by ALEX WHITE
Alex Haley co-wrote The Autobiography of Malcolm X but Haley left out some profound elements of Malcolm’s political thought
In June 1963, Malcolm X and Alex Haley began working on the book that would define both their lives. The arrangement was simple. Malcolm usually arrived at Haley’s New York apartment at nine in the evening, exhausted after a day’s work. The two men then talked late into the night, discussing politics, religion and race over an endless stream of cheap coffee. The next morning, a bleary-eyed Haley would adapt his notes into a rough manuscript, trying to recreate Malcolm’s distinctive voice. This draft would eventually become The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965) – a landmark of American literature and one of the best-selling biographies of all time.
This success gave the Autobiography a lasting cultural impact. Malcolm’s words have inspired protests and political campaigns across the world, and been incorporated into music and artworks from New York to Nairobi. In recent years, however, historians have begun to criticise his ghostwriter’s influence over the text. Haley claimed to be a ‘dispassionate chronicler’ but, they point out, he exaggerated parts of Malcolm’s life and ignored others. As Malcolm’s career began to move in unexpected directions, Haley even turned to plagiarism and invention to fill gaps in the narrative. The result is a memoir that is neither entirely Malcolm’s, nor entirely Haley’s, a testament to their difficult relationship and the complicated circumstances of the book’s creation.
The Autobiography emerged from one of the most dramatic moments of the civil rights struggle. In June 1963, as Malcolm and Haley sat down in New York, Congress was debating the first draft of the Civil Rights Act – a historic piece of legislation that promised to end segregation and outlaw racial discrimination. Activists and campaigners across the country were busy preparing for the March on Washington, an unprecedented rally in support of civil and economic rights. White supremacists, in response, escalated their own campaigns of intimidation and violence. In Alabama, the state’s governor George Wallace protested in front of a state university in an attempt to prevent Black students from attending the first day of classes. In Mississippi, the civil rights activist Medgar Evers was murdered at his home by a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
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