Malcolm X was reviled and adored during his lifetime thanks to his views of Black nationalism and his “by any means necessary” approach to battle racial discrimination. Following his assassination, the civil rights advocate’s popularity was revived by hip-hop artists in the late 1980s and early ’90s, and his image began appearing on clothing, college dorm posters and eventually in a Spike Lee 1992 biopic.
Now a Smithsonian Channel documentary is examining the life of Malcolm X through rare footage from his speeches and media interviews to let the slain leader speak to a new generation using his own words.
“The Lost Tapes: Malcolm X,” scheduled to premiere at 8 p.m. EST Monday, follows the advocate’s changing philosophy from a Nation of Islam Black separatist to a figure seeking to build multiethnic coalitions during the tumultuous 1960s civil rights era. But it also contains never-before-seen footage of the outspoken advocate at rallies with Nation of Islam leader and eventual foe, Elijah Muhammad.
Like other pieces in “The Lost Tapes” series, which is in its second season, the documentary uses only images and video clips from the time period and doesn’t insert contemporary voices or scholars to interpret what the audience sees. Only sentences are added to images to give background information.
Malcolm X, who later changed his name to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz following his pilgrimage to Mecca, came to national prominence in the late 1950s as the leader of the Nation of Islam’s Temple Number 7 in Harlem, N.Y.
He often was critical of civil rights leaders such as Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. for practicing nonviolent resistance to segregation and called them “traitors” and “chumps.” But he later broke with Elijah Muhammad over disagreements about speaking out on police violence, Pres. John F. Kennedy’s assassination and news that Muhammad had fathered children from teen followers.
Producer Tom Jennings put together the project with the idea of making viewers feel they had been transported through a time machine to see events unfold as they happened.
