2006-06
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/31/2006
MALCOLM X (1925-1965) While in prison for burglary, Malcolm Little adopted the Black Muslim faith and became a minister of the Nation of Islam upon his release in 1952. As Malcolm X, he was a charismatic advocate of black separatism who rejected Martin Luther King, Jr.'s policies of non-violence. Malcolm X broke with the Nation of Islam in 1964. That same year he made a pilgrimage to Mecca and shortly afterwards he embraced orthodox Islam and took the name El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. He recanted some of his earlier more strident viewpoints on race, though he remained a staunch advocate of "black power." He was shot to death by a group of men while giving a speech in New York City in 1965; some of the men had connections to the Nation of Islam, though a formal tie between that group and the assassination was never proven. Typed Letter Signed, “Malcolm X” 4p. quarto, 25-46 99th Street East Elmhurst 69, N.Y., March 25, 1959, addressed to Elijah Muhammad, being a frank confession of his sexual and marital problems with his wife Betty X. It reads in part:”...since you are responsible for me I owe it to you to let you know my condition...I never want to displease you. I did not give you all of the facts of my domestic affairs. You once told me that you judge according to the facts presented to you. Thinking that as a man, a Muslim, and as a minister that I was automatically responsible and to blame for whatever condition my domestic affairs had fallen to I in no way said anything at any time to make my wife look bad or to make her look to blame. But in attempting to carry the complete load with no explanation whatsoever of what made me act as I have, I now see would be doing myself some injustice. I have never made love to Sister Lucille nor to Minister Robert’s Sister (Betty Sue). I did propose marriage to Sister Betty Sue, but never made love to her, nor do I think that I ever even told here that I loved her. My proposal was governed by a suggestion to me, but when I learned it to be only a suggestion I quickly tried to get out of it, for which I recognize my error (in building her hopes). Of the above Sisters, Sister Evelyn is the only one who had a legitimate beef against me...and I do bear witness taht if she complains she is justified...Most brothers who follow you are slow to get married. This is not because they are against women, but because you make us see the place of the man and the great responsibility involved to a Sister after marrying her...This creates the situation where the Sisters are more forward and aggessive in seeking husbands than the brothers are in seeking wives. I mention this not out of argument, disrespect, disaggrement, nor to justify...but to point toward and shed more light on what created my own situation. I am not without blame or fault; and have many weaknesses....I stayed single a long time because I knew my own weaknesses and shortcomings, and felt that marriage would blunt my effectiveness. I just could not see where I could devote the time to a sister that is demanded by the women of today...so I ducked, dodged, twisted, turned, and ran from marriage as long as I could. When I did marry it was at a time of great mental and spiritual weakness on my part...I didn’t marry on the spur of the moment. I deliberated long, and selected carefully. I chose Betty over the others for many reasons...She was physically strong, near my height, looked something like me, and seemed to be able to produce children that would be strong and resemble us both. Plus she seemed intelligent, and had training qualifications that could be helpful to me in my work; and she was the darkest of the three (she, Betty Sue and Evelyn) and I don’t go too much for real light women as a wife. What then started our down hil marriage? Betty had some debts that I knew nothing about until after marriage...I really did keep her in ‘jail’ financially (compared to what she had been used to) which did cause much discontent also, at the outset. But the main source of our trouble was based upon SEX. She placed a great deal more stress upon it than I was physically capable of doing. Please forgive me for this topic, but I feel compelled to tell you of it, and would tell it to no one else but you. At a time when I was going all out to try and keep her satisfied (sexually) one day she told me that we were incompatible sexually because I had never given her any real satisfaction. From then on, try as I may I began to become very cool toward her. I didn’t ever again feel right (free) with her in that sense, for no matter how happy she would act I’d see it only as a pretense. She could sense that she was losing her hold over me, which by nature made her then begin to resort to various female tricks to try and get around the barrier that was becoming between us. She would become furious when she couldn’t exercise her will over mine, and resort to pouting, crying and every other tactic...but the gap just got wider and wider. It is easier for a woman to pretend than for a man. She stayed miserable during her expectancy, and those were the nine most miserable months of my life too...she often cursed the day she married and of being pregnant, and she cursed me too. I don’t blame her in that sense, because instead of trying to pacify (baby) her during those fits, I just withdrew farther from her. It was not that I didn’t have love and compassion for her, but that she was driving me just as crazy as she was acting. Many a night she screamed and hollered until 5 o’clock in the morning, and I know the neighbors and other Muslims in the house must know it, tho they don’t speak of it, so I never tried to hide it. One of the things that made it worse was my intending to be ruled by a woman...and most of the times when she would be throwing fits purposely, it would make me so cold hearted...Things got so bad between us that I stopped sleeping in the same bed with her the last 3 months of her pregnancy until 3 months after her pregnancy...She would always talk of packing her bag and leave, until I started agreeing with her that I think it best too, then she’d change...and she was always talking about getting a divorce, until I started agreeing...I had stopped all sexual relations with her. Shortly after her return from Chicago, she said to me that if I didn’t watch out she was going to embarrass me and herself (whcih under questioning she later said she was going to seek satisfaction elsewhere). So I renewed relations with her (after six months of abstenance). Again she this time outright told me that I was impotent...and even tho I could father a child I was like an old man (not able to engage in the act long enough to satisfy her). I had a frank discussion with her, and told her for the first time that this was the source of all our troubles. Her remarks like this were very heart breaking for me...I explained that even if a woman thinks a man is not a man sexually, she should never tell him that, especially her husband, because from then on he will always think she is pretending no matter how she acts...and will take the whole act as just another waste of time...Bro Secretary John and his family share this apartment with me, and his wife and mine treat each other with intense hostitility. They can be in the same kitchen, cooking on the same stove, and never speak....As a man, a Muslim, and a minister my home life has been so far from Muslim like that I have had difficulty for some time getting the spirit to teach when I’m in New York. I purposely sent Betty to spend those two weeks in Chicago before the Convention, so she could get light from you on all phases of our domestic life that were shaky....but instead she pretended like everything was alright, which solved nothing because we came back and did worse...In closing I’d like to point out that I’m not finding fault with Betty, for I think she’s only doing what all other Sisters would do and the way they’d react under the same circumstances. In fact, I think she has stood up longer and better with me than most of the others would who may be quick to condem her or me....Betty is the only Muslim that I’ve ever been very very mean to, and she is my wife, which makes it all the more hurting to me. My marriage life has made me feel so bad (and oftimes guilty) that I’ve stayed out there on the highway in rain and snow going form temple to temple, rather than face things here at home. Please forgive the language and topic of this letter...I write meekly, humbly and respectfully to you hoping that a knowledge of this will enable you to speak to my wife from any angle and upon any subject that you choose while she is there...and get her side of the story...Whatever you may think of me, I do at least feel better now...” With penned line at bottom “I humbly and sincerly submit to Allah and His Messenger...” Near Fine. Exceptional content.
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