NYPL, Malcolm X: A Search for Truth

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Introduction Messengers of Hope and Liberation Growing Up: Malcolm Little to "Detroit Red," 1925-45 Becoming Malcolm X: Incarceration and Conversion, 1946-52 Being Minister Malcolm X: Growing the Nation, 1953-63 Malcolm X to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, 1964-65 Educational Resource Guide Credits Visit the Exhibition

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture > Malcolm X: A Search for Truth

Introduction

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The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library, is pleased to present Malcolm X: A Search for Truth, an exhibition in commemoration of the eightieth anniversary of the birth of Malcolm X/El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. The exhibition is based in part on the collection of personal and professional papers and memorabilia of Malcolm X that was rescued from auction in 2002 and placed on deposit at the Schomburg Center by the Shabazz family. This exhibition provides the first opportunity for the public to view significant aspects of this collection.

Complemented by an epilogue focusing on courtroom evidence from the New York City Municipal Archives and courtroom images by Tracy Sugarman in the Schomburg Center’s Art and Artifacts Division, Malcolm X: A Search for Truth uses the materials from this extraordinary collection as well as other collections from the Center. These never-before-exhibited materials present a provocative and informative perspective on the life of the person known variously as Malcolm Little, “Detroit Red,” Malcolm X, and El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. More significantly, the exhibition poses questions about the nature of the developmental journey that Malcolm Little pursued to become El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. The subtitle A Search for Truth focuses the interpretive dimensions of the exhibition on the process and products of his driving intellectual quest for truth about himself, his family, his people, his country, and his world.

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