Around the globe from Congo to Mississippi and Harlem, Africans and other oppressed peoples were struggling for national liberation and social emancipation
At the height of the state-directed campaigns against revolutionaries and dissidents in the United States after 1946, an atmosphere of apprehension and fear was induced through the utilization of law-enforcement, legislative and judicial means of coercion.
Those who would dare to question the fundamental policy imperatives of Washington and Wall Street were certain targets of the U.S. Congress, the FBI and the local authorities.
Numerous investigative committees within the Congress and Senate were aimed at exposing those who were communist, socialist or sympathizers with the aims and objectives of these movements. People lost their jobs and positions of influence within various organizations including labor unions, cultural institutions and federal agencies.
Malcolm X, the NOI and African Liberation
Malcolm X by the mid-1950s was based in New York City as the minister at the Temple No. 7 (later Mosque) in Harlem. His focus was centered around building the Nation of Islam (NOI) and its leader, the Hon. Ellijah Muhammad, into a powerful force around the U.S. In doing this, Malcolm X would attract the attention of people on the African continent seeking their national liberation and sovereignty.
Image: Malcolm X at press conference after returning from first 1964 international trip, May 1964
The Afro-Asian Summit held in 1955 in Bandung, Indonesia brought the role and status of these geo-political regions into the sharp focus of oppressed peoples in the U.S. Malcolm X in subsequent years would refer to the Bandung gathering as a turning point in addressing the international balance of forces between the West and the peoples of Africa and Asia.
This meeting of leaders eventually resulted in the formation of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in 1961 bringing together the leaders from Ghana, Egypt, Yugoslavia, India, Indonesia, among many others. These developments along with the expansion of socialism from the Soviet Union, China, North Vietnam, North Korea, the Eastern European states, Cuba to the burgeoning revolutionary struggles throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America, alarmed the imperialists.
In 1956, the then leader of the North African state of Egypt, President Gamal Abdel Nassar, launched a military and political offensive to reclaim the Suez Canal. His efforts were successful due to his capability in navigating the internal contradictions within the imperialist camp during the Post World War II period.
Early in 1956, Sudan gained its independence from Britain. The following year in March 1957, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah led the West African British colony of the Gold Coast to its independence while renaming it as Ghana.
Malcolm X and other African Americans within the NOI and outside in the broader movement were influenced by the independence struggles raging on the African continent. In 1957, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. traveled to Ghana as a member of the U.S. delegation to the independence celebrations in Accra.
On April 15, 1959, Malcolm X spoke at the first commemoration in the U.S. of “African Freedom Day” held in New York City at the Bishop R.C. Lawson’s Refuge Temple on 7th Avenue in Harlem. African Freedom Day was designated as such by the First Conference of Independent African States held in Accra, Ghana in 1958. The inaugural conference was hosted by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the founder of the Convention People’s Party (CPP) which led the former British colony to independence the previous year.
By July 1959, Malcolm X would travel to several African and West Asian states as an ambassador for Muhammad. He visited Sudan, Ghana, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. This visit is often overlooked in assessing the political trajectory of Malcolm X.
In one report written by Malcolm X and published in the Pittsburgh Courier in October 1962 he stated:
“In 1959, I visited Khartoum and Omdurman in the Sudan, and also visited the Muslims in Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt and Arabia. I was impressed the most by the Muslims of the Sudan. Their religious piety and hospitality are unmatched anywhere. I really felt like being in heaven and at home.”
Files accumulated by the FBI during this period closely followed the travels, organizing work, interviews and speeches delivered by Malcolm X. In reference to his visit to Sudan, the FBI noted a letter published in the New York Amsterdam News on August 22, 1959 written by Malcolm X from Khartoum, the capital, which revealed that “Africans seem more concerned with the plight of their brothers in America than their own conditions in Africa. Africans considered America’s treatment of black Americans a good yardstick by which they can measure the sincerity of America’s offer of assistance.”
