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1 results

  • 2 - Malcolm X’s Prison Letters

  • from Part I - Forerunners
  • Edited by David Coogan, Virginia Commonwealth University
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Companion to American Prison Writing and Mass Incarceration
    Published online:
    02 October 2025
    Print publication:
    02 October 2025, pp 32-42

  • Summary

    Malcolm X’s prison letters not only chronicle his relationship with his relatives, most significantly with Ella, but also provide a portal through which readers begin to gather some notion of the profound thinker and activist he would become. The letters are a bedrock of his growth and development, a form of self-discovery and rumination that will guide him to a higher level of social and political commitment. The exchange of missives between him and Elijah Muhammad is like a graduate course in history and Black Nationalism, all of which shaped his quest for enlightenment and leadership. Readers get a chance to look over his shoulder as he grapples with his incarceration and how best to use this time to improve himself as a writer, thinker, and debater. In effect, this is the beginning of Malcolm X who would evolve into El Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, an internationalist and spokesperson for the oppressed and marginalized.