Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Unpublished Parts of Malcolm X's Autobiography Auctioned Off
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 6 years ago on
July 27, 2018

Share

NEW YORK — For decades, scholars have wanted to get a closer look at unpublished sections of a towering 20th century book, “The Autobiography of Malcolm X,” including cut chapters that may have contained some of the most explosive thoughts of the African-American firebrand assassinated in 1965.

“We are like the Western deserts; tumbleweed, rolling and tumbling whichever way the white wind blows. And the white man is like the cactus, deeply rooted, with spines to keep us off.” — Malcolm X, part from his unpublished chapter
They may get their chance after an auction on Thursday, when a manuscript of an unpublished chapter, titled “The Negro,” was sold by Guernsey’s auction house for $7,000.
The buyer was The New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, based in Harlem. The Schomburg Center also acquired a 241-page early draft of Malcolm X’s autobiography at the auction for an undisclosed sum.
The existence of unpublished chapters of the book has been known since 1992, when an entertainment attorney, Gregory Reed, bought them at an estate auction following the death of the autobiography’s co-author, Alex Haley.
Some pages have been exhibited in a Detroit museum. An unpublished introduction was read aloud at an event in 2010. But mostly the sections of the draft that were cut before publication have been locked away from public view.

Placing the Chapter at Immense Value

Schomburg Center director Kevin Young said after the auction that the draft of the entire book is of immense value, beyond the historic, for the handwritten revisions and comments by Malcolm X and Haley.
Their dialogue, in writing, reflects the human rights activism of the Muslim minister, who indicted white America for what he saw as criminal behavior against blacks.
Opponents including the U.S. government accused Malcolm X of inciting racism and violence. He was assassinated in Harlem by three members of the Nation of Islam, a radical religious movement, shortly after he had broken away from the group.
The scribbled notes in the manuscript “are a very direct narrative that he’s crafting,” said Young, citing the image of racist cross-burning that Malcolm X’s mother described to him as a child. “And that’s what brings him into the world.”
Loose fragments of Malcolm X’s writing-in-the-works suggest a question: Is it possible there are other chapters that were written but cut?
“I examined them, and I don’t know what those are,” Young said. “It’s too early to tell. They look like they were probably stapled at one time or cut and pasted. Some are half of a page or just slips of paper. The best way to describe them is that they’re literal fragments and literary fragments.”
It may take years before the story of the fragments is pieced together.
“You see in these pages the history of black people in America,” Young concluded. “And we’re bringing the sons and daughters of Harlem home.”

DON'T MISS

Newsom Uses a Stunt to Position Himself as a Leader of Anti-Trump Resistance

DON'T MISS

CA Legislature Sets Record for Women in Office and Could See Historic Gender Parity

DON'T MISS

Trump to Target Iran’s Oil Trade in Renewed ‘Maximum Pressure’ Campaign

DON'T MISS

Over 2,500 Central Unified Students Receive Spirit Sweaters at 20th Annual ‘Warm for Winter’

DON'T MISS

Fresno Police Arrest Gang Members in Shooting Involving 7-Month-Old

DON'T MISS

Fresno Team Makes Low-Budget Horror Flicks Look Like Multi-Million-Dollar Productions

DON'T MISS

4B Movement: After the Election, a Call for Women to Swear Off Men

DON'T MISS

Homeowners’ Effort to Leave Sierra Unified Ends With County Ed Rejection

DON'T MISS

Will Terance Frazier’s Nonprofit Exit Granite Park or Fight?

DON'T MISS

Fresno Crash Sends Pickup Into Tree, Dark Tint Cited as Cause

UP NEXT

Beyoncé Makes Grammy History With ‘Cowboy Carter,’ Leading 2025 Nominations

UP NEXT

Americans Seek Fresh Start Abroad as Election Sparks Expat Interest

UP NEXT

Central Valley Weekend Packed With Sports, Tacos, Magic and Local Entertainment

UP NEXT

Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine Strikes Deal to End Jail Stint

UP NEXT

Ruby Slippers From ‘The Wizard of Oz’ Are for Sale Nearly 2 Decades After They Were Stolen

UP NEXT

Nintendo Chief Insists the Switch Momentum Will Keep Going, Even After Its Successor

UP NEXT

Music Legend Quincy Jones, Architect of Pop’s Greatest Hits, Dies at 91

UP NEXT

At 91, Willie Nelson Has a New Album Out and a Cannabis Cookbook Coming

UP NEXT

Rapper Young Thug Is a Free Man. Here Are Things to Know About His Plea.

UP NEXT

MrBeast Probe Ends With Some Employees Fired but Finds No Proof of Sexual Misconduct Allegations

Over 2,500 Central Unified Students Receive Spirit Sweaters at 20th Annual ‘Warm for Winter’

2 hours ago

Fresno Police Arrest Gang Members in Shooting Involving 7-Month-Old

2 hours ago

Fresno Team Makes Low-Budget Horror Flicks Look Like Multi-Million-Dollar Productions

3 hours ago

4B Movement: After the Election, a Call for Women to Swear Off Men

4 hours ago

Homeowners’ Effort to Leave Sierra Unified Ends With County Ed Rejection

5 hours ago

Will Terance Frazier’s Nonprofit Exit Granite Park or Fight?

5 hours ago

Fresno Crash Sends Pickup Into Tree, Dark Tint Cited as Cause

6 hours ago

November Has Scattered Cool Temps, Rain Showers for Fresno

7 hours ago

Beyoncé Makes Grammy History With ‘Cowboy Carter,’ Leading 2025 Nominations

7 hours ago

Macklin Celebrini, NHL’s Youngest Player, Scores on Marc-Andre Fleury, League’s Oldest

7 hours ago

Newsom Uses a Stunt to Position Himself as a Leader of Anti-Trump Resistance

Two days after the nation’s voters gave Donald Trump another term as president, Gov. Gavin Newsom staged a publicity stunt to position...

14 mins ago

14 mins ago

Newsom Uses a Stunt to Position Himself as a Leader of Anti-Trump Resistance

16 mins ago

CA Legislature Sets Record for Women in Office and Could See Historic Gender Parity

27 mins ago

Trump to Target Iran’s Oil Trade in Renewed ‘Maximum Pressure’ Campaign

The Foundation for Central Schools' 20th annual Warm for Winter event provided over 2,500 Central Unified students with spirit sweaters, thanks to community partnerships and generous donors. (Central Foundation)
2 hours ago

Over 2,500 Central Unified Students Receive Spirit Sweaters at 20th Annual ‘Warm for Winter’

2 hours ago

Fresno Police Arrest Gang Members in Shooting Involving 7-Month-Old

3 hours ago

Fresno Team Makes Low-Budget Horror Flicks Look Like Multi-Million-Dollar Productions

Following the results of Tuesday's election, Jada Mevs, a 25-year-old from Washington, D.C., is urging women to take action by signing up for self-defense classes, deleting dating apps, getting on birth control, and investing in vibrators, as part of a growing response to the election of Donald Trump for a second term and the failure of abortion rights referendums. (Shutterstock)
4 hours ago

4B Movement: After the Election, a Call for Women to Swear Off Men

5 hours ago

Homeowners’ Effort to Leave Sierra Unified Ends With County Ed Rejection

Search

Send this to a friend