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Myers, Walter Dean. Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary : A Biography. New York: Scholastic, 1993. Print.

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Earl Little and Louise little fell in love and got married in 1919. As a black couple during the early ninetieth-century finding work was very difficult. The couple moved around a lot due to harassment from the white community because they would advocate for African American rights. Because of this constant harassment, the couple decided to move to Omaha Nebraska. Their family quickly grew and on May 19th, 1926 they gave birth to their 3rd child, Malcolm Little.

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Ever since Malcolm was young he really looked up to his father. His father even took him to U.N.I.A. meetings. The U.N.I.A stood for the Universal Negro Improvement Association. At these meetings, his father would preach about uplifting the black race. His father was sent threats but didn't listen to them and continued to preach. On the 28th of September in 1931 Malcolm woke up in the middle of the night to his mother's screams. His mother had just been told by the police that his father had just died in a "car accident". Malcolm's mother, however, didn't buy it and believed that he was killed by white people who no longer wanted him to preach about black rights.

Quote #1: "Malcolm would never forget the night that his father was killed. He would remember the screams of his mother, and of the suddenly fatherless family huddled together in yet another tragedy." (22)

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After the death of his father Malcolm and the rest of the Little family began to face some struggles. His mother, Louise Little was an educated and well-respected woman but during this time regardless of your intellect and capability, people wouldn't respect you just because of the color of your skin. Since Louise Little was not only black but also a woman many people began to speculate if she was capable of looking after her 6 kids all alone. Louise tried very hard to afford food and other necessity for her kids but during this time black people, especially black women made barely any money. Soon welfare officers began to visit and question the kids about their mother's sanity. His mother started to talk to herself and was showing signs of delusion and soon enough Louise Little was taken away from her children and sent to a mental asylum, which lead to Malcolm being separated from his siblings.

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Malcolm was sent to a juvenile home due to his bad behavior at his older school. At his old middle school, Malcolm would pull pranks on teachers and constantly get in trouble. But shortly after being sent to the juvenile home, there was a last-minute transfer to a Junior High in Mason. He was the only black student in the entire 8th grade. During this time Malcolm tried his absolute best to get along with his fellow classmates. Malcolm even said that during this time he tried to be as "white" as possible.

Quote #2: "Malcolm states, in his autobiography, that during this time he tried to be as "white" as possible. Again he was caught in a conflict. By acting in a "white" way he was doing well. But he wasn't white, and he couldn't act as if he was because he was still being called [ ] by kids who didn't like him..." (34)

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At this new school, Malcolm was attending, things began to go good for him. He was getting great grades and he even got to join the basketball team and play for the school. But one day his teacher, who he thought liked him, said something to him that would change the course of his life forever. The teacher asked what Malcolm wanted to be when he was older and when Malcolm answered saying he wanted to be a lawyer, his white teacher was quick to crash onto his hopes and inform him about reality.

Quote #3 : "This encounter with his teacher was a turning point in Malcolm's life. It was not a shock that the teacher would discourage him from being a lawyer. Malcolm knew that he was black and blacks were not expected to succeed." (37)

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After Malcolm's teacher made him feel as if he couldn't become a lawyer he started to drift in another direction. Malcolm dropped out of school and moved in with his half-sister in Boston. He started making friends and falling into the "wrong" crowd. During this time fashion was a way to make a statement and show your status and trends like the zoot suit caught Malcolm's attention. Another thing that caught his attention was a hairstyle called the conk, which Malcolm got done by his friend Shorty.

Quote #4: "The work conk cam from colgolene, a caustic substance used in the 40's and 50's which, when put on the naturally curly hair of blacks, flattened it out. It was done in black barbershops across the country, but many young people did it, or tried to do it, for themselves." (46)

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Conk Hairstyle

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Conk, Afro, Jheri Curl & Dreadlocks - Black Hair History

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Jheri curl, conk to Afro and dreadlocks, a Black hair history timeline of some of the major events in Black hair care.