Another entry in the FBI files on Malcolm X from 1959 cites the Pittsburgh Courier, a nationally distributed African American newspaper, which published two letters from Malcolm X. One letter was written from the Kandara Palace Hotel in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and the other was posted from the Grand Hotel in Khartoum, Sudan. The letters reflected the impressions of Malcolm X about Africa and West Asia. See this.
These events involving an African American leader speaking independently of the State Department posed a threat to the U.S. government under then President Dwight Eisenhower amid the continuing Cold War against the socialist states and the national liberation movements. The following year, 1960, was designated the “Year of Africa” due to the declarations of independence in sixteen new states. By May 25, 1963, 33 independent states would form the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
African Liberation and the African American Freedom Struggle
Undoubtedly, the liberation movements on the African continent played an important role in bolstering the political struggles of African Americans against legalized segregation and racial oppression. In February 1960, the emergence of a southern region-wide student campaign against Jim Crow segregation in public accommodations created the conditions for the formation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).
Malcolm X, although opposed to the objectives of the student sit-in movement for integration, respected the determination of the youth to advance the struggle against racism. During this time, the NOI had deployed Malcolm X, who was the national spokesperson for the organization, to recruit students particularly those from the Historic Black Colleges and Universities.
In September 1960, Cuban Premier Fidel Casto visited the U.S. to attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. The Cuban Revolution which triumphed in January 1959 had a tremendous impact on U.S. foreign policy towards Latin America. By the latter months of 1960, the administration of President Eisenhower had taken a hostile position towards the Cuban Revolution prompting the Castro government to nationalize the major U.S. capitalist-controlled corporations operating inside the Caribbean Island-nation.
Castro was barred from hotels in Midtown and downtown Manhattan and would take up residence at the Hotel Theresa in Harlem. Malcolm X as a member of the 28th Precinct Community Council was charged with greeting African and other foreign guests visiting Harlem including the Cuban leader. As a result of this meeting between Malcolm X and Castro, the corporate media sought to portray the NOI as anti-American and subversive.
Malcolm X was reported to have told Castro that any country as small as Cuba which stood up to Washington had to be sincere. Castro also held a meeting with President Dr. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana.
As the 1960s progressed, the public rhetoric and emphasis on national and international political matters rapidly distinguished his approach from Elijah Muhammad and other NOI leaders. Although Malcolm X was the founder of news publications of the NOI including “The Messenger Magazine” (1959), “Mr. Muhammad Speaks” (1960) and “Muhammad Speaks” (1961), by the concluding months of 1963, almost no information on his activities were being reported on in his own organizational press.
After his comments to reporters on December 1, 1963 at the Manhattan Center in New York City related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, saying that the death of Kennedy was a case of the “chickens coming home to roost”, Malcolm X was suspended by Elijah Muhammad for 90 days from making speeches and giving interviews. After the 90 days had passed, he was told that the suspension would be indefinite.
Several days later in early March 1964, Malcolm X would announce his independence from the NOI while forming another grouping called the “Muslim Mosque, Incorporated” (MMI). The following month in April, Malcolm X would be granted a visa to travel to Saudi Arabia to participate in the annual pilgrimage (Hajj) which was a requirement for all orthodox Muslims.
Reports indicate that when Malcolm X traveled to Saudi Arabia in July 1959, he did not make the Hajj due to the differences in beliefs and practices of the NOI from traditional Islam. A similar situation would take place when Elijah Muhammad visited West Asia later in the same year of 1959.
Image: Malcolm X in Nigeria and the University of Ibadan in 1964
In addition to visiting Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia, Malcolm X traveled to Lebanon, Egypt, Sudan, Ghana, Nigeria and other states. These travels were covered extensively by the U.S. and international press. The first international trip by Malcolm X in April-May 1964 was followed up with another visit beginning in July which would be extended until November.
In a future article we will look more in-depth at the political impact of these developments upon Malcolm X (El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz) along with broad segments of the African American community regarding the struggles for civil rights, self-determination and Pan-Africanism. Malcolm X’s influence upon the students and workers would reach its apex during this period and continue long after his martyrdom on February 21, 1965.
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Abayomi Azikiwe is the editor of the Pan-African News Wire. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
All images in this article are from the author
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