Malcolm X Speaks: Selected Speeches and Statements

These are the major speeches made by Malcolm X during the last tumultuous eight months of his life. In this short period of time, his vision for abolishing racial inequality in the United States underwent a vast transformation. Beginning with his break from the Black Muslims, he moved increasingly away from the dogmas of black nationalism, separatism, and violent revolution as the only means to achieve freedom. Although he continued to believe that the African-American community must be committed to its own liberation, excluding all others not equally devoted to this goal, he had come to take a broader view of human rights, and to accept at least the possibility of alliances with other groups. As I.F. Stone wrote in his review, “In these pages on can begin to understand Malcolm X’s power as a speaker and to see the political legacy he left his people in their struggle for full emancipation.”