Wednesday, 22 May 2013 06:56 Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little on
May 19, 1925, in Omaha, Nebraska, has been criticized by
mainstream media and historians for his radical and violent
rhetoric. Now, however, many scholars are revisiting Malcolm X's
influence on the civil-rights struggles and concluding that his
presence gave political leverage to the non-violent movement led
by the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. "I always looked at Malcolm
as advocating an 'eye-for-eye, tooth-for-a-tooth'," said James
E. Newton, chair of the African-American history department at
the University of Delaware. In 1946, Malcolm X went to prison
for burglary and served seven years of a 10-year sentence. It
was during his time in prison that he joined the Nation of Islam
(NOI) and upon release became the NOI's chief spokesperson. The
NOI members were fervent advocates of a separate nation for
blacks and whites, while advocating self-reliance for African
Americans. Malcolm X later broke from the NOI and denounced its
separatist philosophy