über das "Fischen gehen".).Dementsprechend war damals auch seine Rhetorik
absichtlich provokant und der Philosophie der NOI angepasst. (Nicht zu vergessen: er sah the Honorable Elijah Muhammad lange Zeit als eine Art Vater-Ersatz an).
Mir war es damals bei meiner Arbeit auch wichtig, die Komplexität und die Globalität des Themas anzudeuten.
Deswegen die Einleitung, von der ich nicht weiß, ob ich sie heute nochmal so formulieren könnte oder würde. Auch
der kurze Abriß der afroamerikanischen Geschichte schien mir sehr wichtig. obwohl alles meiner Meinung nach noch
viel ausführlicher hätte sein müssen. Nur meine Lehrerin wollte eben nur 12 Seiten!
 
Die Idee zu der Arbeit hatte ich schon mehr als zwei Jahre vorher, so daß ich doch genug Zeit zum Material
sammeln hatte. Am Ende war ich Mitglied in acht Bibliotheken - von Büchereien von lokalen katholischen Kirchen bis hin zu mehreren Stadtbüchereien & Bibliotheken
und insbesondere der Uni-Bib Mainz und der Bücherei im Amerika-Haus in Frankfurt.
Die Uni-Bib Mainz hat einen Amerikanistik-Fachbereich mit einer recht guten
Fachbereichsbibliothek und einer sehr umfrangreichen Zentralbibliothek. Meistens
konnte ich
aber nur Bücher aus dem "offenen Bereich" der Bibliothek leihen, da man die auch ohne eintägige
Wartezeit für 4 Wochen leihen konnte.
Auf das Amerika-Haus bin ich durch die Amerikanische Botschaft gekommen. Die Botschaft hat meine Anfrage nach Material nach Frankfurt umgeleitet, woher ich einiges an Material über
die Bürgerrechtsbewegung erhielt, allerdings befassen sich diese Infobroschüren der US-Regierung (USIS)
hauptsächlich mit Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm wird fast nie erwähnt.
Das Amerika-Haus in Frankfurt hat eine recht gute Bücherei mit vielen Zeitschriften und
Büchern, sowie eine Mediothek, die ich bei meinem einzigen Besuch dort aber
nicht nutzen
konnte. Kopien kosteten damals leider auch 20Pf/Stück. Allerdings habe ich einige Bücher dort
geliehen, die ich dann später mit der Post zurückgeschickt habe.
Amerika-Häuser gibt es wohl in mehreren grossen Städten, evtl. ist ja auch eins bei Dir in der Nähe.
Die Adressen hatte ich aus den Telefonbüchern von Bonn & Frankfurt.
Ach ja, zu den Zeitschriften: Die Zeitschrift "Ebony" hat oft Artikel über Malcolm, meistens in der Februar-Ausgabe (wegen Black History Month).
Die meisten Bücher habe ich allerdings erst nach der Facharbeit gekauft. Teilweise in Irland (ich war mehrmals in Dublin), teilweise im Internet (bei www.books.com) bestellt. Ich
sammele immer noch alles, was mir unter die Finger kommt.
 
Wenn ich heute wieder eine solche Arbeit über ein ähnliches Thema schreiben müßte, würde ich
wahrscheinlich keine "Biographie" mehr wählen, sondern eher etwas
wie
"Die Beeinflussung der afro-amerikanischen Dichtung nach 1965 durch Malcolm
X" oder
"Malcolm X Einflüsse auf die moderne amerikanische Musik" oder
"Afro-Amerikanische Frauen im 19. Jahrhundert" oder
"Dichtung der Harlem Rennaissance" oder oder oder
aussuchen. Es gibt ja soviele Möglichkeiten!