They taught that the black man had had
a history of which to be proud. The sense of self-acceptance and pride
which they taught came as good news to ghetto residents who realized
that they could never be assimilated into white, middle-class America.
With the conversion of Malcolm Little, better known as Malcolm X, the
Muslims gained a dynamic speaker who did much to popularize and spread
their teaching. Although the peculiar doctrines and puritanical
practices of the Muslims prevented many from joining the movement, the
number of its sympathizers grew rapidly. Malcolm X was able to appeal
to ghetto residents in a way that Martin Luther King could not.
King, obviously, had had all the advantages of a middle-class home.
Malcolm, however, had started at the bottom, and ghetto residents
could readily identify with him. King had gone to college and had even
earned a doctorate. Malcolm gained his reputation "hustling" on the
streets of Boston and New York and also from teaching himself while
serving a sentence in prison.
In 1964 Malcolm X was forced to break with Elijah Muhammed.
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