.jpg?w=1)
Details
MALCOLM X, Muslim name of Malcolm Little, (1925-1965), African American Activist. Autograph letter signed ("Your Brother Malcolm X") to "My dear Brother Raymond," State Prison Colony, Norfolk, Mass, 23 February 1950. 4 pages, 4to, State Prison censor's stamp on page, minor wear at folds, otherwise fine.
MALCOLM X FROM PRISON: "I WENT MUCH DEEPER INTO HELL BEFORE BEING RAISED, BELIEVE ME"
An exceptional letter from Malcolm X, not long after his conversion to the Black Muslim faith, four years into his prison sentence, to an unidentified: "As-Salaam-Alaikum...May you forever feel the same Presence within your Heart that is within mine...within the hearts of all who comprise our newly found black nation. Your message of Truth...reached me today." Although their mail must be "ok'd by one of the 'heads,'" Malcolm encourages: "Don't let this deter you from speaking the Truth. I admire the frankness of your discourse. The Truth never hurts anyone; and to speak one's own opinions is something very few people have the power or the nerve to do. That is why no one today has a clear conscience...The summery you enclosed...was very nice, and I do wish it could be read by many of the youths outside who are so foolishly wasting away their lives...I knew "B", Diz and all the boys. I made my way for years by selling them that which kept them and myself in hell...Listen, from experience I know this: no Black Being becomes addicted to anything. Its all in the mind...I certainly never had any cure...Today I don't even smoke...As long as the Original thinks he is as the devil (as we are so adeptly taught) he automatically has the same limitations as the devil...You say they rejected you from the army because of your views? My Brother, if you only knew! Every body used to call me "Crazy Detroit Red." I couldn't get in the Boy Scouts...In '43 I went up for the draft...Some day later I'll tell you about it...However, tho (like you) Islam hadn't been spoken to me, common sense told me the Jap was my Brother." He concludes with the promise of a longer letter telling "how and why I am here. [My account] is much like yours...but I went much deeper into hell before being raised, believe me...."
Committed to Charlestown Prison in 1946 for robbery, Malcolm X began a correspondence course at the prison library. In Concord Reformatory in 1947 he converted to the teachings of Elijah Muhammad; in March 1948 he was transferred to Norfolk Prison Colony whose "Library was one of its outstanding features...At Norfolk, we could actually go into the library, with permission, walk up and down the shelves, pick books...I read aimlessly, until I learned to read selectively, with a purpose" (Autobiography, pp.157-158). Anxious to share his insights, he began "writing to people I had known in the hustling world...I wrote them all about Allah and Islam and Mr. Elijah Muhammad" (Ibid., p.170). A month after this letter was written he was transferred back to Charlestown Prison, where he remained until paroled in August 1952. Letters of this early period in Macolm X's remarkable spiritual odyssey, eloquently described in his Autobiography, are very rare.
MALCOLM X FROM PRISON: "I WENT MUCH DEEPER INTO HELL BEFORE BEING RAISED, BELIEVE ME"
An exceptional letter from Malcolm X, not long after his conversion to the Black Muslim faith, four years into his prison sentence, to an unidentified: "As-Salaam-Alaikum...May you forever feel the same Presence within your Heart that is within mine...within the hearts of all who comprise our newly found black nation. Your message of Truth...reached me today." Although their mail must be "ok'd by one of the 'heads,'" Malcolm encourages: "Don't let this deter you from speaking the Truth. I admire the frankness of your discourse. The Truth never hurts anyone; and to speak one's own opinions is something very few people have the power or the nerve to do. That is why no one today has a clear conscience...The summery you enclosed...was very nice, and I do wish it could be read by many of the youths outside who are so foolishly wasting away their lives...I knew "B", Diz and all the boys. I made my way for years by selling them that which kept them and myself in hell...Listen, from experience I know this: no Black Being becomes addicted to anything. Its all in the mind...I certainly never had any cure...Today I don't even smoke...As long as the Original thinks he is as the devil (as we are so adeptly taught) he automatically has the same limitations as the devil...You say they rejected you from the army because of your views? My Brother, if you only knew! Every body used to call me "Crazy Detroit Red." I couldn't get in the Boy Scouts...In '43 I went up for the draft...Some day later I'll tell you about it...However, tho (like you) Islam hadn't been spoken to me, common sense told me the Jap was my Brother." He concludes with the promise of a longer letter telling "how and why I am here. [My account] is much like yours...but I went much deeper into hell before being raised, believe me...."
Committed to Charlestown Prison in 1946 for robbery, Malcolm X began a correspondence course at the prison library. In Concord Reformatory in 1947 he converted to the teachings of Elijah Muhammad; in March 1948 he was transferred to Norfolk Prison Colony whose "Library was one of its outstanding features...At Norfolk, we could actually go into the library, with permission, walk up and down the shelves, pick books...I read aimlessly, until I learned to read selectively, with a purpose" (Autobiography, pp.157-158). Anxious to share his insights, he began "writing to people I had known in the hustling world...I wrote them all about Allah and Islam and Mr. Elijah Muhammad" (Ibid., p.170). A month after this letter was written he was transferred back to Charlestown Prison, where he remained until paroled in August 1952. Letters of this early period in Macolm X's remarkable spiritual odyssey, eloquently described in his Autobiography, are very rare.