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During his time in Boston Malcolm worked many jobs. He would clean shoes and hand white men towels when they left the bathroom. He learned quickly how to get tips and make money from his new friends in Boston. Soon Malcolm started to work as a kitchen helper on the railroad which meant he would wash dishes, clean up after cooks, and dispose of garbage. This job paid well and Malcolm enjoyed working on the kitchen railroad. But during this time Malcolm realized that black men who had a college education were working in the same job as him despite the fact he hasn't completed high school. This influenced Malcolm to believe that black men didn't have a chance and that receiving an education or even hoping to get a better job was pointless.

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Since his new job on the kitchen railroad required him to visit many areas he got the chance to travel a lot. Soon Malcolm visited Harlem and was surprised to see the large black population and he had felt a feeling he hasn't yet felt before. Seeing so many African Americans in one place made Malcolm feel at home compared to when he was in Harlem. He got a job as a sandwich boy, which meant he would sell sandwiches to people who rode the railroad. After getting this job Malcolm made the decision to move out of his sister's home in Boston and start his life in Harlem.

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Malcolm is now 18 and living in Harlem and things in his life begin to change. He was like a lot of black men around this time, drifting from job to job but none of them paid as much. This is around the time Malcolm had become a street hustler. He started selling marijuana and got into gambling. He even was given the name "Detroit Red" by his friends. During this time Malcolm felt like as a black man, he didn't have many options in his life for employment so joining in on illegal activity felt like his only opportunity.

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Malcolm has already got himself into trouble with the law before but this time was like no other. Malcolm was in a small gang where he was in charge. He and the gang consisted of 3 black men and 3 white women and together they would rob houses, sell drugs, and more. It was the women's job to be the lookout but when the cops came they put all the blame on the black men. The 3 girls were released on low bail while Malcolm and the other 2 men were sent to 8 years in prison.

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During his time in prison, Malcolm heard about a new reform program in Massachusetts and wrote many letters there asking to be transferred. Once Malcolm was transferred to Norfolk institution he started to care more about his education and expanding his knowledge. He would spend a lot of his time in the library learning about English, history, science, and many other things. But nothing stood out to him more than learning about the different religions, especially Islam. During his time in prison, Malcolm learned a lot about Islam which was a turning point in his life.

Quote #5: "Malcolm began to upgrade his reading. It was here where Malcolm learned about the great religions of the world, including that of Islam." (62)

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Now that Malcolm is out of prison and now practices Islam, he decides to join the Nation Of Islam. The Nation Of Islam was a religious but also political organization that consisted of mostly African Americans. Because of the fact that all African Americans were decedents of slaves, many people in the Nation Of Islam decide to change their last name because they believed keeping the last name of their slave owners was wrong. Because they aren't sure what their last name truly is, they chose to use the letter X to symbolize the missing last name. In around 1952 is when Malcolm Little became Malcolm X.

Quote #6: "To Malcolm, the receiving of the "X" represented an important break with the life he once led. He was, in an important sense, born again. His parents had given him his name Malcolm, but the name Little comes from the white men who had held Malcolm's ancestors during the period of enslavement." (85)

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During his time in the Nation Of Islam Malcolm meets a beautiful woman by the name of Betty. She was smart and devoted to Islam and although Malcolm was focused on his work, he still thought about her a lot. Soon the two fell in love and got married to one another in January of 1658.

Quote #7: "And as he found more and more opportunities to be with her, sit next to her at dinner, or to say a little word to her while passing, everyone else in the temple knew it as well. When Malcolm finally made the decision to ask her to marry him, she expressed surprise. They both knew there was something special between the, and they made it even more special when they were married..." (95)

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A debate between King and Malcolm

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Malcolm had become a very famous person during the civil rights movement for his beliefs and amazing speaking. But during this time Martin Luther King Jr started to gain attention as well. The media portrayed Malcolm to be the bad guy and Martin to be the good guy but regardless they both were black men who wanted the best for their community.

Quote #8: "Malcolm said it was ridiculous to "turn the other cheek" when their women and children were being killed. Hostility was the only language, he said, that some people understood. Malcolm knew that he was considered the "bad man" of the black movement and that King was considered the good one." (121)

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During the civil rights movement, the black community was being targeted, killed, and attacked often and black activists like Malcolm were major targets during this time. During the peak of the civil rights movement was when Malcolm was getting the most attention from people all over the country. But one day on a Sunday morning the Street Baptist Church in Birmingham was bombed causing 4 children to die. This church was a black church and after this event, Malcolm's supporters grew because more and more people were agreeing with what he was saying.

