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Page 9 from the original typescript of Alex Haley’s 1963 interview of Malcolm X for Playboy magazine, one onionskin page, 8.5 x 11, signed in the bottom margin in ballpoint, "Malcolm X," with a marginal line indicating his approval of the contents. Malcolm X comments on Black identity and culture around the world, contrasting Africa with the United States of America. In part: "His cultural roots earn him respect. His identity earns him respect. And most of all, he owns some land. The black man in America sees the African's human rights recognized, which makes his civil rights automatic. And the black man in America sees himself, after four hundred years right here, not given the same respects by the same white man. The black man in America is beginning to recognize that he has been a hostage, cuddled up next to the white man.
From what you say, Mr. Malcolm, it would appear that you feel that the entire United States, even the rest of the world, is engaged in a huge conspiracy to degrade the Negro. Is this what you feel?
It would take the Honorable Elijah Muhammad to answer that, sir.
Mr. Malcolm, what is your feeling about Communist Russia?
I don't know anything about Russia. My common sense tells me that much I read about it in this country has to be propaganda. No country writes well of its enemies.
Mr. Malcolm, would you care to comment, individually, upon some of the African leaders?
Well, sir, usually you'll find that the African leaders who are greatly loved by the African people are hated by white people. I mean leaders like Nkrumah, Kenyatta, Lumumba, Toure, Nasser—Egypt is in Africa." In fine condition. Encapsulated and graded by PSA/DNA as "NM-MT 8."
Playboy's May 1963 interview with Malcolm X was one of the most famous of Haley’s career and gave most readers their first in-depth look at Malcolm X’s teachings and personality. Supporters and critics viewed the Muslim minister in very different terms. Admirers saw him as a courageous advocate for the rights of African-Americans and condemned crimes against black Americans; detractors accused him of preaching racism, black supremacy, and violence. Nevertheless, he has been described as one of the greatest and most influential African-American leaders in history. Within a year of granting this interview, with America still gripped by ever-growing racial tension, the once-combative black nationalist Malcolm X had repudiated almost every stance in the interview. He had broken with the Nation of Islam movement, fallen out with its leader, Elijah Muhammad, renounced black supremacy, and embraced racial equality and human rights. He was assassinated in Harlem in 1965.
The Marc and Mary Perkins Collection.
