Despite his contempt for many black intellectuals-frequently describing them as "Nincompoops with Ph.D.'s" and "sell-outs"-Malcolm X did value and respect education, and especially the study of history. He firmly believed that it was only from a deep historical understanding of the social forces that created the world as it exists, can the oppressed find practical solutions to address their lack of power. Malcolm made repeated references throughout his public speeches to the historical factors that set into motion current political events. Historian Robin D.G. Kelley believes that Malcolm X "probably spent most of his adult life regretful for not pursuing his educational goals." He regularly spent his early mornings "at a Harlem coffee shop...engaging in lively debates with the same 'Uncle Toms' he talked about so badly on stage and in the press." Malcolm X was proud of the fact that the world's most prestigious academic institutions had extended dozens of speaking invitations to him. As Kelley notes, "education, even in the white Ivy League institutions, was seen [by Malcolm] as potentially emancipatory-that is, as long as it is not limited to the sons and daughters of the elite. Real freedom depends on the poor, downtrodden masses gaining access to the master's knowledge." Like Gramsci, Malcolm understood that the vast reservoir of accumulated knowledge represented in traditional universities had to become integrated into the intellectual cultures of the oppressed.

Malcolm approached intellectual work with the same degree of rigor, seriousness and self-discipline that was characteristic of him in general. He had a wide range of intellectual interests and was a voracious reader. His interests included the origins of religion, anthropology and the history, politics, and sociology of contemporary Africa. Malcolm also exhibited a special interest in economics and its relationship to political development. On those rare occasions when he took time off to take Betty and his little girls to the beach, he would invariably carry his work with him, usually writing or redrafting a speech. One of the few pleasures he indulged himself was music, having a particular fondness for jazz. Yet, art had to have political purpose. "The study of music," he believed, taught "poise, timing and coordination." These were of course the essential skills of an effective public speaker and communicator to the masses.

Malcolm, like Gramsci, believed that ideological conflict and confrontation was absolutely necessary in challenging the hegemony, or cultural domination of those exercising power within any society. Part of that critique for Malcolm had to focus on the shortcomings of black elites who were politically subservient to white interests. Malcolm frequently employed ridicule to question their legitimacy, characterizing civil rights spokesmen such as NAACP leader Roy Wilkins and Urban League head Whitney Young as "handkerchief heads." When Thurgood Marshall denounced the Black Muslims in 1959 as being "run by a bunch of thugs organized from prisons and jails, Malcolm retorted that he was nothing but a "twentieth-century Uncle Tom." Although Malcolm attended the 1963 March on Washington as an "observer," he sharply condemned the peaceful demonstration as a "circus." He viewed King as essentially irresponsible for pushing a nonviolent philosophy while African Americans were being murdered, maimed and intimidated across the segregated South. The struggle for black freedom in the United States required blacks to be willing to fight and die for their beliefs. "Look at the American Revolution in 1776," Malcolm declared in the "Message to the Grassroots" address. "That revolution was for what? For land. Why did they want land. Independence. How was it carried out? Bloodshed.... You haven't got a revolution that doesn't involve bloodshed." King found Malcolm's rhetoric extremist and politically reactionary. "I have often wished that he would talk less of violence," commented King about the Black Muslim leader. "I feel that Malcolm has done himself and our people a great disservice. Fiery, demagogic oratory in the black ghettoes, urging Negroes to arm themselves and prepare to engage in violence, as he has done, can reap nothing but grief."

continue to next section