Quote #9: "The violence against blacks was overwhelming and, seemingly, growing. Increasingly it was Malcolm's voice that African-Americans were hearing as the voice of reason. How could you turn the other cheek when your children were being killed." (133)

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Baptist Street Church Bombing

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The crater and other damage caused by the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, which killed four African-American girls. AP Photo.

It was a quiet Sunday morning in Birmingham, Alabama-around 10:24 on September 15, 1963-when a dynamite bomb exploded in the back stairwell of the downtown Sixteenth Street Baptist Church.

The violent blast ripped through the wall, killing four African-American girls on the other side and injuring more than 20 inside the church.

It was a clear act of racial hatred: the church was a key civil rights meeting place and had been a frequent target of bomb threats.

Our Birmingham office launched an immediate investigation and wired the FBI Director about the crime. FBI bomb experts raced to the scene-via military jet-and an additional dozen personnel from other offices were sent to assist Birmingham.

At 10:00 p.m. that night, Assistant Director Al Rosen assured Assistant Attorney General Katzenbach that "the Bureau considered this a most heinous offense...[and]...we had entered the investigation with no holds barred."

And we backed that promise up. Dozens of FBI agents worked the case throughout September and October and into the new year-as many as 36 at one point. One internal memo noted that:

"...we have practically torn Birmingham apart and have interviewed thousands of persons. We have seriously disrupted Klan activities by our pressure and interviews so that these organizations have lost members and support. ...We have made extensive use of the polygraph, surveillances, microphone surveillances and technical surveillances..."

By 1965, we had serious suspects-namely, Robert E. Chambliss, Bobby Frank Cherry, Herman Frank Cash, and Thomas E. Blanton, Jr., all KKK members-but witnesses were reluctant to talk and physical evidence was lacking. Also, at that time, information from our surveillances was not admissible in court. As a result, no federal charges were filed in the '60s.

It has been claimed that Director Hoover held back evidence from prosecutors in the '60s or even tried to block prosecution. But it's simply not true. His concern was to prevent leaks, not to stifle justice. In one memo concerning a Justice Department prosecutor seeking information, he wrote, "Haven't these reports already been furnished to the Dept.?" In 1966, Hoover overruled his staff and made transcripts of wiretaps available to Justice. And he couldn't have blocked the prosecution and didn't-he simply didn't think the evidence was there to convict.

In the end, justice was served.

Chambliss received life in prison in 1977 following a case led by Alabama Attorney General Robert Baxley. And eventually the fear, prejudice, and reticence that kept witnesses from coming forward began to subside. We re-opened our case in the mid-1990s, and Blanton and Cherry were indicted in May 2000. Both were convicted at trial and sentenced to life in prison. The fourth man, Herman Frank Cash, had died in 1994.

If you are interested in learning more, please read our 3,400 pages on this case-what was called the "BAPBOMB" investigation- posted online. Also see more pictures on our Multimedia website.

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Baptist Street Church Bombing | Federal Bureau of Investigation

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The crater and other damage caused by the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, which killed four African-American girls. AP Photo. It was a quiet Sunday morning in Birmingham, Alabama-around 10:24 on September 15, 1963-when a dynamite bomb exploded in the back stairwell of the downtown Sixteenth Street Baptist Church.

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On November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy was assassinated and the entire country was upset and morning the death of the president. JFK was popular among black citizens so when it was confirmed he died many people were upset. Malcolm was speaking and was questioned about the death of John F. Kennedy. What he said shocked and disappointed many. Many people stopped supporting Malcolm after this and he got lots of backlash for what he said.

Quote #10: "When he had finished speaking he was immediately questioned about the assiassination of the President. Malcolm said that the President allowed the assassination of the South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem and his brother. He said the president "never foresaw that the chickens would come home to roast so soon.'" (140)

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The Death of JFK

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On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas , Texas . He was shot twice while riding in a motorcade on the way to give a speech . His alleged killer, Lee Harvey Oswald , was arrested that same day but was shot to death a few days later while in police custody.

The Assassination

Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline, were in on a fundraising trip. After visiting San Antonio, Houston , and Fort Worth, the couple traveled to Dallas . Riding in an open car in the presidential motorcade , the Kennedys were accompanied by Texas governor John Connally and his wife. Vice president Lyndon B. Johnson was in a separate car .

As the president's car passed through Dealey Plaza around 12:30 p.m., he was shot first in the neck and then in the head by bullets that appeared to be fired from the Texas School Book Depository. Connally was injured by the same bullet that passed through Kennedy's neck . The motorcade rushed to the , where Kennedy was declared at 1 p.m. Vice President Johnson was sworn into office as president at 2:38 p.m. on board Air Force One .

Lee Harvey Oswald

A little over an hour after the shooting, Lee Harvey Oswald was by police as the main suspect. In between Kennedy's assassination and the arrest, Oswald had also allegedly shot and killed Dallas policeman J.D. Tippit.

Oswald, a Marxist and former Marine, proclaimed his innocence, but two days later (November 24), he was by nightclub owner Jack Ruby on live television as he was being transferred to the county jail.

Committee Investigations

Kennedy's was held on November 25. Almost immediately after Kennedy's death, conspiracy theories began circulating. Johnson created the Warren Commission on November 29, 1963, to investigate the shooting . After 10 months, the commission determined that Oswald had acted alone.

In 1976, the House Select Committee on Assassinations was created to reevaluate Kennedy's death (as well as that of Martin Luther King Jr.). In 1979, this committee that there was likely more than one shooter. However, afterward, the reliability of the evidence, and thus the committee's conclusions, were questioned.

Learn more about the Assassination of John F. Kennedy through historical newspapers from our archives. Explore newspaper articles, headlines, images, and other primary sources below.

Articles and Clippings about the Assassination of John F. Kennedy

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Assassination of John F. Kennedy - Topics on Newspapers.com

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Background On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. He was shot twice while riding in a motorcade on the way to give a speech. His alleged killer, Lee Harvey Oswald, was arrested that same day but was shot to death a few days later while in police custody.

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Malcolm's belief and love for Islam continued to grow so he decided to visit Mecca, the holy city, and complete the pilgrimage. Islam requires all Muslims to complete the pilgrimage to Mecca (if they can afford it) so Malcolm felt blessed and great full to be able to go. During his time in Mecca, he saw thousands of Muslims from all over the world, with different skin, different eyes, and different hair gather together with one another near the Hajj. Malcolm saw a spirit of unity and brotherhood that he didn't think could exist between the white man and the black man.

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After being in Mecca and learning so much about Islam and about the culture around the world, Malcolm realizes it's time to change his beliefs. Throughout Malcolm's life he had resentment and hate towards white people, and rightfully so, considering all they've done to him and his fellow black brothers and sisters, but after a conversation with King Faisal of Saudi Arabia Malcolm learned something. Malcolm began to accept people as individuals, including white people. For so long Malcolm did not accept white people but after his trip to Mecca he deiced it was time to change.

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Because of all the racism during this time, it was accepted that Malcolm had many enemies. A black man protesting and speaking about black rights made many angry, and from the start of his career, he has received threats and faced discrimination. One day on a cold February night Malcolm along with his pregnant wife and kids were sleeping peacefully in their home when suddenly Malcolm woke up to a loud noise. Malcolm and Betty gathered their children and ran out the back door as they watched their home be burnt down. Someone had set his house on fire. This event scared Malcolm and soon he began to carry a gun around for protection due to fear of being assinated.

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Malcolm knew that at any moment his life could be taken from him, and despite his security and his own fire arm, he was still scared of being killed at any moment. Despite the fear, he knew that he needed to continue to speak out for the black community. Malcolm cared, and wanted nothing more than to see the black community flourish and be respected. On February 21st, Malcolm walked onto the stage around 3:05 and said his greeting. Before he could speak he heard yelling and people repeating "Watch Out!".  Chaos broke out and soon gun shots were fired and men were falling down. One of those men was Malcolm X. Gene Roberts, and undercover cop went in to give Malcolm "CPR" which could have saved his life. Betty stood in front of her husband and hoped, but deep down she knew. Malcolm X was murdered.

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The Assassination of Malcolm X

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Malcolm X, an African American nationalist and religious leader, was gunned down by three men while addressing his Organization of Afro-American Unity in New York City on February 21, 1964. He was 39.